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Market Garden - page 3

September 17: British 3d battalion gets stuck at Hartenstein in Oosterbeek

in Oosterbeek/September 17
Mrs. De Meulenaar offers British paratroopers a cup of tea on the first day of the landings. (Photo: Imperial War Museum.)

On the first day of Market Garden, three British paratrooper battalions advanced from the landing areas at Wolfheze to Arnhem. The third battalion under Colonel John Fitch had been ordered to take the road to Arnhem via the Utrechtseweg. The majority of the battalion did not get further than the Hartenstein hotel in Oosterbeek on…

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“Alarm! Paratroopers!” The 9th and 10th SS Armored Divisions immediately spring into action

in Oosterbeek/September 17
An armored car of the SDKFZ 250/3 type is deployed against British paratroopers near Oosterbeek. (Photo: Federal Archives.)

Even before all British troops had landed west of Wolfheze on Sunday, September 17, the troops of the German 9th and 10 SS Armored Divisions had already been alerted. To immediately clear up a major misunderstanding: the two armored divisions stationed near Arnhem had almost no tanks and mechanical artillery. Combined, the two divisions only…

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After the landings: the Germans react very quickly

in September 17
Scherl Bilderdienst Westen, September 1944, Anglo-amerikanischer Umfassungsplan bei Arnheim gescheitert. Grenadiere des Heeres, Männer der Polizei, Fallschirmjäger und SS-Panzergrenadiere vernichten gemeinsam die 1. britische Luftlande-Division, die durch die Niederlande in das Reichsgebiet einzubrechen versuchte. SS-PK Pospesch

Even before the airborne landings at Wolfheze on the first day of Operation Market Garden had properly started, the Germans were already taking countermeasures. Surprise is an important weapon of airborne troops. But at Arnhem there was no surprise at all. Operation Market Garden started in Arnhem and the surrounding area in the morning. Dozens…

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After the airborne landings: no problems at the landing zones

in September 17
On September 17, troops of the 7th King Own Scottish Borders advance with German prisoners of war in their midst to a new landing area west of Wolfheze. The woman is Irene Reimann, a Luftnachrichtenhelferin. Irene Reimann was the only female prisoner of war during the Battle of Arnhem.

While the British airborne troops advanced to Arnhem after the landings on Sunday, September 17, peace returned to the landing zones west of Wolfheze: twelve kilometers from the Rhine Bridge. Because the Allies had too few aircraft to drop all British and Polish paratroopers near Arnhem in one day, it was forced to choose to…

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The airborne landings of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions

in Nijmegen/September 17
American paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division from a Dakota above Groesbeek on Sunday, September 17.

If everything went as planned, the tanks and ground troops of XXX Corps could advance without any problems from the south over “a carpet of airborne troops” from the Belgian border to the Rhine bridge in Arnhem. At least: that was how the British army leadership had presented the advance of the ground troops to…

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Things are not really going well with the ground troops on the first day of Market Garden

in September 17
While destroyed Sherman tanks stand along the side of the road, XXX Corps advances towards Valkenswaard on Sunday, September 17.

On Tuesday afternoon, September 19, around two o’clock in Arnhem, drive over the Rhine bridge to relieve the troops of the British 1st Airborne Division. That was the goal of the ground forces of the British XXX Corps under General Harrocks. At the start of Operation Market Garden, XXX Corps was stationed near the Belgian-Dutch…

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Colonel Frost is on his own at the bridge

in Arnhem/September 18
A British RAF reconnaissance plane took this photo of the Rhine Bridge on Monday afternoon, September 18, 1944. The remains of the destroyed column of armored vehicles are clearly visible on the bridge.

The early morning of Monday, September 18. That was the last moment when it was quiet for the British at the Rhine Bridge. But from half past nine in the morning there was almost continuous fighting at the bridge. Because the British army units could not maintain contact with each other via radios , the…

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September 18: the British advance stalls on the western side of Arnhem, 2 kilometers from the bridge

in Arnhem/September 18
British paratroopers advance to Arnhem via the Utrechtseweg. (Photo: Gelders Archives.)

Of the three British battalions that marched on Arnhem on Sunday, September 17, only the 2nd Battalion under John Frost had managed to reach the city. The 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion had been stopped by German resistance at Oosterbeek. On Monday, September 18, they tried to break through the German barrier line .…

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Airborne division without commander

in Arnhem/September 18
General Urquhart during operation Market Garden, outside of the Hartestein Hotel. (Photo: Imperial War Museum.)

While his troops were engaged in fierce battles with the Germans, General Roy Urquhart, the commander of the 1st British Airborne Division, was hiding in an attic at Zwarteweg 14 in the Arnnhem district of Lombok. In the book that General Urquhart wrote after the war about his experiences during the Battle of Arnhem, he…

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On September 18, the British fought against the Dutch on the Ginkelse Heide

in September 18
In blue the positions of the KOSB. In red the attack of Wachbataillon Nordwest. (Photo: Gelders Archives, Boeree collection.)

Not all British soldiers who had landed at Wolfheze on Sunday, September 17, had marched to Arnhem after the landing. Some of the British actually went west. The King’s Own Scottish Borders (KOSB) and the Border Regiment had been given the task of protecting the landing areas where the rest of the British Airborne Division…

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