Today, we take a look at the events that transpired during the last days of Operation Market Garden - September 21st through the 25th.  Thank you for remembering Operation Market Garden with us this week.  Remember, if you've signed up for our mailing list, you will receive an EXTRA exclusive screenshot today!

The following information is quoted from an article written by Retired Colonel William Wilson that originally appeared in the September 1994 issue of World War II.  Thanks to Colonel John Antal, US Army Ret. (our military and authenticity advisor) for making this information available.

 ^{September 21, 1944 Nijmegan.  Irish Guards of Gen.  Adair's 'Guards Armored'.  A Sherman firefly followed by 4 with the smaller 75mm gun of the earlier versions.}

Final Days of the Operation: 

"On the sixth day of the operation, we found out. The town of Veghel was to be
the German objective because destruction of the bridges there would stop traffic
for a long time. The Dutch underground had warned the Allied divisions that an
eastern force of more than 400 vehicles was moving toward Veghel and a
western force of five mobile guns was ready to strike. A ferocious battle
developed in this area.

For the men of the 82nd in Nijmegen and the British 1st in Arnhem, cutting the
road was like severing an artery. Food, ammunition and medical supplies all
stopped arriving. The men of the 101st knew they had to open the road. That day
saw a complete change in the disposition of the division, which began fighting
along a solid front concentrating in St. Oedenrode and Veghel.

Down from the north came a stronger German force made up of three parachute
battalions from the 1st and 6th Parachute regiments and a battalion from the
Hermann Göring Division-all from the best of the Luftwaffe. The road was cut.
During the night, the Americans attacked and reopened the road. It was cut
again. Both sides were taking heavy casualties.

My company fought beside the road from the ditches. There were times when
German tanks passed us and did not know we were there. We would let them go
unless we had a bazooka. Sometimes they were so close we could hear the
Germans radio communications from inside the tanks. If German infantry was
involved, it would be brought under fire immediately after passage of the tanks. If
the tanks could locate our positions, it was tough on us, but they did not like to
work without their infantry, so they would normally withdraw. (We put this
experience to great use later in Bastogne.) "
 

^{September 21, 1944 Nijmegan.  A Bren carrier towing a 6Pounder anti-tank gun.}

Timeline of September 21st - September 25th, 1944: 

 September 21st:

• The remaining of the Panzerbrigade was unloaded that morning and the brigade was at full strength now and massed together in Nuenen. From several directions, the British attacked the Germans, but all attacks failed and one Sherman after another was destroyed by heavy German fire. The Germans had changed Nuenen in a festung (fortress) and they were determined to hold it. But the British VIII corps made progress east of Eindhoven. Its 11 tank divison reached the line Heeze - Someren and was nearly ready to attack the Panzerbrigade in its back.

• On 21 September, Dutch civilians told soldiers of American 506 PIR that the Germans had left Nuenen and were heading for Helmond. At 10.30 hour Nuenen and the area around was free of Germans. The tanks of the Hussars found no resistance at all. All Germans were gone! Why? The answer was given soon. At 16.00 hours, everybody in Nuenen heard the rattling sound of tank tracks. Germans again? No, Shermans of the 23 battalion Hussars 11 tank division. This division had liberated Geldrop and nearly attacked the Germans in the back. That evening civilians reported that German Panther tanks crossed the bridge over the Zuid  Willemsvaart and disappeared in the dark. All bridges were  blown up by the Germans.

• In the 101st area, German attacks continued all along the route, but by this point, the Allied forces had clearly started to gain the upper hand. Not only were the Germans attacks stalled, the British and 101st continued to take more and more area.
  

September 22nd (Black Friday): 

•  Bad weather prohibits supply by air.
  

