by Ron Kilber
          (rpknet@aztec.asu.edu)
          & Roland Korst
          (korst_ro@euronet.nl)

O peration Market Garden was a WWII Allied effort into Nazi-occupied Holland to capture some strategic territory between Belgium and Arnhem, a distance of about 100 miles. By reclaiming vital land, the Allies hoped to isolate the enemy in the western part of the country from those in Germany, and also to create a base of operation to eventually strike into the Nazi homeland.

By isolating the Germans in western Holland, it was thought that they would surrender easily, and more importantly for England, success would mean an end to the German V1 and V2 rockets, which were aimed and fired incessantly at London.

From a military perspective, it was important to establish a base of operation north of the Rhine near Arnhem. Anywhere else meant the armies had to deal with rivers, canals and dikes, all of which are insurmountable obstacles when attempting to move men and armor. Not only that, bridges are vulnerable to attack and destruction by the enemy.

To establish the new base of operation, men and equipment had to be moved from Belgium all the way to Arnhem, and they had to do it through Nazi-occupied territory. Along the way, there were five or so rivers and canals which had to be crossed, and each bridge crossing was controlled and protected by the Germans. Before any Allied army in Belgium could successfully fight its way to Arnhem, the bridges across the rivers had to be first taken and then controlled. That's where the paratroopers came into the picture.

Operation Market Garden included the single, largest, airborne military operation in the history of the world to date. Almost 39,000 armed men, including US, British, and Polish troops, participated in the airborne action. Due to limited airlift capacity, the operation had to be performed in three waves into the three invasion zones in Holland, being an area north of Eindhoven, an area south and east of Nijmegen, and an area west of Arnhem. The first two areas were selected for drop zones because they were near the bridges, the third which was farthest from the objective because it had the best conditions for glider landings. The bridges had to be taken and held so that Allied ground forces could move northward from Belgium towards Arnhem, and create a base of operation to eventually strike into Germany.

From twenty-three air bases in England, the airborne effort commenced on September 17, 1944, and continued until September 25, 1944. On the same day, the ground operation also started from its base in Belgium.

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