Operation Market Garden

Geschiedenis

Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. The operation was split into two sub-operations: Market – the airborne forces, the First Allied Airborne Army, who would seize bridges Garden – the ground forces, consisting of the British XXX Corps Market Garden contained the largest airborne operation up to that point.Field Marshal Montgomery's strategic goal was to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr, in a pincer movement. The northern end of the pincer would circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line giving easier access into Germany. The aim of Operation Market Garden was to establish the northern end of a pincer ready to project deeper into Germany. Allied forces would project north from Belgium, 60mi through the Netherlands, across the Rhine and consolidate north of Arnhem on the Dutch/German border ready to close the pincer.The operation made massed use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and allow a rapid advance by armoured ground units to consolidate north of Arnhem. The operation required the seizure of the bridges across the Maas, two arms of the Rhine together with crossings over several smaller canals and tributaries.