Battle in World War II-Market Garden

The biggest airborne battle in World War II-Market Garden Battle

On June 6th, after the allied forces landed in Normandy 1944 and opened up the second battlefield, in order to defeat Nazi Germany as soon as possible and end the war that lasted for many years, Marshal Montgomery of England put forward a plan code-named operation market garden to Eisenhower. On the one hand, this plan was put forward because of the competition between Montessori and American general Barton, and on the other hand, because the American Third Army led by Barton made rapid progress, Montessori resented it. He disagreed with Eisenhower's large-scale frontal attack strategy. Another reason is that Hitler launched a missile attack (V2 rocket) on the British mainland. Intelligence pointed out that the rocket launch site may be located in the Netherlands. In order to avoid the pressure of British public opinion, Churchill also agreed to this attack plan to eliminate the missile threat.

Market garden operations, in which the market refers to airborne troops; The garden refers to the ground troops. In the plan, three airborne troops are the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States and 10 1 Airborne Division respectively, and form the first airborne regiment with the first airborne division of the United Kingdom. Paratroopers first parachuted behind enemy lines and occupied five bridges across the Rhine. After consolidation, wait for the armored forces to arrive and meet, and then enter the German border in one fell swoop. Then the main force will sweep across Ruhr-gebiet, making the German economy lose its lifeline and ending the war ahead of schedule.

Specific plan of Market Garden: Allied Forces 1 Airborne Group Army (under the jurisdiction of US Army 82nd, 1 0/Airborne Division, British Army 1 Airborne Division, Poland1Paratrooper Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant General L.H. Brayton) will leave Egypt 30 minutes before the ground forces attack. In order to seize the bridges of Wilhelmina Canal, South Williams Canal, Mas River, Mas River-Val River Canal, Val River and Lower Rhine River, 1 division will be mobilized again, and then Anan will be parachuted after occupying the airport (code name "Market"), so as to ensure that the ground troops (Dempsey Second Army marched into Anan and joined the airborne troops; A semi-armored division and two semi-infantry divisions of the 30 th Army of Hodros served as the main forwards; 12 an armored division and two infantry divisions are responsible for covering the left wing of the 30 th Army; An armored division and a half-infantry division of the Eighth Army defended the right wing of the 30th Army and headed for the right bank of the lower Rhine River (code name "Garden"). Airborne troops took off from England and parachuted in three batches by two routes. These departments * * * 1.5 million people.

This plan is the product of the struggle between the United States and Britain for military command and the distribution and use of materials. Montgomery's real purpose is Berlin. After occupying Anan, his second army and four semi-airborne divisions bypassed the northern Ruhr area and crossed the northern German plain to Berlin. Hodges's Third Army arrived in Cologne from the East Road via Aachen, defended the Ruhr area from the south and attacked Berlin after joining forces with Dempsey.

At first, this plan was strongly opposed by American generals. Bradley thinks the plan is full of tricks, deception and risky strategies, which is almost unlike Montgomery's handwriting. However, due to the pressure from the allies, Eisenhower agreed to this plan. However, contrary to expectations, due to over-optimism, Montgomery's intelligence department ignored the information that there were armed SS armored units stationed in the Netherlands, and the communication and coordination between the various forces after the war, which led to the final failure of the campaign.

On September 17, from 12: 30 to 14: 05, about 1550 transport planes and nearly 500 gliders were airborne by airborne division assault echelon, and the cover force was1/Kloc-0. 18, 1360 transport plane, 1203 glider airlifted the follow-up echelon of each division. The US 10 1 Airborne Division parachuted in Fisher. On the same day, it captured the nearby South Williams Canal Bridge and occupied Zongzhen. 18, rendezvous with the ground vanguard and capture Eindhoven before the end of the day. The 82nd Airborne Division of the United States parachuted in Graves, captured the Mas River and the Mas River-Val River Canal Bridge on the same day, joined the ground vanguard on June 5438+09, and captured the Val River Bridge near Nijmegen before the end of the 20th. British 1 Airborne Division parachuted in Anan (0/2 miles away from the scheduled target/KLOC-0, ready to occupy the bridge on foot). German armored forces and infantry fought back fiercely, failed to capture the Rhine Bridge and were forced to turn to defense. The follow-up echelon of the division and the Polish paratroopers 1 brigade parachuted on the south bank of the lower Rhine River on 2 1 day were killed and wounded by the Germans. On the night of 25th, the division retreated to the south bank of the Rhine. At dawn the next day, more than 6000 people who didn't cross the river were captured. This battle was the biggest airborne battle in World War II. Allied forces dispatched more than 5,500 transport planes, more than 2,400 gliders, more than 35,000 people parachuted behind enemy lines, 568 guns, 65,438 vehicles +0.927 vehicles, 5,230 tons of materials, about 1.47 million airborne troops and 3,300 German troops. Due to the misjudgment of Anand German army, the airborne area was too far away from the target, and the ground troops made slow progress, so the Allies failed to achieve the expected goal. Turn from iron to blood/

In the movie "Hating the Bridge", the British Airborne Division 1 parachuted into Anan has been unable to get in touch with a battalion parachuted into the Rhine Bridge, resulting in most of this battalion (played by Anthony Hopkins) being annihilated after seven days, and there is no contact with other troops on the ground, with no heavy weapons and ammunition, and there is a shortage of materials. After the ninth day, they were forced to retreat (at this time, the ground troops were only 65438 away from them)

The movement was a mistake from the beginning. First, the proposal of the campaign plan is entirely the product of the British army's struggle for command. Then, the campaign was not well prepared, which was exposed after the campaign began. For example, contact communication (the contact problem after the airborne, so that the armored troops serving as fire cover did not meet the airborne troops), fire support, logistics preparation (the frontline troops and other assault boats crossing the river were delayed by one day) and so on. Because the British weather hindered the airdrop plan, and the British were conservative, it was obvious that the British armored forces washed away the German first line of defense, but they did not continue to accelerate and joined the airborne troops. They waited for the infantry to tell stories, which delayed the fighter plane (the American commander couldn't stand it anymore and asked him why he didn't go, but the British army was surrounded, and the British officer said I obeyed orders. I can't go forward without an order. ) lead the Germans to calmly transfer the reinforcements to organize the defense line, and the SS armored forces trapped the British airborne 1 division, which is crucial to the overall situation and the farthest Anheng Bridge in the plan. ...

However, the performance of the two airborne divisions of the US Army is remarkable. They basically completed the task and occupied the bridge, but they also suffered more than half of the casualties.

The most incredible thing for me in the film is that there are too many casualties in the British airborne division, and it is proposed that the Germans (but the SS who kill people without blinking an eye) stop fighting for three hours so that the wounded (too many) can be sent to the Germans as prisoners for treatment and then continue fighting (medieval chivalry? ), the ss actually agreed. I don't think it's possible. When did Germans become so kind? If the two armies were switched, I guess it would be difficult for the allies to agree.