Monday, September 18, 1944

History - Operation Market Garden

Monday, September 18, 1944

0000 to 0600 Hours

Oosterbeek
The German troops arrive throughout the night at the front line near Oosterbeek. The Germans try to push toward the British drop and landing zones; the British try pushing toward the Arnhem bridge. To SS Capt. Moeller the fighting seems "... like a wild west shootout. There was no front, sections and half-sections fought scattered actions against similar size British groups. There was no discernable line on the English side either."

Lieutenant General Hans von Tettau, Commander of Training in Holland, controls seven battalions before Operation Market-Garden begins. Now he is ordered to command Kampfgruppe von Tettau, the force that attacks the British 1st Airborne Division from the west. As with other Kampfgruppen, von Tettau counts few veterans among his units. Still, some of the reserve units he orders to attack the drop and landing zones succeed in disrupting the British hold on these zones. While these forces are often inexperienced and barely effective in combat, they keep the British hemmed in from the west and northwest.

Arnhem
Throughout the early hours of the second day of Operation Market-Garden, British paratroopers trickle into the positions at the north end of the Arnhem bridge. By first light, Colonel Frost estimates he has 600 to 700 men. The remaining battalions remain pinned down near Oosterbeek by SS Major Kraft’s decimated grenadier trainees and Lieutenant Colonel Harzer’s combat-savvy veterans.

The fight to maintain possession of the bridge continues through the early morning darkness. Twice the Red Devils rush the south side of the bridge; twice German fire drives them back. The Germans try driving trucks loaded with infantry across the bridge; British flamethrowers and automatic weapons fire stops them. As dawn approaches, the fire slackens. Both sides, it seems, need a respite.

After spending a night of fighting, Mackay, Frost, and their men are tired and hungry. But they are determined to hold on. If all goes according to plan, XXX Corps tanks will relieve them by the end of the day.

For the German reinforcements arriving in Arnhem throughout the night, it has been no less terrifying. Many are fed into the battle for the bridge with scavenged or outdated weapons. SS Squad Leader Alfred Ringsdorf leads his Eastern Front veterans through the inky streets toward the bridge. Ringsdorf expects the fighting to be brief. But after battling the Red Devils from house to house and room to room all night the squad leader realizes it is far worse than anything he encountered in Russia: “We fought to gain inches, cleaning out one room after the other. It was absolute hell.”

0700 Hours

Driel
Only 7 miles from the Arnhem bridge in the village of Driel, the morning ferry starts across the Lower Rhine. In a few minutes, the ferry reaches the north side of the river, picks up its passengers, and returns to Driel. The ferry will continue to make trips across the river all day - business as usual - while the battle rages all around.

Wolfheze
It has been a sleepless night for the Red Devils defending the drop and landing zones. They are under almost constant attack all night long. Lieutenant General Hans von Tettau, commanding a force of defense and training units, attacks from the west; Lieutenant General Harzer’s 9th Hohenstaufen pounds the 1st Airborne from the east. Brigadier General Philip “Pip” Hicks’ 1st Airlanding Brigade has no alternative but to dig in and fight back. There is no word at the landing zones from Major General Urquhart, nor any word from the commanders headed to the Arnhem bridge. Radio communications between 1st Airborne units remains impossible, although a tenuous link is established with Colonel Frost at the bridge. All the British paratroopers wait hopefully for the day’s airborne reinforcements and resupply; all gaze hopefully south for the sight of Horrock’s XXX Corps tanks.

0930 Hours

Arnhem
Captain Gräbner’s reconnaissance force, alerted to the presence of the British paratroopers at the Arnhem bridge, plans to charge across the bridge and subdue the reportedly lightly armed paratroopers. At first, it appears Gräbner’s plan will succeed. Armored cars and halftracks - guns blazing - race onto the bridge. At first, the British are taken by surprise - then the Red Devils' guns are blazing. The radio link to the landing zone enables the British to call in artillery fire; the flamethrowers are again employed with devastating effectiveness. When Gräbner’s lead vehicles are destroyed, the attack falters; when more vehicles are hit and the supporting infantry cut down, the Germans retreat. Captain Gräbner, presented with the Knight’s Cross by Lieutenant Harzer the day before, is among the dead.

0630 Hours

Valkenswaard
Ground fog prevents XXX Corps tanks from starting their advance, but scout cars begin patrolling toward Eindhoven. Even as the fog dissipates, the tanks sit idling.

