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Why didn’t the British radios work?

in What you didn't know about the Battle of Arnhem
A British radio jeep, equipped with a Wireless 22 radio set.

Immediately after the landings at Wolfheze, the British troops were confronted with a problem that they had to deal with for days: poor communication via the radios. Two things are often mentioned as the main reason for the poorly functioning radios: the radios were equipped with the wrong crystals and the wooded area of ​​Arnhem…

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Before Market Garden: The Allies liberate France and Belgium in August 1944

in Preparations
Captured German soldiers in France in August 1944.

In essence, the plans for Operation Market Garden boiled down to the idea of ​​dropping more than 10,000 soldiers 70 miles behind the front line and race towards them as quick as possible with tanks in two days. As it turned out, Market Garden was far too ambitious. The resistance of the German troops turned…

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The precursor to Market Garden: Operation Comet

in Preparations
Staff map of Arnhem and surroundings in 1944.

“Thank God Operation Comet was called off. It would have been a disaster.” British General Shan Hackett’s assessment of Operation Comet is clear. Hackett and Polish General Stanislav Sosabowski strongly opposed the plan underlying Operation Market Garden. ‘Operation Comet’ is the name of a plan that British General Bernard Montgomery came up with on September…

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This is the Allied offensive that the Germans expected in September 1944

in Preparations
This is the attack that the German army leadership expected in September 1944: break through to the east at Roermond and establish a bridgehead over the Rhine near Düsseldorf. (Photo: Gelders Archives, Boeree collection.)

While plans for Market Garden were being drawn up in England, the German army leadership had its own thoughts about how the Allies would like to advance in early September. Field Marshal Walter Model, the German commander-in-chief in the area, was firmly convinced that the Allies would attempt to break through the Siegfried Line east…

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Before the paratroopers arrived, the bombs fell first

in Arnhem/Nijmegen/September 17
The Willemskazerne in the city center of Arnhem was completely destroyed during the bombings of September 17. (Photo: Gelders Archives.)

The air raid siren in Arnhem had already gone off several times in the morning of Sunday, September 17, but each time it had been a false alarm. But from a quarter to eleven it was a hit. Dozens of military targets in Arnhem and the surrounding area were hit by Allied bombers until approximately…

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Half an airborne division, spread over 11 kilometers

in Arnhem/September 17
Landing zone LZ-S on Sunday September 17. The fires in the background are at Wolfheze, where German targets were bombed by the Allies earlier that day.

An underexposed aspect of the Battle of Arnhem is the impossible task that the 1st British Airborne Division faced on the first day of the landings. In the first version of the plans for Operation Market Garden, all British paratroopers would land in the operations area near Arnhem on the first day of the operation.…

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This was the attack plan of the 1st Parachute Brigade

in Arnhem/September 17

More than 12,000 British and Polish airborne troops whose aim was to capture the Rhine Bridge near Arnhem in one day. That is pretty much the image that many people have about the purpose of the British airborne landings near Arnhem on September 17, 1944. That is incorrect. Because there were insufficient aircraft available, only…

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The failed race to the Rhine Bridge by the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron

in Arnhem/September 17
A jeep of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. (Photo: Imperial War Museum.)

In addition to John Frost’s battalion, there was another British unit that managed to reach the Rhine Bridge on Sunday, September 17, albeit badly damaged. Those were the men in the jeeps of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. The 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron was known within the British airborne forces as the ‘Freddie Gough Squadron’,…

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Hard blows for the 1st Battalion of the 1st Parachute Brigade

in Oosterbeek/September 17
Paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Brigade on the edge of their landing area near Wolfheze on Sunday, September 17, 1944.

On Sunday, September 17, the first day of Operation Market Garden, a total of 3 battalions of the 1st Parachute Brigade advanced to Arnhem. Only the 2nd Battalion led by John Frost reached the bridge in Arnhem that evening. The 3rd battalion stopped at the Hartenstein hotel in Oosterbeek. The 1st Battalion fought the heaviest…

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No German soldiers at the Rhine bridge: forgotten in the confusion after the airborne landings

in Arnhem/September 17

Around 8 p.m. on Sunday, September 17, 1944, the first British soldiers reached the Rhine Bridge near Arnhem. To their surprise, the British discovered that the bridge was not defended by German soldiers. In the confusion after the airborne landings, the German army leadership had forgotten to send soldiers to the Rhine Bridge. After several…

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