Operation Market Garden: History’s Greatest Airborne Assault

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Far to the north, where the road ran across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division was to drop. To the south, where the road crossed the Waal River at Nijmegen, the American 82nd was to hold. The 82nd, assisted by the Polish Parachute Brigade, was assigned the big bridges over the Maas River at Grave and over the Waal River at Nijmegen, plus a ridgeline to the east that dominated both bridges. The bridge at Nijmegen, well over a mile long, would become a key to the whole Market Garden operation. The 101st’s job was in the area behind the German front line at Eindhoven, running north through Zon to Uden. The division was to seize the rail and highway bridges over the Aa River and the Wilhelmina Canal at Zon, the Dommel River at Eindhoven and St. Oedenrode, and Zuit Willemsvaart Canal near Veghel. The troopers were to hold those towns and their crossings. That road later became known as Hell’s Highway.

The flat terrain offered a wide selection of drop zones. General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne, remembering how his forces were scattered all over Normandy during the D-Day drop, insisted on a high degree of concentration. The 506th and 502nd Parachute regiments were to come down on adjacent drop zones B and C northeast of Zon. The mission given to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of which I was a part, was to seize the Wilhelmina Canal bridge at Zon, then move south to take Eindhoven with its four highway bridges over the Dommel River.

The order of battle and points of departure for the 101st Airborne Division were as follows: from Aldermaston, 90 aircraft with the 501st Parachute Regiment less the 3rd Battalion; from Chilbolton, 45 aircraft with the 3rd Battalion of the 501st and 45 aircraft with the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Regiment, each battalion with a platoon of the 326th Parachute Engineers; from Membury, 90 aircraft with the 506th less the 3rd Battalion; from Welford, 45 aircraft with the 1st Battalion of the 502nd Parachute Regiment, 9 aircraft with the division headquarters; and from Grenham Common, 90 planes with the 502nd less the 1st Battalion.

On September 15, the troops were told they were going to pave the way for the British Second Army to cross the Rhine River. On the 16th briefings were held. Sand tables showing every feature of the terrain around the drop zones were set up in the war rooms. Men were issued two maps each, told everything there was to know about the mission, and given foreign currency and ammunition. The drop was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on September 17.

The largest airborne operation in history was about to begin. The atmosphere in the C-47 transport planes was tense. I had broken out in a cold sweat. I remembered well the hellfire of D-Day. It had looked like a Christmas tree that night over Normandy as I glanced out the aircraft door: tracers, small arms, flak and the thud of a crashing C-47. God help us if we were flying into another wall of fire, I thought. This time the skies were clear over the English Channel and the Continent as far as I could see, and the C-47s were holding pattern for the drop. Maybe we would make the right drop zone this time.

Taking off from the English airfields, the planes circled into formation and set out along the southern route over Belgium. So vast was the fleet of planes that while lead elements of the sky army were spilling from their aircraft over Dutch soil, the last echelons of the flight were taking off from their fields in England.

Swinging left at Bourg-Leopold, the planes went directly toward the front lines. As we neared the drop zone, the flak began to fly. Five minutes from the drop zone it was thick, but Allied fighters had been at work on the flak points. The flak opened up a few minutes before we reached the drop zones, and many sticks of paratroopers leaped from flaming transports, which were held steadily on course until the occupants were out. Later, the troopers lauded the courage of the pilots, who held their planes in formation and even lessened speed during the jump in spite of intense anti-aircraft fire.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Airborne Operations, Historical Conflicts, World War II

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