Battle of Arnhem

On 17 September 1944 the Allies launched Operation Market Garden, dropping airborne troops along a single road in the Netherlands so that a ground column could race north over a chain of bridges and outflank Germany. At the far end, the British 1st Airborne Division landed about ten kilometres west of Arnhem, and only a small force under Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost reached the road bridge. Radios failed, the paratroopers landed near two SS panzer divisions that were resting in the area, and the ground column was held up on the single road. Frost's men held the northern end of the bridge for four days before being overrun, while the rest of the division fought on in a shrinking perimeter at Oosterbeek. On the night of 25 September the survivors were withdrawn across the river.

Arnhem has been argued over since the day it ended. Critics blame an over-ambitious plan, the decision to land a long march from the bridge, ignored aerial photographs of German armour, and Montgomery's confidence. Defenders note the gamble was meant to shorten the war and that the ground column was delayed by German resistance, not by timidity. The Dutch population paid a heavy price: the city was evacuated, and the winter of 1944 to 1945 became the Hunger Winter in the occupied north. The battle is remembered with unusual warmth in the Netherlands, where annual commemorations continue.