• During the previous night, the Germans organized two mixed armored divisions on either side of highway 69 at about the middle of the line between Veghel and Grave. Near Veghel 14 km. north of Son, the corridor was very narrow and Field Marshall Model, ordered a counter attack right there. The Germans had Kampfgruppe Walther available and, very important, the 107 panzerbrigade. Also a battalion of 180th Infantry Division. On 22 September, British reconnaissance cars spotted 4 Panthers heading for the corridor near Veghel. At 12.00 hours, the Panthers reached the corridor northeast of Veghel. That was that. Piece of cake. The corridor was cut off!
  

• The German attack along the Uden and Veghel Corridor from the east blocks all traffic for 24 hours. A Brigade of the Guards is sent back from Nijmegen to Veghel to give support to the 101st from the north. Any advance on Arnhem was now impossible.
  

September 23rd:

• To the south, several more German attacks were stopped, but the road was still cut. Kampgruppe Walther attacked 2 battalion of 501 regiment (101 airborne). It was raining and fighting was very heavy: man-to-man. Panthers knocked out several Shermans and a Firefly Tank Destroyer but also lost a Panther, which was shot from behind. In that fight, major von Plüskow, commander of the Panther abteilung, was killed. Kampfgruppe Walther withdrew. Another Panther was abandoned because of fuel shortage.

• XXX Corps then sent a unit of the Guards Armored south the 20km and re-took the road. In the afternoon, the Corridor is open once again.
  

• In Arnhem, the Germans had figured out what the Poles were attempting to do, and spent the rest of the day trying to cut the British off from the riverside. The British managed to hold on, and both sides suffered heavy losses. The Germans also attacked the Poles on the south side in order to tie them down, but several tanks arrived from XXX Corps and they were beaten off. Boats and engineers from the Canadian army arrived that day, and another river crossing that night landed another 150 troops of the Polish 3rd Parachute Battalion.
  

September 24th:

• The British infantry and the Polish paratroops try to cross the Rhine at night, but fail.

• Yet another German force attacked the road and the Corridor is blocked for the second time by the Germans, this time between St. Oedenrode and Veghel. Several units were in the area, but were unable to stop them, and the Germans quickly set up defensive positions for the night.

• It was not clear to the Allies at this point how much of a danger these actions represented.

• It was on this day that the operation was essentially stopped and the decision made to go over to the defense.

September 25th: 

• The Corridor remains blocked. The newly arrived 50th British Infantry attacked the Germans holding the highway. By the next day they had been surrounded and their resistance ended. The corridor was now secure, but with nowhere to go.

• During the evening and the night: At 10pm, the withdrawal of the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division began, as British and Canadian engineer units ferried the troops across the Rhine, covered by the Polish 3rd Parachute Battalion on the north bank. By early the next morning, they had withdrawn some 2000 of them, but another 300 were still on the north at first light when German fire stopped the effort. They surrendered. Of the 10,000 troops of the 1st Airborne Division, only 2,000 escaped.

 ^{September 21, 1944 Nijmegan.  Tanks of the British Guards Armored Division crossing the bridge of the river Waal in Nijmegan.}

 Epilogue: October 3, 1944

"On October 3, my battalion was ordered forward to the town of Opheusden to
take over a section of the front line from the British 43rd Division. By count, my
battalion received the heaviest artillery barrages of the Holland campaign. I was
in battalion headquarters in the center of town, and for 18 hours there was no
respite from shelling. The 321st Field Artillery Battalion provided us support and
fired 2,600 counter-battery rounds that day. The punishment was severe.

We were ordered to withdraw through the lines of the 3rd Battalion, which had
established defensive positions 1,200 yards to the rear. Evacuation of the
seriously wounded was a problem. There were 120 who had to be carried and
more who could walk with assistance. They were lying in the basements of
houses along the last street, hoping we could hold at least that much of the
village. The regimental surgeon sent six jeeps in after dark, and they successfully
evacuated 20 of the litter patients. Six captured Germans were used to carry out
three more wounded, and the rest were evacuated using the seat carry method
with the M-1 rifle, a painful process for many of the wounded.

