The Battle for Arnhem 1944–1945

By Anthony Tucker-Jones

A photographic history of WWII’s Operation Market Garden and the Allies’ quest for the famed “Bridge Too Far.”
 
Operation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armored charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact, it would provide the Allies with a backdoor into Germany—the famous “Bridge Too Far.”
 
This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed. Anthony Tucker-Jones’s photographic history, with a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative, describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time, British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along “Hell’s Highway” to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces.
 
Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks’ advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526730022

Anthony Tucker-Jones

Anthony Tucker-Jones, a former intelligence officer, is a highly prolific writer and military historian with well over 50 books to his name. His work has also been published in an array of magazines and online. He regularly appears on television and radio commenting on current and historical military matters.

Book preview

Chapter One

Monty’s Garden

On paper at least, Operation Market Garden looked a major undertaking involving almost a dozen Allied divisions. The ground forces comprised General O’Connor’s 8th, ritchie’s 12th and Horrocks’s 30th Corps, totalling eight divisions, of which three were armoured. However, it fell to just Horrocks’s forces to fight their way up a single road to reach Arnhem while the other corps defended his flanks. This greatly reduced the actual punch of the ground assault.

Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks initially recalled, with some enthusiasm:

On 11th September [1944] I received orders for the advance to Arnhem and realised that once again 30th Corps was to play a leading role. The outline plan was for the 2nd British Army to advance approximately seventy miles to seize the Grave-Nijmegen-Arnhem area and then penetrate still further northwards to the Zuider Zee in order to cut off all the enemy forces in the Low Countries from those in Germany. It was an exciting prospect because, if successful, it would go far to end the war as we should then be in an excellent position from which to outflank the ruhr.

During his meeting with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery the following day, at a forward airfield near the small Belgian town of Bourg-Léopold, Horrocks recalled that he was not given detailed orders, but rather briefed on an outline plan. Montgomery was convinced the German Army was still very disorganized after Normandy, and was heading for home as fast as it could go. The start date, or DDay, for Market Garden was 17 September 1944.

Horrocks’s job was to go away, with just five days to spare, and draw up his own ‘detailed orders’ for 30th Corps, which then had to be approved by Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, commander of the British 2nd Army. For Horrocks Arnhem would be a tactical battle – that was, after all, the role of a corps rather than an army headquarters.

Horrocks’s 30th Corps, which had led the race to Antwerp and Brussels, consisted of the Guards’ Armoured Division, the 43rd and 50th Infantry Divisions, 8th Armoured Brigade and a Dutch Brigade. They were to break out of their existing bridgehead over the Meuse-escaut Canal and rumble up the road through eindhoven, Grave and Nijmegen, which were to be seized by the supporting airborne troops, and on to Arnhem. Horrocks was told that a ‘carpet’ of some 30,000 airborne troops would be dropped in front of 30th Corps. ‘It was a comforting thought,’ noted Horrocks. The only problem was that the term ‘carpet’ seemed to imply some sort of passive role for the airborne divisions.

Operation Market Garden: The Plan

Although it all sounded so simple, from the start Horrocks had his reservations. Between him and Arnhem flowed not only the immense Meuse (or Maas), waal and Lower rhine (Neder rijin) rivers, but also three wide canals, which would have to be crossed first. His intelligence showed that all the bridges had been prepared for demolition by the Germans. If the paratroops failed to grab them intact, British engineers would have to bring up Bailey bridges. This would take time, and that was something Horrocks did not have. Aerial photo reconnaissance was conducted of all the bridges so that the engineers would know exactly what to expect at each location. In the Bourg-Léopold area Montgomery gathered 9,000 engineers with 2,300 vehicles and all their bridging equipment. Horrocks’s 30th Corps had a total of 20,000 vehicles.

The local Dutch terrain was not ideal for Horrocks’s tanks, as it was a combination of marsh and woodland. This meant his men would be unable to carry out all-important flanking operations to clear German defences. when he examined the maps of his route, to his horror he realised they could only advance up a single road – Highway 69. If this became blocked it would throw out his timetable, and if any of the bridges were blown it would take forever to get the engineers forward.

Horrocks and his commanders resolved to use the road like a railway. Traffic would be strictly scheduled, and their men would have to carry as much ammunition, food and petrol as they could. As they fought their way forward, traffic control posts and breakdown teams were to be established behind them. Nothing must block the route: any disabled vehicles would be simply shunted into the

Reviews for The Battle for Arnhem 1944–1945

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Battle for Arnhem 1944 – 1945 – A Bridge to FarAnthony Tucker-Jones has written an interesting account of the Battle for Arnhem using original archive pictures, most taken by the British 1st Airborne Division. These images have proven over the years to be iconic and helped to explain and define the battle. This year will be the 75th anniversary and commemoration of the Battle.The only complaint I do have is that the Polish Independent Parachute Regiment do not get a real mention. Especially as Monty would blame them for the failure of this mission, and the Poles never forgave him for it. History has shown, as does this book, Monty ignored intelligence of the Panzer Division that was at Arnhem. The Americans also opposed the operation even though they did take part. Reason I point this out, is that all the British Paratroopers were trained at Ringway Airport, Manchester, trained by the Polish Paratroopers, my Grandfather was one of those instructors who took part in Operation Market Garden.What I do like about this book, along side many of the photographs is the excellent commentary from Tucker-Jones is that he has placed this book in the wider context of the war and the push for Berlin. He also concentrates on the counter attacks the Germans undertook in defending Arnhem. While at the same time there are some interesting pictures of the POWs taken.What he does show that the intelligence failures had not made it clear that the Waffen-SS Panzer divisions involved, the 9th and 10th Divisions, whether they were at full strength. While at the same time the Panzer divisions also had their own grenadiers that were battle hardened and very experienced soldiers. Many of the Waffen-SS would fight to the death, rather than surrender, therefore making it hard for many of the Allied forces, some of whom were not as experienced on the battlefield.This is an excellent book and well worth reading.