Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.
The true story of Operation Market Garden, the Allies attempt, in September 1944, to hasten the end of World War II by driving through Belgium and Holland into Germany. The idea was for U.S. airborne divisions to take the towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen and a British airborne division, reinforced by a Polish airborne brigade, to take the town of Arnhem. They would be reinforced, in due course and in turn, by the British XXX Corps, land-based and driving up from the British lines in the south. The key to the operation was the bridges, as if the Germans held or blew them, the paratroopers could not be relieved. Faulty intelligence, Allied high command hubris, and stubborn German resistance would ensure that Arnhem was a bridge too far.—grantss
It is near the end of World War II. The Germans have lost most of France, and the Allied forces decide to give them the final hit. They plan to drop thousands of paratroopers in the Netherlands and keep a few key positions there, until reenforcements arrive. The most important spot is the bridge of Arnhem. Once it's captured, it can block everything west of Germany.—Chris Makrozahopoulos <[email protected]>
Tells the story of Operation Market Garden. A failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of World War II to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in the Netherlands allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.—Jon Butler
In 1944, World War II was in its 5th year and still going Hitler's way. In June 1944, with D-Day, the Allied forces landed in Europe and by July the Allied armies were launching their own offensives. By August, Paris was liberated. But the supplies for the Allied army were still coming from Normandy and the supply lines became unreliable.
General Eisenhower, the over-wall commander of the Allied forces on the western front had two Generals: the American Patton in the South and the British Montgomery in the North, who both disliked each other intensely. There weren't enough supplies for both armies as both Generals wanted to be the first to reach Berlin. The Allied offensive ground to a halt.
In September 1944, Montogomery proposed Operation Market Garden, which Eisenhower endorsed due to great pressure from his superiors. Montogomery puts General Browning in charge of executing the plan.
Operation Market Garden envisages 35,000 men being flown 300 miles (480 km) from air bases in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. Two divisions of US paratroopers, the 101st and the 82nd are responsible for securing the road and bridges as far as Nijmegen.
Meanwhile, General Gunther Blumentritt (Hans Von Borsody) is in charge of the German army in the Netherlands. He has minimal air force, ammunition or even tanks. Morale in the troops is non-existent. Blumentritt knows that an invasion of Holland is coming and wants to prepare for it.
A British division GOC, 1st British Airborne Division, Arnhem, under Major-General Roy Urquhart (Sean Connery), is to land near Arnhem and hold both sides of the bridge there, backed by a brigade of Polish paratroopers (Brigade Commander, Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, Polish Armed Forces) under General Stanislaw Sosabowski (Gene Hackman). Major General Maxwell Taylor (Paul Maxwell), commander of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, is in charge of holding the bridges along Eindhoven/Son which is the first town on the way to Arnhem, followed by Nijmegen. Brigadier General James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal), commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, gets assigned to capture the bridges over the Grave, and the one at Nijmegen.
XXX Armored Corps (led by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox)) are to push up the road over the bridges captured by the American paratroopers and reach Arnhem two or three days after the drop. The XXX Corps will attack the industrial heartland of Germany to bring an end to the war by Christmas. The XXX has to cover 63 miles in two days to achieve mission objectives.Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E. Vandeleur (Michael Caine) CO of the 3rd Battalion (Infantry), the Irish Guards, the Guards Armored Division, XXX Corps, British Army has been tasked by Horrocks to hold Arnhem by driving in first with his tanks.
Blumentritt places the 2nd SS Panzer Corps of General Der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich (Maximilian Schell) at Arnhem. Bumentritt also hopes that the invasion is led by Montogomery as he is considered to be inferior to Patton in strategic planning.
The British don't have enough gliders to transport all the troops in one go. They plan to do it over three days and don't want to lose any aircraft in the process. To prioritize safety of their planes, the drop zones are kept far away from the target objectives.
As General Urquhart briefs his officers, some of them are surprised they are going to attempt a landing six to eight miles from their objective since the distance from their landing zone to the bridge will render their portable radios useless. Urquhart argues that the gliders will be bringing in jeeps which will race ahead of the paratroopers and hold the bridge.
Although the consensus is that resistance will consist entirely of inexperienced old men and Hitler Youth, reconnaissance photos show the presence of German tanks at Arnhem. General Browning (Dirk Bogarde) nevertheless dismisses the photos and also ignores reports from the Dutch underground, believing the operation will be successful regardless.