About 4 o'clock that morning, we dropped from exhaustion in an open field.
Sentries manned the perimeter. At dawn, the sentries spotted movement across
the field. When the sentries heard the troops speaking German, they opened fire.
As we discovered, a German battalion had bivouacked in an adjoining field. Our
battalion quickly moved into action. B Company circled left and brought flanking
fire on the German unit, and our mortars zeroed in and fired several punishing
concentrations. The Germans surrendered. We captured many more Germans
that morning than we had men in the battalion. If they had known what they were
up against, they probably wouldn't have surrendered.

I was returning alone across the field when I saw the body of Sergeant Mullins.
We had both been assigned to the regiment in the summer of 1942, and he had
been my platoon sergeant for two years. We had trained our eight machine-gun
squads together, taking them through jump school and jumping with them into
Normandy. When I was wounded, I left the platoon, and I hadn't seen him in
several months. I had more respect for Mullins than any subordinate I had ever
known. Mullins was a big man -- over 6 feet, 200 pounds and not an ounce of fat.
He was like a mother hen to our men and probably died trying to protect one of
them. I closed his eyes, cried over his body and left him where he fell. I could do
no more. The battalion, meanwhile, was marching toward Hell's Highway and
another battle. I ran to catch up with them.

Company C had lost all its officers. They had jumped in with 120 men; only 20
were left. I was sent down to take over the company, which made me the proud
commander of two understrength squads.

During the remaining days of the operation, the British 1st Airborne Division
suffered the fate that all paratroopers fear -- the link-up force could not break
through to them. With their backs to the river, the paratroopers were cut off and
surrounded. The greatly superior German forces steadily pushed them back until
the division was confined to a small perimeter west of Arnhem and north of the
lower Rhine. Their continued resistance in that impossible situation is one of the
most heroic in modern warfare. The Allied commanders decided that future
resistance at Arnhem was not justified, and with a gallant effort, using canvas
rafts and improvised floats, withdrew the survivors across the river at night. The
British had taken 10,095 men north of the Lower Rhine -- 3,490 came back after
eight days of fighting.

There was no question that Operation Market Garden was a gallant failure. It had
not placed the Allies across the Rhine, nor had it encircled the German armies in
Holland. It had not bared the right flank of the Siegfried Line.

Though the operation as a whole was a failure, there were some gains. The
Allies' northern flank was advanced 65 miles over a series of rigid obstacles-
specifically, two canals and two rivers. Large parts of Holland were liberated,
making it possible for the strategic port of Antwerp to be reopened. After 10 days,
the campaign became one of normal combat operations. The assault and
counterattacks had drained the forces of both sides. The battle now was an
anticlimax. The airborne forces assumed their mission of assault was over and
that they would be withdrawn and outfitted for another parachute operation. But
that did not happen. The British did not have sufficient forces to hold. The First
Allied Airborne Army was not relieved until 71 days after it jumped into Holland.

...

As my company rode through Veghel, Uden, and Eindhoven, the Dutch
recognized the 101st "Screaming Eagle" shoulder patches on our uniforms. They
also recognized the "All American" shoulder patch of the 82nd. They stopped
repairing their damaged buildings and shouted "September 17." The Dutch had
not forgotten that the American and British airborne divisions were the first to free
them. "

^{click for a larger image.}

This is the fifth shot of five exclusives that will be released on Gearboxity this week.  If you sign up for our mailing list (on the top left of the main page), you'll receive an extra exclusive screenshot LATER TODAY, so sign up now!

Further Resources:

A video about this day in Market Garden can be seen by clicking this link .  Gearboxity also offers the words of veteran Ed Peniche in our exclusive video series , and a briefing of Operation Market Garden from the Colonel.  For further reading, see:
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, The Epic of the 101st Airborne by
David J. Phillips, and Hell's Highway by George Koskimaki.

 Discuss this feature on our forums!

Today, we take a look at the events that transpired on the fourth day of Operation Market Garden - September 20th.  Stay tuned with us all week as we detail the history of Market Garden and release exclusive brand new screens from Hell's Highway each day.

