Operation Market Garden was the largest operation ever conducted by Britain and the United States after Operation D-Day (D-Day: June 6, 1944, also known as the Normandy landings) (which was only half the size of the operation). It was proposed by General Montgomery, a famous general of the British Army and then the 30th Army of the British Army, in September 1944, codenamed Operation "Market Garden" (operation area Belgium). Eisenhower initially disagreed with the plan, but under pressure from above, he eventually agreed to it. The market refers to airborne operations, and the garden refers to the ground forces. The purpose of the operation was to complete the combat mission before Christmas so that the officers and men of the unit could be reunited with their families as soon as possible. It was also the largest airborne combat operation in history to date.

Combat distribution of participating troops

A total of 35,000 paratroopers took part in the battle, and 24 airfields were involved in the take-off and landing of aircraft, which had to parachute 300 kilometers behind the enemy's rear. The operational distribution of the Allied Airborne Forces was as follows: the U.S. 101st Airborne Division was airborne near Eindhoven; The 82nd Airborne Division parachuted south of Nijmegen; The British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish troops of General Sushabowski parachuted into Anheng, 64 miles from enemy rear. The task of these airborne forces is to occupy and hold the bridges in these three areas. The task of the ground forces was to break through the German front lines in these places, and then pursue the Germans all the way to the end of the round with all the airborne troops. The spearhead of the ground forces was Van der Long's Irish Guards.

On the German side, Field Marshal Rundstedt had just been appointed Supreme Operational Commander of the German Western Front. At the time of his arrival, the strength of the air force of the troops under his command, the armored units, soldiers, weapons and ammunition of the ground forces were very limited, and the morale of the troops was completely devoid. Originally, this was a battle without suspense, but due to the decision-making mistakes of the British commanders at the top, it directly led to the heavy losses of the British army in this battle. In fact, there was already opposition to the operation from the very beginning, and an officer in the intelligence service (Major Fuller) thought that the operation should be postponed, but his superior, Browning, disagreed.

In June 1944, after the Allied forces landed in Normandy to open up the second battlefield, in order to defeat Nazi Germany as soon as possible, on July 25, 1944, the Allied 3rd Army led by Patton took the lead in breaking out of Normandy and began a large-scale pursuit of the German army on the French plain. In order to detour the Siegfried Line from the north and reach the Ruhr region in Germany in order to "end the war before Christmas", Marshal Montgomery, who had always been known for his prudence, came up with a bold and risky plan code-named "Market Garden". The aim was to seize a series of important bridges across the Rhine, Waal and other rivers, and then penetrate from the Netherlands into the heart of Germany, with the aim of ending the European theater of operations before Christmas 1944

On the Allied side: one goal, two points of view. The Allied forces were commanded by General Eisenhower of the United States and Field Marshal Montgomery of Great Britain. On September 1, 1944, Montgomery was promoted to field marshal, believing that the fighting in the West would be over by Christmas. He believed that the war could be ended by giving Berlin, where all forces were concentrated, a blow to him. Eisenhower, on the other hand, thought that two punches would do. He envisaged that the Germans would use their remaining forces to defend the Ruhr and Saarland (important industrial regions in Germany). Therefore, Eisenhower believed that the Allied offensive should focus on these two points. Although he also said that the offensive in the north should be intensified, he did not agree with Montgomery's view that he should concentrate all his forces on the offensive in the north. Before they met, Montgomery had already figured out how the Airborne Forces would be used under his command. At this time, information came from the British side that the Germans had attacked London with V-2**, and Montgomery decided to attack the Maas and Waal rivers with the bridge in the city of Arnhem as the main target. The strategy was aimed at cutting off the German army from the V-2** base in the western Netherlands, so that London would not be threatened. Despite Eisenhower's apprehensions, he was defeated by Montgomery's extraordinary persuasiveness. Once the bridge at Arnhem is captured, the Allies will cross the Rhine and drive straight into the German mainland, smashing into the Ruhr industrial area. If Operation Market Garden was successful, it was highly likely that the Allies would have ended the war in Europe before New Year's Day 1945.

