The operation on the southern front was also not smooth, the 82nd Regiment of the 505th Division stubbornly held the airborne site of the second batch of paratrooper units, and successfully protected the safe arrival of the second batch of airborne troops (3 infantry battalions, 3 field artillery battalions and a medical battalion) and collected airdropped supplies. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The Soon Bridge, controlled by the 101st Division, was recaptured by the Germans, and at noon the troops of the 30th Army reached north of Eindhoven to join up with the 101st Airborne Division. Sappers then erected a pontoon bridge to ensure access to Eindhoven, but two days had passed since the plan.

The British in Arnhem launched a third attack on the south bank, but were quickly repulsed by German artillery fire and blocking forces, and only 500 men remained in the four battalions except for the second battalion, retreating to the village of Österbek.

The 600 men of the 2nd Battalion were stationed in the buildings on the north bank of the city, and although the Germans blasted room by house, the 2nd Battalion still held out. The 4th Brigade of the British Army was also in a dilemma at the village of Olsterbeck.

In Nijmegen, the 30th Army joined forces with the US 504th Regiment in the morning and entered Nijmegen in the afternoon, but still failed to capture the Waal River bridge in Nijmegen, and most of the airdropped supplies were lost. The 101st Division was held back by reinforced German troops and could not withdraw as planned.

The advance of the follow-up units of the 30th Army was also not smooth, and the 30th Army had difficulty in the face of continued fierce German resistance, and the Germans destroyed some of the bridges there.

In addition, more than 20,000 vehicles, including bulky tracked vehicles, struggled to pass through these narrow roads from Vankensward to Nijmegen. Transportation is very difficult. Americans call it "Hell's Highway."

The 504th Regiment of the 82nd Division, unable to conquer the bridge, forced its way across the Waal River by kayak, but because it was not accustomed to the paddles of the British landing craft and moved slowly, it conquered the Waal River Bridge after paying considerable losses, and this battle was also known as the "Little Omaha Landing" because it was as tragic as the Omaha Beach landing.

The 82nd Division and other units of the 101st Division struggled to defend themselves against the German offensive that tried to cut off the highway.

By this time, the situation in Arnhem was completely out of the control of the Allies. After the 2nd Battalion held on to the north of the bridge for nearly two days, on the morning of the 21st, the radio sent a final telegram: "The ammunition is exhausted, God bless my king." ”

A white-knuckle battle with the Germans ensued, and the entire army was finally annihilated. The village of Österbeck, where the division headquarters was located, was also surrounded, while the other battalions broke through the German encirclement and joined the main forces with less than 100 men.

At the village of Ousterbeck, 3,500 British troops relied on light anti-tank guns, and the British used captured French Spitfire tanks to defend a high ground in the southwest overlooking the Hoofddorp crossing on the south bank, but this high ground was quickly lost to the German onslaught. The British had to continue the defense in the narrow village, but the British refused to surrender.

Polish troops, which had planned to enter the battle at the time of the second airdrop, were postponed until the 21st due to weather conditions before landing in Driel on the south bank.

However, due to a misdispatch and the German air force, supplies were airdropped 15 kilometers away. The Poles, who had intended to cross the river to support the British, could not find the ferry at its intended location, but by the time they found it downstream, it was so badly damaged that it was unusable. The Poles had no choice but to retreat to the village of Driel to defend.

In Nijmegen, however, the British 30th Army took another 18 hours to repair and repair after clearing the remnants of the enemy in Nijmegen before setting out at midnight. And the scheduled rendezvous with the 1st Division was on the 18th, and a full three days had passed.

The Germans did not charge the village of Ousterbeck for fear of the British anti-tank guns, but instead attacked Arnhem and blasted house by house.

However, the addition of Polish troops forced the Germans to send 2,400 troops to the south bank against the Polish 1st Brigade. During the night, the 30th Army finally arrived in Driel to join up with the Polish army.

At the same time, 52 Polish soldiers crossed the Rhine to join the British on the north bank. However, attempts by the British and Polish forces to build a boat bridge over the river failed.

The Germans briefly cut off British-controlled Route 69, but were soon expelled from the area. On the 23rd, Canadian assault boats sent 150 Polish soldiers across the Rhine.

On the 24th, the General Command abandoned the attack on the Arnhem Bridge and formed a defensive line at Nijmegen. The retreat of the British troops did not begin until the 25th. By the morning of the 26th, the British had withdrawn only 2,398 of the 10,600 men at the time of the drop.

On 27-29 September, the British advanced to the south bank of the Lower Rhine, but were forced to go on the defensive and failed to capture the landing ground on the north bank.

In addition, the 1st Canadian Army's offensive northwest of Antwerp was slow to begin the campaign, and the Canadian army did not advance to the mouth of the Scheldt River until late September. By this time, Operation Market Garden had failed.

Until Rommel commanded Germany to launch a war of encirclement and annihilation, the Rhine remained an impenetrable barrier between the Allies and Germany proper.

One of the reasons for the failure of Operation Market Garden was that the Allies did not notice the Driel crossing on the lower Rhine, which could help the Allied paratroopers to avoid the two armored divisions of the German bridge in order to quickly cross the Rhine and attack the Germans, and perhaps the operation would be successful.

Due to the prolongation of the battle line, the advance of the armored forces was stagnant, and the supply of the Allied forces had to be reduced again and again. The 101st Airborne Division and the 82nd Division held out on the front line for more than two months and could not be withdrawn, and they suffered nearly 10,000 casualties in the 10-day "market" operation. On September 27, 1941, after 10 days of hard fighting, the Allies had to admit the complete failure of Operation Market-Garden.

In this operation, the Germans suffered only 3,300 casualties, while the Allies lost more than 17,000. Among them, the US 82nd Airborne Division suffered 3,400 casualties and the 101st Airborne Division suffered 3,800 casualties.

The British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish Paratrooper Brigade, which were at the forefront of the assault and were responsible for the capture of the Arnhem Bridge, suffered even more heavy losses without any assistance.

Of the 1,000 airborne personnel of the Polish paratrooper brigade, nearly 700 were killed or wounded. The 1st Airborne Division suffered nearly 7,000 casualties and prisoners, and less than 2,000 managed to break through from the German tanks.

One of the division's field commanders lamented the Arnhem Bridge, which they would never reach: "That bridge is too far away for us!" After the end of this war, the 101st and 82nd Divisions of the U.S. Army did not conduct airborne operations in World War II.

Operation "Market Garden" thus became the swan song of the large-scale airborne operations of the elite airborne forces of the US military in World War II.

The battle lasted nine days, and after paying a heavy price, the Allies advanced 45 to 90 kilometers in depth on a frontal 200 kilometers wide. However, the Germans regained control of Arnhem, so the operation did not achieve its ultimate goal.

Arnhem's bridge is called the "bridge from afar", and one should believe that in war - there will never be a hero

……

In what the Germans saw as the "Market Garden" campaign, one of the Panzer Divisions was the 107th Panzer Division, commanded by Colonel Zein, which received a total of 53 new Leopard tanks and 22 No. 4 assault guns, and all the grenadiers and stormtroopers marched in armored personnel carriers. (To be continued.) )