The following information is quoted from an article written by Retired Colonel William Wilson that originally appeared in the September 1994 issue of World War II.  Thanks to Colonel John Antal, US Army Ret. (our military and authenticity advisor) for making this information available.

 ^{PAN Resistance members escorting German POWs during Market Garden.}

Running Short: 

 "The fourth day, Allied supplies were short and getting shorter.
There was only a 30 percent recovery of the paradrop that day -- no gas and only
one meal for the troops. On the morning of the fourth day, 30 ambulances and
four 2 1/2-ton trucks took the division wounded through to the evac hospital in
Belgium. From the fourth day on, the 101st was aware that the Germans would
attempt to cut the corridor, stop the flow of traffic and deal, at leisure, with the
82nd in Nijmegen and the British 1st in Arnhem. A battalion of the 82nd's 504th
Parachute Regiment, commanded by Major Julian A. Cook, had mounted four
devastation attacks before raising the American flag on the north side of the
Nijmegen bridge. The airborne divisions could not be everywhere. Some sections
of road were completely unguarded. Tension mounted; when and where would
the Germans strike? "

^{Thousands of paratroopers drift earthward during the invasion of Holland while planes fly overhead.}

Timeline of September 20, 1944: 

• This day the road from Eindhoven to Nijmegen got the name
  Hell's Highway. Why? Because the allied line was very narrow,
  only this road! In addition, the Germans crossed that line
  more than once and it was really hard fighting. German
  soldiers attacked in the morning the road to Nijmegen. They
  attacked south of Son. They had very little cover and the
  Americans used their 75 mm howitzers. The German tanks
  and half-tracks could hardly be used because of the wet and
  muddy fields. The Germans were not able to cut the lifeline
  of the allies, but they reached their goal: delay. All traffic on
  the road came to a halt and black clouds of vehicles being hit
  were seen from far distance. The British came with their
  Cromwells and found some diversion to attack the Germans.
  Several Cromwells were knocked out and some drove on a
  mine. The Germans fired the road to Nijmegen with Panthers
  and STU' s and the Allies losses were heavy. The Germans
  also lost some tanks due to fuel shortage and they were
  counterattacked from several directions. They withdrew. The
  British attacked from Eindhoven and at 12.00 hour the
  Germans were driven back en they had lost 158 men. The
  fighting took 5 hours and all traffic had come to a halt during
  that time. The British were numerical superior to the
  Germans and came with their 44th tankbataillon and their
  Hussar tankbataillon. They also had some Sextons. The small
  village Nederwetten was conquered and the Germans lost 2
  Panthers and had to withdraw to Nuenen. The promise given
  to von Mahltzahn that he would receive fuel for his brigade
  was broken. He had lost 9 Panthers in total and some just
  because of fuel shortage.

• The British para's on the bridge in Arnhem, although heavily
  attacked, are still holding out. Around noon, the radios
  started working and they learned that the rest of the
  division had no hopes of relieving them, and that XXX Corps
  was stuck to their south in front of Nijmegen bridge. By the
  afternoon, the Germans had complete control of the Arnhem
  bridge and started setting fire to the houses the British
  were defending. The rest of the division had now set up
  defensive positions in Oosterbeek to the west of Arnhem,
  waiting for the arrival of XXX Corps.

• In Nijmegen, the boats still had not arrived during the night,
  so the troops continued to wait. They did not arrive until the
  afternoon, but time was so short they decided to do the
  crossing in daylight. In what is generally considered to be one
  of the bravest actions in military history, they made the
  crossing in 26 rowboats into well-defended positions. They
  took the banks and pressed to the bridge, which caused the
  Germans to pull back from their positions on the southern
  side. That freed the Guards Armored, who rushed across the
  bridge and met the airborne troops. Nijmegen bridge over
  the River Waal was now in Allied hands after four long days.

• Continuing the advance towards Arnhem is pointless because
  the 43rd Infantry Division has not yet arrived.

