The Battle of Arnhem (17-26 September 1944) was a major airborne operation of World War II carried out by the United Kingdom and Poland against Nazi Germany. The Allied Powers landed airborne troops near Arnhem, but they were met with heavy resistance from the 9th SS Panzer Division and 10th SS Panzer Division; the British XXX Corps and Polish reinforcements could not arrive due to the German destruction of the nearby bridges. As a result, the Allies suffered heavy losses, and the British 1st Airborne Division never saw action again due to losing 3/4 of its troops.
Background[]
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery devised a plan to bypass the strong Siegfried Line fortifications of Nazi Germany in late 1944, hoping to end World War II by the year's end: instead of breaking through the Siegfried Line, the Allies would advance through the Lower Rhine (the Rhine River's northern reaches) and invade the Ruhr industrial region of Germany. After Montgomery secured Antwerp, it became a possibility that the Allies could move on from Belgium and liberate the Netherlands as well. The Allies decided to launch an airborne assault on Arnhem to secure bridges across the Rhine River to end the war, and the operation took place in September.
Battle[]
The British and Polish forces of the British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Parachute Brigade landed in the wrong location, complicating their plans to secure Arnhem. In addition, the Allied forces faced two elite SS panzer divisions, and they faced heavy resistance during the battle for Arnhem; they believed that the only resistance would come from "Hitler Youth or men on bicycles", but Gerd von Rundstedt had coincidentally ordered Wilhelm Bittrich's forces to rest and resupply at the "out of the way" town of Arnhem. The Americans tried to bring up their own armor, and the British fought a bloody battle with the Germans for control of the town. In the town alone, the Germans lost 472 men and 23 vehicles while the British lost 365 men and 12 vehicles, and the battle was costly there. Reinforcements from the British XXX Corps and other Polish forces were not to arrive due to the Germans blowing up the bridges, and the Allies suffered heavy losses. General Bittrich sent a messenger to the British to offer surrender terms, but John Frost and his men rejected this; Bittrich subsequently gave the order to "flatten Arnhem". The city was all but razed as the German forces stormed the city, killing several soldiers and civilians in a display of brutality. Three quarters of the 1st Airborne Division were lost, and the division never saw action again in the war. The front line stabilized to the south of Arnhem as a result of the bloody defeat for the British, and the Germans would have the next attack in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
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