0930 Hours

Valkenswaard
The tanks of the Irish Guards Armored Group start crawling toward Eindhoven. Many are anxious to advance as quickly as possible, but they’ve been held up to let engineers move their bridging equipment up the two-lane road. The column moves along steadily until four 88-millimeter guns and several machine guns stop the British. Lieutenant Colonel Joe Vandeleur calls for the Typhoons to swoop down and rake the German positions with rockets; Vandeleur is beside himself when he’s drolly told the planes are fogged in at their bases in Belgium. The commander of the Irish Guards shouts over the radio that the sky over his head is clear and blue. After several hours, one British reconnaissance unit works its way west, finds a crossing, and takes the German position from behind; the column begins grinding its way north again.

Four hours later the lead elements have passed through Eindhoven and reached the Son bridge; hordes of Dutch civilians crowd the roads waving and cheering. It is now 1900 hours on D Plus 1 and XXX Corps is still 32 miles from Arnhem; there is a blown bridge immediately in front of the column, the bridges at Nijmegen are still in German hands, and the Red Devils are fighting for their lives around Arnhem.

Nijmegen
While the 82nd Airborne has successfully secured bridges at Grave, Heuman, and Honinghutie, the All American’s paratroopers are still fighting to capture the Nijmegen bridge. The 82nd’s sector - 10 miles by 12 miles - is too big for Brig. Gen. James Gavin to concentrate his forces on one bridge. Gavin’s paratroopers must not only capture their objectives but also defend their drop and landing zones from vigorous German attacks.

Groesbeek Heights
The drop and landing zones east of the heights quickly become battle zones; German troops pour out of the Reichswald (the forests along the German-Dutch border) and threaten to wash over the 82nd’s perimeter. Outnumbered by up to five to one, Gavin steers his men from position to position to stem the determined Germans from swamping the drop and landing zones.

In the midst of the fighting Gavin receives two messages. First, the day’s reinforcement and supply drops have been delayed until 1400 hours; second, the Son bridge has not been crossed and there will be no link-up before D Plus 2 (Tuesday).

1400 Hours

Holland
Again the clear blue sky over Holland is darkened by seemingly endless serials of Allied transports, bombers, and gliders. Over 1,300 C-47 transports, 340 Stirling bombers, and 252 B-24 bombers thunder toward the drop and landing zones. Nearly 900 fighters provide escort; over 1,200 gliders packed with vehicles, artillery, and men complete the vast air fleet.

Because of fog in England, only one route is used. As the serials reach the traffic control point over the village of s’Hertogenbush, American formations turn south (101st) and east (82nd), while the British formations turn north to Arnhem and the 1st Airborne.

Of the 450 gliders assigned to the 101st’s landing zones, 428 land safely. General Taylor’s force is bolstered by the nearly 2,700 men he adds to his ranks, along with much-needed vehicles and ammunition.

Of the 454 gliders assigned to the 82nd’s landing zones, 385 land safely, delivering almost 1,800 artillerymen, 177 jeeps, and 60 guns. The 252 B-24s lumber over the drop zones at 50 to 800 feet, each attempting to drop two tons of supplies. While Gavin’s paratroopers retrieve 80 percent of their supplies, Taylor’s men recover less than 50 percent. Over 20 escort fighters are shot down; 11 bombers go down and another 120 are damaged.

Over the 1st Airborne’s drop zones, the sky is filled with parachutes and gliders - and it is filled with bullets and exploding shells from concentrated German fire. The Germans also have the landing zones covered with machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire. The situation is chaotic; but by some miracle, most of the paratroopers survive to take positions on the 1st Divisions perimeters. The situation is not improved when the vast majority of supplies falls into the waiting hands of the Germans.

Later that afternoon, Model visits Bittrich. The SS general tries again to convince the Field Marshal that the Nijmegen bridge must be destroyed before the Allies get across. Model is adamant: “The answer is no!” Model has ordered Col. Gen. Kurt Student’s 1st Parachute Army to hold the allies south of Nijmegen; now he orders Bittrich to secure the Arnhem bridge within 24 hours. If the British tanks are to be stopped, Model needs the tanks now battling the 1st Airborne to move south; but they can’t be moved south until the Red Devils are out of the way.

Brigadier General Harmel is busy ferrying his division across the Rhine. Harmel doesn’t have time to worry about Model’s orders; Harmel has also made a decision he shares with no one - if he gets to Nijmegen and the British threaten to cross the bridge, he will have it destroyed.

1800 Hours

Arnhem
At the bridge, Colonel Frost waited vainly for reinforcements all day. The fighting around the north end of the bridge has been vicious and personal; often small groups of men fight from room to room in burning houses, ruined gardens, and the streets themselves. Frost pins his hopes on the expected drop of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade scheduled for the next morning. With this concentrated force landing south of the bridge, the Allies can attack from both ends, and even link up with the rest of the Red Devils.