• The Germans attack against the 101st at the bridge in Son but
  are defeated. Running battles between the 101st and various
  German units continued, eventually with several Panthers once
  again rushing in and cutting off the roads, only leaving when
  they ran low on ammunition.

• Supply from the air is more successful today, especially near
  Overasselt. 
  
  

This is the fourth shot of five exclusives that will be released on Gearboxity this week.  If you sign up for our mailing list (on the top left of the main page), you'll receive an extra exclusive screenshot this Friday, so sign up now!

Further Resources:

A video about this day in Market Garden can be seen by clicking this link .  Gearboxity also offers the words of veteran Ed Peniche in our exclusive video series , and a briefing of Operation Market Garden from the Colonel.  For further reading, see:
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, The Epic of the 101st Airborne by
David J. Phillips, and Hell's Highway by George Koskimaki.

Today, we take a look at the events that transpired on the third day of Operation Market Garden - September 19th.  Stay tuned with us all week as we detail the history of Market Garden and release exclusive brand new screens from Hell's Highway each day.

The following information is quoted from an article written by Retired Colonel William Wilson that originally appeared in the September 1994 issue of World War II.  Thanks to Colonel John Antal, US Army Ret. (our military and authenticity advisor) for making this information available.

^{In the night of 19 September 1944, the center of Eindhoven was bombed by 85 bombers of the Luftwaffe.  More than 200 people were killed.}

A Bridge Too Far:  

" At 6:45 the following morning, the British Guards Armored Division thudded
across the bridge. The 36 hours lost by the British armor may have been the
main cause of the annihilation of the British airborne division that was trying to
hold at Arnhem. British Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning of tactical command told
General Montgomery before the operation, "I think we may be going a bridge too
far."

Meanwhile, the British 1st Airborne Division across the Lower Rhine River at
Arnhem was desperate. The British had landed in an area where there were
more German troops than in all the American areas to the south. The 9th and
10th SS Panzer divisions were refitting in Arnhem and were deployed
immediately against the British. German reinforcements came in faster than the
British airborne reinforcements, which were delayed by bad weather. British
supplies were accidentally paradropped into enemy hands, and they had not
been able to seize the bridge that would give them contact with the south bank of
the river.

The airborne landings in Holland did not come as a complete surprise to the
German high command, whose members knew that the Allies had large numbers
of airborne forces to be committed. The Germans, however, had expected the
airborne landings to be close to a coastal area for easy link-up with amphibious
force operations. They were mildly shocked by the events of September 17, but
they immediately saw the significance of the Rhine crossing in the north and
each day took more extensive countermeasures.

The airborne landings had been made in the sector of the First German
Parachute Army, and that formidable force went into immediate action. On the
second day, an armored brigade and two Volksgrenadier divisions started for the
corridor. The German strategy was to contain its base and cut the road as soon
as possible. "

 ^{A Dutch commando transporting 101st Airborne troops during the fighting outside Eindhoven.}

Timeline of September 19, 1944: 

• Units of the 101st sent to take Best the day before found
  themselves facing a renewed attack that morning and gave
  ground. However, as more British tanks arrived the Germans
  were beaten off by late afternoon. Later a small force of
  Panthers arrived at Son, seemingly out of nowhere, and
  started firing on the Bailey bridge. These too were beaten
  back by anti-tank guns that recently landed, and the bridge
  was secured.
  

• The British Paratroopers attempting to reach the men
  isolated on the bridge in Arnhem meet heavy resistance and
  retire, having suffered severe losses, from Arnhem to
  Oosterbeek.

• The attempted supply by air near Arnhem fails and a similar
  operation near Groesbeek and Son is hindered by bad
  visibility.

• By 6.15hrs the 33 meters-long Bailey bridge built over the
  Wilhelmina Canal in Son is finished and the army can continue
  its advance.

