17-26 September 1944
Operation Market-Garden
As German forces retreated eastward a difference of opinion emerged between Eisenhower and the senior British commander, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. The former favored a relatively slow offensive that pushed all along the German lines, while the latter argued for trying to break the enemy lines in a series of concentrated thrusts, then rushing onward to capture certain strategic points. For the most part Eisenhower overruled Montgomery, but did authorize him to deploy three airborne divisions, plus a Polish parachute brigade, in an attempt to seize the bridge across the Rhine River at the city of Arnhem, in the Netherlands.

The attack took place on September 17 and initially achieved its objective. However, the Allies hadn’t reckoned on the presence of two German elite armored divisions in the area, which launched a deadly counterattack over the next several days. On the 21st they managed to retake the bridge at Arnhem, leaving the British 1st Airborne Division cut off east of the Rhine. Of the 10,000 men in that division, 8,000 were killed or captured. Montgomery’s gamble had turned into a disaster, causing all hopes of a quick defeat of Germany to vanish.

Histories:
The Pursuit Stops Short of the Rhine
Fighting in the North
Market-Garden

Campaign Maps:
Pursuit to the West Wall, 26 August –14 September 1944
21st Army Group Operations, 15 September – 15 December 1945

Personal Accounts:
Rutgers Oral History Archive: Interview with John T. Waters
Rutgers Oral History Archive: Interview with John F. Homan

Photographs:
Yanks of 60th Infantry Regiment advance into a Belgian town under the protection of a heavy tank, September 9, 1944
Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army, September 1944