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Post by pieter on Sept 17, 2021 9:51:33 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 17, 2021 9:58:33 GMT -7
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Post by kaima on Sept 18, 2021 10:54:24 GMT -7
Opération Market garden. Photo taken in Veghel in September 1944 In front of St Lambertus Church Michel de Trez private collection dday publishing  |
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Post by pieter on Sept 19, 2021 5:20:29 GMT -7
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Post by Jaga on Sept 19, 2021 21:21:03 GMT -7
Hello Pieter, I did not realize that the landing of Polish brigade was done in such an unfortunate way. Maybe this is one of the reason why we don't know that much about what really happen, since it is a combination of many casualties but ultimately it led to the final victory in WW II
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Post by kaima on Sept 20, 2021 8:30:20 GMT -7
German anti-aircraft gunners of a 2 cm FlaK 38 gun smoke cigars and have a chat with war correspondent Lieutenant Erich Wenzel (pictured with a bottle of wine) during the battle for Arnhem on Boulevard Heuvelink, during Operation Market Garden. 19 September 1944. This picture was taken in Arnhem on the morning of Tuesday 19th September by a Luftwaffe photographer, or Kriegsberichter, named Jacobsen, who, with Erich Wenzel, were from a Propaganda Kompanie attached to Luftlotte 3. They arrived in Arnhem on this day and began to document the battle with this 2cm Flak 38 gun, sited on the corner of Johan de Wittlaan and Boulevard Heuvelink. This was one of four guns, another can be seen in the background, from Deelen Airfield which were transferred to the 9th S.S. Panzer Division's Flak Abteilung on Sunday 17th September to assist with anti-aircraft cover but also to guard against a possible break-out from the Bridge by the British troops there. Jacobsen and Wenzel spent the next 48 hours in the area and shot several rolls of film, of which six have survived more or less intact. www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sy1y8SA8XrH... Jacobsen (Propagandakompanie der Luftwaffe) @colouriseddpieceofjake  |
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Post by kaima on Sept 20, 2021 13:20:47 GMT -7
#OnThisDay in 1944, members of a C-47 aircrew that was shot down during Operation Market Garden were photographed with the Dutch resistance fighters who rescued them and returned them to Allied lines. #WWII #WeRememberThem  |
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 7:45:04 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 7:47:47 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 7:49:51 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 7:52:48 GMT -7
2020
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 8:07:06 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 21, 2021 14:02:38 GMT -7
  Wounded British soldiers at the Hotel de Tafelberg in Oosterbeek.UPDATED:SEP 18, 2019ORIGINAL:SEP 17, 2019The Allies Hoped Operation Market Garden Would End WWII. Here's What Went WrongIt was a daring and massive offensive into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands that ultimately became a costly failure.SARAH PRUITTIn the weeks following D-Day, German troops began retreating en masse, as Allied forces advanced across France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In the environment of Arnhem the heavily armed and well equipped 9th SS Panzer Division and the 10th SS Panzer Division were stationed to rest from the battle in France. These 2 SS Panzer Divisions were commanded by Wehrmacht Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model, Luftwaffe Generaloberst Kurt Student, SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich, Wehrmacht General der Infanterie Hans-Wolfgang Reinhard and Wehrmacht General of the Infantry Gustav-Adolf von Zangen. Highly qualified and battle hardened German commanders who knew everything about military strategy, tactics and were experienced at the Eastern Front (the SovjetUnion - 1941-1944 -) and the Western Front (Normandy France). On the Western allied side there were 41,628 troops (Airborne: three divisions & one independent brigade) and 3,600 combined allied aircraft. The British 1st Airborne Division, the Polish 1st Ind. Parachute Brigade (under the command of under the command of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski), the American 101st Airborne Division and the American 82nd Airborne Division. On the German side you had 100,000 troops, 2 SS Panzer Divisions. (This first paragraph is changed by Pieter, to see the ratio between the Allied and the Nazi forces in and around Arnhem and the rest of the Market Garden territory.) Wehrmacht Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Wehrmacht Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model Luftwaffe Generaloberst Kurt Student SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich Wehrmacht General der Infanterie Hans-Wolfgang Reinhard Wehrmacht General of the Infantry Gustav-Adolf von ZangenBy September 1944, the overstretched Allies were approaching formidable German defenses along the Siegfried Line, which had held strong since World War II began.
