Battle of Arnhem

The Battle of Arnhem was a World War II battle fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside. It took place during Operation Market Garden from September 17 to September 26, 1944. The outcome of this military engagement was a German defensive victory.

Having advanced through France and Belgium and suffered a lot of casualties fighting against elite German Panzer Divisions in the summer of 1944, the Allies were finally ready to enter the Netherlands. Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery designed a plan which consisted of a single thrust north to the Rhine River. This plan would allow the British 2nd Army to circumvent and avoid the German Siegfried Line, driving straight into the Ruhr region. To this end the Allies launched an airborne operation code named Operation Market Garden, on September 17, 1944.

Paratroopers were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Farthest north the British 1st Airborne Division, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Lower Rhine. Initially expecting a weak enemy resistance, the British XXX Corps planned to reach the British airborne forces within two to three days.

Summary of battle

The mission of capturing the Arnhem Bridge was given to the British 1st Airborne Division, under the command of Major General Roy Urquhart. The British forces landed some distance from their targets and were quickly hampered by unexpected stiff resistance as elements of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer divisions opened fire on them. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile British XXX Corps was unable to advance north as quickly as had been anticipated, failing to relieve the 1st Airborne Division troops according to schedule.

After four days of fierce fighting, the British paratroopers at the bridge were overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by Polish units or the XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, or by the RAF’s resupply flights. After nine days of ferocious fighting, what remained of the airborne forces were withdrawn through Operation Berlin.

Having failed to secure bridges, the Allies were unable to cross the Rhine and the frontline stabilized south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division had lost nearly three quarters of its strength and did not see combat again in the war.

American GIs operating a 20-mm AA gun, with a destroyed bridge

Maps of the attack on Arnhem