Operation Market Garden
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Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation in the Second World War, fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its aim was to create a 62-mile salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine), opening an invasion route into northern Germany. The operation had two parts: Market, using American, British and Polish airborne forces to seize nine bridges, and Garden, in which British land forces advanced over those bridges. The First Allied Airborne Army provided about 35,000–40,000 paratroops and glider troops, while the British Second Army's XXX Corps, supported by VIII and XII Corps, fielded ten armoured and motorised brigades with roughly 800 tanks and 50,000 soldiers. They advanced from the Belgian–Dutch border along a single road, expecting to reach Arnhem in 48 hours against about 100,000 German troops. It was the largest airborne operation of the war to that point. The Allies captured Eindhoven, Nijmegen and many towns, plus some V-2 sites, but failed to secure the bridge at Arnhem. The British 1st Airborne Division was withdrawn after losing 8,000 dead, missing and captured out of 10,000. Insufficient boats hindered retreat; many left behind were captured, though some paratroopers were sheltered by the Dutch underground and rescued in Operation Pegasus on 22 October 1944. Historians have criticised the planning and execution; Antony Beevor called it 'a bad plan right from the start and right from the top'. The Germans counterattacked the Nijmegen salient but failed to retake Allied gains, and Arnhem was finally captured in April 1945.