Operation Pegasus occurred on the night of 22–23 October 1944 when the US 101st Airborne Division, the Dutch Resistance, and the Royal Canadian Engineers helped evacuate survivors of the British 1st Airborne Division from German-occupied territory in the Netherlands following Operation Market Garden.
The operation was masterminded by MI9 agent Airey Neave and executed with the help of Allied ground forces and the Dutch Resistance. The fighting north of the Rhine in September 1944 had forced the British 1st Airborne Division to withdraw, leaving several thousand men behind. While several hundred were able to avoid capture and go into hiding with the help of thet Resistance, they became stranded when it became clear that the Allies would not cross the Rhine that year. On the night of 22–23 October 1944, the 138 stranded Britons at Renkum attempted to make their escape as the Germans evacuated the villages near Arnhem. The Americans and Canadians sent to help the British managed to evacuate all but one of them, a Russian who was captured by the Germans. The Germans responded with inaccurate mortar fire, failing to harm any escapees. The British returned to Nijmegen, where Lieutenant-Colonel David Dobie arranged for a warm reception complete with champagne. On 18 November 1944, the Allies arranged a second Pegasus operation to evacuate additional soldiers trapped near Arnhem. However, the publication of the first operation's details in a newspaper alerted the Germans to the Allies' methods of helping the stranded Britons, and they strengthened their patrols along the river. the second operation failed as the King's Own Scottish Borderers stumbled across a German patrol, leaving over 20 men dead. 7 Britons were able to escape, but the Germans were able to capture several eveaders and kill or capture most of the Resistance's Dutch guides.