On the German side: an eventful time. The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day, proved that the Germans were not as impregnable as Hitler claimed. The Allied breakthrough in Normandy inflicted heavy losses on the German army, and even a complete collapse. Commander of the Western Cluster, Lundstedt (Ge

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DSTEDT) advice to Berlin was "better to surrender." But Hitler had no intention of doing so, and he responded by removing Lundstedt's command and appointing von K. (Ge

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dstedt) to take over. Not to mention surrender, even retreat is absolutely impossible. Von K**'s mission was to stop the advance of the Allied forces and launch a counterattack. He wanted to hold out for 44 days, but was ordered to immediately go to the Führer's command: he was one of the suspects in the plot to assassinate Hitler in September '44. On the night of August 18, von K** committed suicide on his way to Berlin for fear of being involved in the "July 20 incident". So a new commander was appointed, this time by Walte

Model) Marshal. His task is the same as that of the gram. In September 44 he established a defensive line on the main river in the south of the Netherlands. Von Zangen (Vo

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15th Army, to the east is Stude

t) of the 1st Airborne Corps, and on the Siegfried Line to the south was Brandenberg (B. Brownenberg).

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7th Army. However, the forces were powerless in the face of the Allied superiority in strength. Moder asked Berlin several times for reinforcements, but the Germans could no longer have any troops: not a single one was left on the Eastern Front, so they had to conscript youth, old people and even children to form the National Grenadier Division. These men were sent to the Netherlands to serve as policemen, logisticians, replenishment of troops, and to stop the Allied advance at all costs. By this time Moder's defence had stretched from Antwerp to Maast

icht) (southern Netherlands), he also ordered the 2nd SS Panzer Division to retreat to A

hem (Arnhem), where trimming is carried out. In a sense, the failure of Operation Market Garden is due to this mobilization. Hitler, however, was still not satisfied. He believed that Moder was not capable of restoring the German defenses. So, 18 days later, Moder was also removed from his post. Three months after his dismissal, Lundstedt was once again appointed commander of the Western Cluster. Hitler ordered him to keep the Siegfried Line ready for battle. The Siegfried Line, a strong line of defense that defended Germany's industrial areas, was now preparing for an Allied attack. Lundstedt concluded that Montgomery's halt was not a break. He had been at war with Montgomery, so he knew that Montgomery would only attack if everything was ready. With such an idea, he saw an opportunity to save von Zangen's 15th Army and keep the port of Antwerp from falling into the hands of the enemy. He then rescinded Moder's order to attack and ordered the 15th Army to move westward, leaving only a part of its troops to guard the canal port. The British made a big mistake: they did not prevent the transfer of the 15th Army. Now Lundstedt had 60,000 troops at his disposal.

Operational planning: "Market" is the code name for the airborne operation, and "Garden" is the code name for the ground forces. The Allied 1st Airborne Corps was established in August 11944 and consisted of the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division of the United States, and the 1st Airborne Division of the British Army. Later, it was also incorporated into the 1st Polish Airborne Brigade. The task of the Airborne Forces was to clear the way for the British 30th Army, which was stationed near Riabillot in Belgium. The 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army will be airdropped in Einhoween (Ei

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), Best (Best), Zangen (So

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ode), Veghel, whose mission is to occupy the Wilhelmi River in the Tibetan region

a) bridges, the Dommel bridge in St. Audan-Lede, and the river Aa and Willemsvaa near Wicker

t) Bridges over the river. The target of the US 82nd Airborne Division was G. Gnav (G. Gnav).

ave) and Nijmege on the Vaal River

Bridge, airborne in Grossbek (G. Brown).

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asselt. Finally, the British 1st Parachute Division occupied the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem. All these bridges were connected to form a corridor (connecting Einthofen, Nijmegen and Arnhem) so that the British 30th Army would march towards Arnhem, and the 12th and 8th armies would be responsible for providing cover on its flanks.

On 17 September, the US and British air forces used almost all of their belongings, including more than 5,500 transport planes, 2,596 gliders, and more than 8,000 combat and bomber planes, and at the same time successfully parachuted more than 35,000 personnel, 568 artillery pieces, 1,927 military vehicles, and 5,230 tons of materials in the three places, launching the second largest airborne combat operation in the history of human warfare. (Operation Market Garden was mainly commanded by the British, and operations on the ground were also largely performed by the British.) ）.....