• The Germans near Son were fighting the American para's of
  101stAirborne Division. They were told that a new German
  tank unit would attack from the east. But nothing had
  happened. The German general Poppe who commanded 59th
  infantry division, was disappointed. His division only had
  attacked and had lost 1700 men as prisoners. No wonder, the
  British had come with their Cromwell tanks. But where are
  our Panthers? In the afternoon of 19th September von
  Mahltzahn studied the map. He commanded his tanks to
  advance to the bridge in Son. There were several possibilities
  to reach the bridge, but he decided to use the channel dike.
  It was very difficult for the tank drivers to maneuver over
  that small dike, but there was no choice. The commander of
  this group of Panther tanks was lieutenant Brockdorff -
  Ahlefeld. Through his binoculars, he saw tanks, trucks on the
  road to Nijmegen. He also saw British soldiers smoking
  cigarettes, sitting on the ground, drinking a cup of tea. No
  one had noticed the Panthers! Incredible. A complete
  surprise. Vorwärts männer! One by one the Panthers turned
  left. On their right, there was the Wilhelmina channel and on
  their left there were trees and bushes. They were driving on
  the dike and there was no protection, no turning back and no
  choice. A real risk. It is 17.00 hour afternoon.

• Market Garden is now way behind schedule. In the afternoon,
  the Guards Armored Division reaches Nijmegen but cannot
  continue because the bridge over the River Waal is not yet
  captured.

• At 19.10hrs, the Luftwaffe starts bombing Eindhoven. 227
  people are killed and hundreds are wounded.

• The British tanks reached Grave near Nijmegen and made contact with 82nd. Airborne Division. Then, they halted because of 10th SS tank division and the bridge over the river Waal that had to be crossed.

This is the third shot of five exclusives that will be released on Gearboxity this week.  If you sign up for our mailing list (on the top left of the main page), you'll receive an extra exclusive screenshot this Friday, so sign up now!

Further Resources:

A video about this day in Market Garden can be seen by clicking this link .  Gearboxity also offers the words of veteran Ed Peniche in our exclusive video series , and a briefing of Operation Market Garden from the Colonel.  For further reading, see:
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, The Epic of the 101st Airborne by
David J. Phillips, and Hell's Highway by George Koskimaki.

Today, we take a look at the events that transpired on the second day of Operation Market Garden - September 18th.  Stay tuned with us all week as we detail the history of Market Garden and release exclusive brand new screens from Hell's Highway each day.

^{September 18, 1944 Eindhoven.  British Cruiser Tank MKV111 Cromwell and its crew.  The driver is on the extreme right with his goggles on.}

Eindhoven Liberated: 

"It rained during the night, but the second day of the operation dawned clear. ...

The 3rd Battalion led the way, and 600 yards beyond the line of departure the
battalion encountered rifle and machine-gun fire. For about two miles, the 3rd
Battalion butted its way through, either driving the enemy back with gunfire or
eliminating them where they were. When it reached Eindhoven, the battalion
came under direct fire from two 88s and mortars positioned in the main street,
effectively stopping all movement. Colonel Sink flanked the guns from the left
with the 2nd Battalion. A Dutchman joined the Americans and promised to lead
them to the 88mm battery. Then a Dutch woman signaled from a window that
some Germans were approaching. Eventually, with the help of the Dutch citizens,
the guns were knocked out. In the process, the troopers took 31 prisoners, killed
13 Germans and suffered only two casualties.

Suddenly, the German resistance stopped -- or at least it seemed so to me.

Eindhoven was free, the first Dutch city to be liberated. Joyfully, its inhabitants
crowded around the paratroopers and orange streamers appeared everywhere.
The 506th Parachute Regiment made contact with the British XXX Corps at
noon. The British were told to move their Bailey bridge unit to the head of the
column because of the destruction of the Zon bridge. They were still five miles
south of Eindhoven. At that time, the 506th held the center of town and was
sitting on the four bridges over the Dommel River. The Germans had stopped
fighting in order to withdraw and avoid the night bombing of the city. It was a sad
ending to a glorious day. The enemy bombers, unhampered by anti-aircraft fire,
leisurely circled and bombed the central part of the city indiscriminately. We
pulled women and children from their blazing homes and tried to remove the
dying from the rubble. Eindhoven, a city of 130,000 suffered more than 1,000
civilian casualties that night, including 200 dead."

