An Cosantóir

| 29 British paratroops with PIAT anti-tank weapon DVD cover and image taken from the movie 'A Bridge Too Far' (1977) depicting a German attempt to take back the Arnhem Bridge. © MGM/United Artists - All Rights Reserved. The town of Nijmegen and the bridge Mass deployment of paratroopers corpse of an American officer who should not have been carrying the top secret information into combat. Using this information, Model identified the Allied drop zones and immediately concentrated his forces in these areas. Armoured German units attacked British forces in Arnhem, smashing their way across the bridge. Armed with only light weapons, the British paratroopers fought with great tenacity, holding up countless German counterattacks. The British troops were also hampered by a loss of communications between the bridge at Arnhem and Divisional Headquarters. Radios that had been issued did not have the required ranges and some were set to different frequencies. As Allied ground forces made their way to relieve those airborne elements holding the bridges they were met by a determined and well entrenched enemy who knocked out many tanks with their 88mm guns, seriously delaying the advance. In addition, air support was unable to help due to bad weather. On Monday September 18th the second airlift was postponed for a number of hours due to poor weather. In the days that followed other lifts were to be cancelled as well, leaving those on the ground short of men and supplies. Having suffered heavy casualties the Germans began to bombard the town with heavy artillery and mortar fire. German SS units and British paratroopers clashed in the ruined houses of Arnhem. With little or no hope of being relieved by ground forces, British forces decided to attempt a withdrawal. Instead of being relieved after 48 hours, British paratroopers had been cut off for nine days. Any attempt by the Allies to try and relieve the beleaguered 1st Airborne was hurled back by German troops. As a result of these failures, it was decided to withdraw the remnants of the 1st Airborne from its bridgehead on the northern side of the Rhine. At dawn on Monday September 25th, the 1st Allied Airborne Division received their orders to withdraw from their positions. However, the withdrawal could only be carried out under the cover of darkness and German attacks threatened to cut off the British line of withdrawal. Fierce fighting took place throughout the day and at 2200hrs the planned withdrawal took place, with a small rear-guard covering the evacuation across the Rhine. British paratroopers, holding the north end of Arnhem Bridge surrendered their positions as soon as the evacuation was complete. Mongomery's daring plan had failed. To this day, Operation 'Market Garden' has remained a controversial battle. Allied tactics and strategy have been debated and questioned with some stating that the operation was 90% successful while others deemed it an unmitigated disaster. Although other parachute drops took place before the war ended, Operation 'Market Garden' remained the only attempt by the Allies to use airborne forces to penetrate deep behind enemy lines. Of the 10,000 men involved in the operation less than 2,000 managed to get back to Allied lines. Far from the war ending by Christmas 1944, northern Holland would not see liberation until the spring of 1945. Arnhem had proved to be 'a bridge too far'. About the author: Paul O'Brien MA is an Irish historian, author and regular contributor to An Cosantóir. He has published five books on 1916; 'Blood on the Streets: 1916 and the Battle for Mount Street Bridge', 'Uncommon Valour: 1916 and the Battle for the South Dublin Union', 'Crossfire: The Battle of the Four Courts 1916' and 'Field Of Fire: The Battle of Ashbourne 1916'. His fifth book 'Shootout: The Battle for St Stephen's Green 1916' was reviewed in our July/August 2013 issue. www.paulobrienauthor.ie www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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