On September 17th, 1944, thinking that one swift stroke would bring Germany to its knees and end WWII in Europe, the Allies launched the largest airborne assault in history. Paratroopers from three countries - two divisions of Americans (82nd and 101st Airborne), one division of British (1st Airborne) and Poles (1st Polish Parachute Brigade) parachuted or rode gliders into Holland along a path more than 70 miles long. Their mission: to seize a series of bridges across the many rivers and canals along the route, and secure a corridor for the tanks of the British XXX Corps. The prize: the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. This objective was assigned to the British 1st Airborne, with the Polish brigade reinforcing them. The 82nd was assigned the sector to the south, between the Maas (Meuse) river and the Waal river, a branch of the Rhine, and the bridges across these (and several canals as well). The 101st had the southernmost sector, closest to the British lines; they had to seize a number of canal bridges.
They almost won.
The Germans weren't entirely the scratch force of disorganized remnants and green replacements the Allies believed to be holding the sector. A tough force of German paratroopers held the line in the south. The German formations which just a few weeks before had retreated in disarray had somewhat reorganized. And two SS Panzer divisions, the 9th and 10th, were refitting at Arnhem.
They almost lost.
Work sent me to Amsterdam (lovely city, want to go back!) in June, and knowing I might not get a better chance, I took two days vacation to visit some of the northern part of the battlefield - something I'd wanted to do ever since I first read "A Bridge Too Far". With a fading battery in my camera, a couple of maps and a very scanty knowledge of Dutch, I set out to walk some of the ground my Airborne brothers before me had.
My home base for this trip was the Hotel Courage in Nijmegen, right on the river front of the Waal and mere steps from the Waal road bridge, prime objective of the 82nd Airborne. The hotel is the brown building to the left of the Velorama, the Dutch national cycling museum. These two buildings actually date from before the war. On the hill behind the hotel stands the ruins of the Valkhof, a medieval castle built by Charlemagne (and Roman army camp before that).
These fields a few miles east of Nijmegen - and less then 3 miles from the German border - were the primary drop zone for the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the northern DZs for the 82nd Airborne. Our family friend, Bill Bladen - who also jumped into Normandy on D-Day - landed somewhere near here.
In Sicily and then in Normandy, the paratroopers had been badly scattered in night drops. Even though this jump would be in daylight, the commander of one battalion of the 508th, Lt. Col. Louis Mendez, told the pilots of the planes that would carry them here:
"Gentlemen," Mendez said coldly, "my officers know this map
of Holland and the drop zones by heart and we're ready to go. When I
brought my battalion to the briefing prior to Normandy, I had the
finest combat-ready force of its size that will ever be known. By the
time I gathered them together in Normandy, half were gone. I charge
you: put us down in Holland or put us down in hell, but put us all down
together in one place, or I will hound you to your graves."
The photo on the left is looking south; Germany lies just down the road to the left. The right photo is looking north, towards the Waal; the ground here is essentially flat all the way to the river. Just west of here is a large wooded ridge called the Grosbeek Heights, also the scene of fierce close combat.
The Germans drove the Americans off the drop zones several times, and at one point were driven off with bayonets.
There were some spectacular successes. The southern border of the 82nd's zone was the Maas River (Meuse in French), crossed by this bridge near the town of Grave. Lieutenant John S. Thompson, a company commander in the 504th, kept his stick in the plane until they were over the southern bank of the Maas. They jumped and landed not far from this spot. The 16 men then knocked out a pillbox (still standing!) just off the left of this picture, and another next to the road (right). The northern end of the bridge was secured about a half-hour later, and within an hour the 82nds' first objective was firmly in American hands. The bridge is now named after Lieutenant Thompson.
The pictures above show the center of the small town of Beek, between the 82nd's main drop zone and the Waal Bridge at Nijmegen, at the bottom of the northern end of the Grosbeek Heights. It was a major blocking position, keeping the Germans at bay as they attack ed westward along the road towards Nijmegen. Our friend Bill Bladen was wounded during the fighting here in Beek; he was eventually evacuated to England. The photo on the left is one of the few surviving buildings from before the war in town; the right shows a memorial built by the residents to the paratroopers of the 508th.