^{Eindhoven liberated September 18, 1944}

 Timeline of September 18, 1944:

• With the onset of fog it is already afternoon before reinforcements
  and supplies arrive.

• 88 mm. guns stopped the complete XXX corps for several hours.

• Near Arnhem, British para's are advancing to try to reinforce troops
  at the bridge, but they only get as far as the western edge of the
  city.

• The 101st, faced with the loss of the bridge at Son, attempted to
  take the similar bridge a few kilometers away at Best. However, they
  found their approach heavily blocked, and eventually gave up. Other
  units continued moving to the south and eventually reached the
  northern end of Eindhoven. At about noon they were met by recce
  units from 30 Corps. At 16:00 hrs, they made radio contact with the
  main force to the south and told them about the Son bridge, asking
  for a Bailey bridge to be brought forward.

• Eindhoven is being liberated by the 101st Airborne Division. The first
  radio contact between the Americans and a patrol of the Guards
  Armored Division is made at 11.15hrs and they make physical contact
  in Woensel at about 12.15hrs. In the late afternoon, the army arrives
  in the southern outskirts of Eindhoven.

• Lt. Col. Cole was killed during the fights for the bridge in Best.

• On the 19th, the fights were in the close vicinity of the Son bridge.
  Joe Mann, with both upper limbs being in arm slings, was sheltering in
  a trench together with six other wounded men, when a German hand
  grenade landed close to him. Being unable to use his arms because of
  the wound dressings, he shouted "Grenade!"; lay back to take the main
  force of the explosion with his body and a few moments later was
  dead. Although a few of his comrades received shrapnel wounds, he
  had saved their lives. For this courageous deed, Joe Mann was
  posthumously awarded the highest American order, "The
  Congressional Medal of Honor". In the woods at the Boslaan Zuid, in
  the immediate vicinity of the bridge where his heroic act took place, a
  memorial stone was unveiled in 1984 by Joe's sister.

• The main body of XXX Corps soon arrived in Eindhoven, and by that
  night were camped out south of Son while they waited for the Royal
  Engineers to erect the new bridge.  At about 21.00hrs the British Royal Engineers start building a Bailey bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal in Son. Thus ended Day 2, with the operation already 36 hours behind schedule and both primary bridges still in German control.

In this first entry of Gearbox's Market Garden Week, we take a look at the events that transpired on the first day of Operation Market Garden - September 17th.  Stay tuned with us all week as we detail the history of Market Garden and release exclusive brand new screens from Hell's Highway each day.

The following information is quoted from an article written by Retired Colonel William Wilson that originally appeared in the September 1994 issue of World War II.  Thanks to Colonel John Antal, US Army Ret. (our military and authenticity advisor) for making this information available.

On the 101st Airborne in Market Garden:

"The 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles, were veterans of D-day.  In Normandy, the division had been scattered during the drop and it had taken several days before the majority of the men were in their own outfit.

In Operation Market Garden, the division was the first division that would link up with XXX-corps at Eindhoven. The division's primary targets were the bridge across the Wilhelmschannel at Son, two smaller bridges across the Dommel at St. Oedenrode and four bridges across the Aa and Zouth Wilhelmsvaart in Veghel.

The 506th would land North-east of Son on DZ A. The 501st had to land between Schijndel and Best on DZ B. The 502nd would land east of the other regiments just above Best on DZ C. The 326th Engineer Battalion is divided over the three drop zones.

Elements of the 506th have to rush towards the bridge at Son right after the landing. The 502nd will be the reserve of the division but also needs to take St. Oederode and the two bridges there. Overall, 6,641 men of the 101st division would land in Holland on September 17th 1944."

