The Story
Hold Until Relief
On September 17, 1944, British paratroopers and glider troops came down west of Arnhem. The drop was orderly, but it gave away time and distance. The bridge was the prize, and Frost's 2nd Battalion moved hard toward it while other battalions ran into German resistance, traffic, confusion, and broken communication.
Frost's men reached the north end of Arnhem road bridge and dug into houses, rubble, and buildings around the approach. They expected relief from the south. Instead, they faced German counterattacks, armored cars, tanks, artillery, and infantry trying to crush the bridgehead before XXX Corps could arrive.
The radios were a disaster. Sets that were supposed to connect the scattered airborne force often failed in the wooded and urban terrain. Commanders could not see the whole fight. Units that needed to coordinate were reduced to runners, fragments of messages, and local initiative.
South of Arnhem, XXX Corps had its own battle. The advance had to move along one main road, vulnerable to mines, wrecks, traffic jams, blown bridges, German rearguards, and counterattacks along the flanks. The plan had imagined fast movement. The road delivered delay.
At the bridge, Frost's perimeter shrank. Ammunition, water, medical supplies, and men ran down. The battalion held far longer than the situation allowed, but relief never reached them. West of town, the remainder of the division formed a defensive pocket around Oosterbeek and was eventually evacuated across the Rhine.
Market Garden captured ground and bridges, but not Arnhem. The failure left the Allies short of a crossing over the Lower Rhine, and the war in northwest Europe continued into 1945.