Here is what both the Germans and Americans were fighting for: the Waal bridge at Nijmegen.
The original Waal bridge collapse
d not long after the battle; this replacement was built on the same design on the same location. This shot was taken just a few hundred yards west, or downriver, from the bridg e - from the same spot as the picture above. The 82nd was supposed to seize it on the first day, and it was lightly guarded as the paratroopers hit the drop zone a few miles to the east. But they had dropped too far, and the orders and communications were confused ; by the time the first pa trols reached the bridge approaches, over 200 German troops had deployed to defend the southern end. The bridge was also wired for demolition, and the detonator well-secured on the northern side. It would take four days, British tanks and a valiant daylight river crossing before they would secure their objective.
Looking west, or down-river, to the railroad bridge, also rebuilt after the battle.
On the left below, a bit of the Nijmegen market square. You can tell this area escaped much if not all of the fighting by virtue of the fact that the buildings obviou sly pre-date the war. (The oldest parts of the church date back to 1297, and were part of a replacement for a still-older church on the site. The picture on the right is from about a block away, on the other side of the square, looking roughly south. This entire area - and much of the city for blocks in each direction - were all but flattened during the battle.
Unable to break through the German defenses in town, and knowing the British were in dire straits a few miles north in Arnhem, General James "Slim Jim" Gavin came up with a bold, if dangerous plan. Since the best way to take a bridge is from both sides at once, he would have force a river crossing downriver, west of the bridge, using boats to be supplied by the British. He tapped a battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry for this led by Major Julian Cook (played by Robert Redford in the movie "A Bridge Too Far"). They would attack at dawn.
But the boats were delayed, then de layed m ore due G erman counter-attacks and traffic jams on the narrow two-lane road leading to Nijmegen.
The men of the 504th moved eastward along the dike, securing first the railway bridge and then the north end of the Waal road bridge. The tanks of the Gr enadier Guards rumbled forward. The Germans attempted to blow the bridge, but the wires had been cut by a young member of the Dutch Resistance, Jan van Hoof, and the detonators removed by British soldiers. The Germans fell back. Jan van Hoof was killed by German fire on September 19th, while acting as a guide for Allied forces.
Memorial commemorating the river crossing; the tablet on the ground bears the names of the members of the regiment killed in action during the fight. About 50 yards from this spot on the night of the 21st, Private John Towle won the Medal of Honor for his role repelling a German counter-attack:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 21 September 1944, near Oosterhout, Holland. The rifle company in which Pvt. Towle served as rocket launcher gunner was occupying a defensive position in the west sector of the recently established Nijmegen bridgehead when a strong enemy force of approximately 100 infantry supported by 2 tanks and a half-track formed for a counterattack. With full knowledge of the disastrous consequences resulting not only to his company but to the entire bridgehead by an enemy breakthrough, Pvt. Towle immediately and without orders left his foxhole and moved 200 yards in the face of intense small-arms fire to a position on an exposed dike roadbed. From this precarious position Pvt. Towle fired his rocket launcher at and hit both tanks to his immediate front. Armored skirting on both tanks prevented penetration by the projectiles, but both vehicles withdrew slightly damaged. Still under intense fire and fully exposed to the enemy, Pvt. Towle then engaged a nearby house which 9 Germans had entered and were using as a strongpoint and with 1 round killed all 9. Hurriedly replenishing his supply of ammunition, Pvt. Towle, motivated only by his high conception of duty which called for the destruction of the enemy at any cost, then rushed approximately 125 yards through grazing enemy fire to an exposed position from which he could engage the enemy half-track with his rocket launcher. While in a kneeling position preparatory to firing on the enemy vehicle, Pvt. Towle was mortally wounded by a mortar shell. By his heroic tenacity, at the price of his life, Pvt. Towle saved the lives of many of his comrades and was directly instrumental in breaking up the enemy counterattack.Arhem lay just a few miles up the road - at the time, a single, two-lane road atop a dike, with soft polder (reclaimed land) on either side...
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