^{September 17, 1944 Grave.  82nd Airborne forces drop, the Glider borne element having landed previously in the abandoned Waco Hadrian gliders in the forefront.}

The Bridge at Son:

"In daylight, we were easier for Luftwaffe interceptors to find, but none came
close. The daylight air gamble had paid off. There was no breaking of formation;
no evasive action as there had been in Normandy. Even as motors started to
burst into flame and wings began to break, pilots held their planes in place for the
crucial seconds that gave the paratroopers a chance to jump at the assigned
zones. Entire regiments came down in full view of each other. We landed close to
our men and weapons. It was the most successful jump the division had ever
made, either in training or in combat. Between 1 and 1:30 p.m., 6,769 men were
placed in their correct drop zones with less than 2 percent casualties. That was
the way a war should be fought! My whole attitude changed-temporarily.

After removing my parachute, I saw Major LaPrade, my battalion commander,
and Colonel Sink, the regimental commander, at the checkpoint on the southern
edge of the drop zone. They had previously agreed that, as quickly as possible,
the paratroopers would be formed into 15-man groups, placed under an officer

and hurried south to seize the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal. Timing was
crucial in this part of the operation; minutes counted. I became part of the second
group, led by Captain Mo Davis, commander of A Company. We moved on the
double toward the bridge. About 200 yards out, we received heavy German
88mm artillery fire, including flak that hit in the trees above us. We were forced to
the ground, taking casualties from tree bursts. Davis was hit, and as his wound
was being treated, the medic was also struck by a bullet. Davis said, "You better
hurry up, medic. They're gaining on you."

It was Mo Davis' third wound. He and I had come out of Normandy on stretchers,
side by side on the same boat two days after our jump on June 5. In Normandy,
he had been wounded in the chest and shoulder. We went to the same hospital
and after a few days, we raised enough hell to be released. I won't forget Mo
Davis. He was older, a big man, and his presence instilled confidence and
determination in the company. As Davis was receiving treatment for his wound, a
deafening explosion occurred at the canal bridge. I looked up and saw pieces of
the bridge hurtling hundreds of feet into the air. I rushed on with my men and
reached the canal in time to see three dazed German soldiers near the remains
of the bridge, one of them with a hand-crank demolition detonator."

Timeline of September 17, 1944: 

• Early in the morning, several targets in the Netherlands are being
  attacked by more than 1,700 bombers and fighters of the R.A.F.
  Bomber Command, Fighter Command and the Second Tactical Air
  Force (2nd TAF) and of the American 8th Air Force.

• At 9.45hrs, the first of a total of 2,023 transport airplanes and tugs
  towing gliders take off from 24 airfields in England to transport the
  airborne troops to the landing areas in the Netherlands. In total
  20,000 men, 511 vehicles, 330 guns and 590 tons of material are flown
  over.

• Between 13.00 and 14.00hrs the lst British Airborne Division is
  dropped near Arnhem and Oosterbeek, the US 82nd Airborne Division
  near Nijmegen and Grave and the US 101st Airborne Division near Son
  and Veghel.

• The bridge over the River Meuse near Grave is occupied by the 82nd
  and the bridges in the sector of the 101st are taken undamaged,
  except for the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal in Son which is blown
  up by the Germans just before the para's arrive.

• After the start of the landings General Brian Horrocks of the British
  XXX Army Corps gives the order to attack. At 14.15hrs about 350
  guns, positioned in a mile-wide front near the Kempish Canal in
  Belgium, open fire on the German lines.

• Radio Oranje calls upon personnel of the Dutch Railways to strike in
  order to stop German railway traffic.

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This is the first shot of five exclusives that will be released on Gearboxity this week.  If you sign up for our mailing list (on the top left of the main page), you'll receive an extra exclusive screenshot this Friday, so sign up now!

Further Resources:

A video about this day in Market Garden can be seen by clicking this link .  Gearboxity also offers the words of veteran Ed Peniche in our exclusive video series , and a briefing of Operation Market Garden from the Colonel.  For further reading, see:
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, The Epic of the 101st Airborne by
David J. Phillips, and Hell's Highway by George Koskimaki. 

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