British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery came up with a daring plan to bypass the Siegfried Line by crossing the lower part of the Rhine River, liberating and driving into the industrial heartland of northern Germany.
Code-named Market Garden, the offensive called for three Allied airborne divisions (the “Market” part of the operation) to drop by parachute and glider into the Netherlands, seizing key territory and bridges so that ground forces (the “Garden”) could cross the Rhine.
But controversial decisions and unfavorable circumstances began stacking up from the start of Operation Market Garden. Despite their heroic efforts, the Allied forces ultimately failed to achieve their objectives—and sustained devastating losses in the process.1) British Landing Zones Were Too Far from Arnhem Paratroops drop over the outskirts of Arnhem on September 17, 1944. Sgt. D M Smith/ Imperial War Museums/Getty ImagesOn the morning of September 17, 1944, three divisions of the First Allied Airborne Army—the U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne and the British 1st Airborne—began flying from bases in England across the North Sea to the Netherlands. The 101st Airborne was tasked with capturing Eindhoven, as well as several bridges over the canals and rivers north of that town, while the 82nd Airborne was ordered to capture territory around Nijmegen, including a key bridge over the River Waal.
Some 10,000 British and Polish troops of the British 1st Airborne (nicknamed the “Red Devils”) had the most difficult task: capturing and holding the northernmost bridge over the lower Rhine at Arnhem. German anti-aircraft defences around Arnhem itself were thought to be too strong, and the troops were dropped up to eight miles away, despite warnings from some Allied planners that a small “coup de main” party should land on the bridge itself.
Only a single battalion of the 1st Airborne (fewer than 800 men) managed to reach the Arnhem bridge, while the Germans forced the rest into a pocket near the village of Oosterbeek, several miles away.2) The Allies Had Too Few Transport Aircraft British paratroops of the 1st British Airborne Division in their aircraft during the flight to Arnhem. Imperial War Museums/Getty ImagesDue to limited numbers of transport aircraft, the British forces at Arnhem had to be dropped into the Netherlands over three days, rather than all at once, lessening the possibility of surprise as well as the impact of the attack.
While many troops from the 1st British Airborne were dropped by parachute and gliders on the afternoon of the first day (September 17), the 4th Parachute Brigade and the rest of the glider troops didn’t arrive until the following day, and the Polish brigade was still more delayed.3) Bad Weather Hampered Landings Allied parachute jumper landing almost headfirst during a daylight drop in the Netherlands, part of Operation Market Garden. US Army/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesDense fog in England on the second day of the operation, as well as thick, low clouds over the battleground in the Netherlands, hampered the transport of troops, as well as supplies. The supplies would have been crucial to the survival of British forces fighting to hold Arnhem Bridge.4) Radio Communications Failed British Airborne Forces in the Netherlands going into action after their landing during Operation Market Garden. Offical/Mirrorpix/Getty ImagesTo make matters even worse, the wooded landscape and the separation between the different British battalions meant many of their radios stopped working. These failures broke down communication and made it difficult for the 1st Airborne Division and its commander, Major-General Robert “Roy” Urquhart, to coordinate the attack on Arnhem.
According to historian Antony Beevor, Urquhart’s signals officers had anticipated problems with their radios before the operation, and Urquhart himself had expressed serious doubts about Operation Market Garden, reportedly calling it a “suicide operation” just two days before Allied planes left for the Netherlands.5) Allied Ground Troops Advanced Slowly The British 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron in position behind a tree covering a road near Wolfheze on September 18, 1944 during Operation Market Garden. Sgt. D M Smith/Imperial War Museums/Getty ImagesBy the end of the first day of Operation Market Garden, the 2nd Battalion of the 1st British Airborne, commanded by Lt. Col. John Frost, had reached the north end of Arnhem bridge and fortified themselves within nearby homes, preparing to hold the bridge on their own until the arrival of relief ground troops.