The Arnhem bridge is the prime target, since it serves as the last means of escape for the German forces in the Netherlands and a direct route to Germany for the Allies. However, the road to it is only a single lane linking the various key bridges and vehicles have to squeeze onto the verge to pass. The road is also elevated, causing anything moving along it to stand out.
Though the airborne drops catch the enemy by surprise and encounter little resistance, the Son bridge is demolished by the Germans just before it can be secured. Furthermore, troubles beset Urquhart's division, since many of the promised jeeps either do not arrive or are destroyed in an ambush, in addition to their nonfunctional radio sets.
From one of the shot down gliders, Germans retrieve the detailed plans of Operation Market Garden. They reach Generalmajor Der Waffen-SS Karl Ludwig (Hardy Kruger).
Meanwhile Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model (Walter Kohut) was at Arnhem and reaches Blumentritt's command as the Allied invasion begins. Model orders that the bridges at Arnhem and Nijmegen to not be blown up so that the Germans can launch a counterattack. Model believes that the plans retrieved by Ludwig are false and planted by the Allied forces.
Meanwhile, XXX Corps' progress is slowed by German resistance, the narrowness of the road and the need to construct a Bailey bridge to replace the one destroyed at Son. U.S. Colonel Robert Stout (Elliott Gould) and his engineering core works through the night to erect the bridge.
The British artillery fails to take out the German artillery protecting the roads to Son and when the German's fire on Vandeleur's tanks, a single tank hit holds up the entire column.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost (Anthony Hopkins) heads towards Arnhem Bridge with his troops while Urquhart has no idea of the location of his companies, due to the non-functional radio sets. Frost reaches the Arnhem bridge late in the afternoon, but Urquhart and his forces are tied down by German fire. Frost makes several attempts to occupy the bridge but is pushed back by German defenses. An entire German armored Panzer division is protecting the Arnhem bridge. Both sides take on heavy casualties. Frost knows that his men are surrounded.
The next day, Urquhart and his men cannot get through to Frost as now the town of Arnhem is crawling with Germans and their troop strength increases with every passing hour. The Allied forces are being supplied by air drops, but all the landing zones are already overrun by Germans. The Allied HQ in Britain doesn't know this, due to the faulty radio. In effect, the Allied HQ is supplying the Germans to fight Allied troops.
Meanwhile, Son is 39 miles away from Arnhem, and it is repaired on Day 2 of the invasion. Vandeleur is 36 hours behind schedule.
The XXX Corps are then halted at Nijmegen, where soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division perform a dangerous daylight river crossing to capture the Nijmegen bridge. The crossing was to be covered by a smoke screen from Vandeleur's tanks, but the screen dissipates due to strong winds and comes under direct attack from Ludwig's forces. The bridge is secured and by sheer luck, the demolition charges laid by Germans fail to blow and the Allied tanks cross over.
XXX Corps is further delayed waiting for infantry to secure the town. The tank refuses to move to Arnhem till the artillery catches up with the tanks and clears up the road ahead till Arnhem.
The Germans close in on the isolated British paratroopers occupying part of Arnhem at the bridge, and although Sosabowski's troops finally arrive after being delayed in England (due to fog) they are ultimately too late to reinforce the British. Sosabowski's troops are picked off in the air by the Germans who had overrun the landing zones by now. His surviving forces are shot down while crossing the Rhine River.
After days of intense fighting against SS infantry and Panzers the outgunned British troops are eventually either captured or forced to withdraw to Oosterbeek.
Urquhart receives orders to retreat, while the other Allied commanders blame the various difficulties encountered for their failure to provide the needed support.
Urquhart escapes with less than a fifth of his original 10,000 troops while those who are too badly injured to flee stay behind to cover the withdrawal. On arrival at British headquarters Urquhart confronts Browning about his personal sentiments regarding the operation and the latter contradicts his earlier optimism regarding it.
Back in Oosterbeek Kate Ter Horst, whose home has been converted into a makeshift hospital by the British, abandons its ruins. Passing through the front yard, now a graveyard for fallen troops, she and her children leave with an elderly doctor, pulling a few possessions in a cart, while wounded British troops sing "Abide with Me" as they await capture.