But the ground relief column, led by XXX Corps, had run into its own problems: The road toward Arnhem was narrow, only wide enough for two vehicles, and German infantry men wielding Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons picked off the nine lead British tanks right at the start of their advance. Allied ground troops managed to advance only seven miles by the end of the first day.
On the second day (September 18) they covered 20 miles and caught up with U.S. troops near Eindhoven, which the 101st Airborne had managed to liberate from German control. Though they fought their way across the Waal by September 20, they were still eight long miles away from helping their desperate British comrades at Arnhem.6) Role of SS Panzer Divisions Troops from the 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" on patrol in the streets of Arnhem, September 1944.Before Operation Market Garden even started, Allied intelligence got reports that two well-equipped German SS Panzer (tank) divisions were in the area around Arnhem. But commanders of the operation, including Lt. Gen. Frederick “Boy” Browning, decided the operation should go ahead anyway—a risk that turned into a disaster for Allied troops at Arnhem. A Sturmgeschütz III Ausführung G in Arnhem on 19 September 1944, during Operation Market Garden.  StuH 42 of the 9. SS-Panzerdivision "Hohenstaufen" in camouflaged firing position in Arnhem. A little later, a Stug III (on the right) covers a StuH III (on the left) as it moves down Weverstraat in Oosterbeek to attack the next paratrooper positions...  Members of the 9. SS-Panzerdivision "Hohenstaufen" explore an Arnhem street   StuG IV at Arnhem SS grenadiers and StuG III assault guns of Sturmgeschütz Brigade 280 clear out the last remnants of the British South Staffords on the Utrechtseweg in Arnhem, September 1944. SS grenadiers and StuG III assault guns of Sturmgeschütz Brigade 280 The slow advance of the XXX Corps gave Germany time to strengthen its defenses, confront the advancing ground troops at Nijmegen, and subject the lone British battalion at Arnhem to a crippling onslaught, which they resisted fiercely before submitting on the fifth day of the battle. With the main objective of the operation lost, more than 3,000 British troops dug in at Oosterbeek until September 25, when they were forced to begin evacuating across the Rhine. German soldiers acting very cautiously near British positions along the Weverstraat in Oosterbeek, a town a few miles to the West of Arnhem. Taken on Sunday 24th September, the group are about to capture some British prisoners. The mixture of uniforms on display illustrates the German ability to quickly improvise a fighting force from the resources to hand.  Well-armed SS grenadiers walk behind lightly camouflaged StuG III assault guns. German SS grenadiers are entering the Arnhem Museum under the cover of smoke. German SS grenadiers taking cover in a ditch beside the road as StuG III assault guns further up the road fire into British positions. Men of the South Staffordshire Regiment surrender to German grenadiers of Kampfgruppe Möller. A group of captured British soldiers stand beside a StuG III assault gun. Allied Sherman tanks crossing the newly-captured bridge at Nijmegen in the Netherlands during their advance as part of Operation Market Garden. Keystone/Getty Images The bodies of two American paratroopers of the 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, fallen during fighting at Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen, 19 September 1944.7) WWII Was Extended and the Soviets—Not Western Allies—Claimed Berlin Canadians of the British second army during the battle of Arnhem. Roger Viollet/Getty ImagesThough Operation Market Garden liberated much of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation, established a foothold from which the Allies could make later offensives into Germany and showed the courage and determination of the Allied forces in Arnhem, it remained a costly failure, with lasting consequences.
Of the approximately 10,600 Allied forces who made it north of the Rhine in September 1944, some 7,900 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Allied casualties during the operation totaled more than 17,000, compared with around 8,000 on the German side.
If Operation Market Garden had succeeded, World War II might well have ended in Europe before Christmas of 1944, with the Western Allies marching triumphantly into Berlin. Instead, the conflict would drag on for five more months after that date. Not only that, but it would be Soviet troops who claimed Berlin in May 1945, a difference that would prove decisive for the future of post-war Europe.  Sarah Pruitt is a writer and editor based in seacoast New Hampshire. She has been a frequent contributor to History.com since 2005, and is the author of Breaking History: Vanished! (Lyons Press, 2017), which chronicles some of history's most famous disappearances. |
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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2021 1:50:03 GMT -7
The Market Garden story starts at 26:00
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