Contribution of the Germans to the Failure of Market Garden
From the 17th to 25th September of 1944 the allied military troops launched an operation called Market Garden (Mcarthur 1990, 202). This operation was by far the largest airborne operation that had been seen during the Second World War. The operation was fought in Germany and Netherlands and its main aim was to seize the major bridges and canals of Meuse and Rhine River and their major tributaries. This was to enable the allies to cross easily the rivers and outflank the German troop at the Ruhr region which was and still is the heartland of the German industrial complex. With the control of the major rivers and bridges by the allies, it would have been easier for them to secure the German-controlled Netherlands (Learning Resources, 1).
The allies were well prepared for this mission. For its success, the mission had to consist of two operations; the garden operation and the market operation. The market operation composed four of the six airborne divisions. These divisions were to land on the north and North-East locations of Eindhoven and Nijmegen and capture the important road bridges of the region. The garden on the other hand only consisted of the XXX Corps and was led by the guards’ armored division (Mrazek 2008, 188). According to the plan, they were to arrive at the southern side of the target location in three different troops each one day apart. They would be joined by the airborne division and breakout at Arnhem bridgehead. It was difficult for airborne troops to fight for four days with limited armor especially since they lacked gears to protect them from attacks by tanks. However, the German forces of the region had been facing a lot of attacks from the Canadian troops that had been in the region. By the time the operation Market Garden was being launched the German troops were fleeing from the area. They were spread out on a radius of about 100km trying to contain the second allied air force troops from the south. The allied troops therefore expected to get minimal resistance from the Germans forces.
The German army at that time was very weak since it had suffered a lot of casualties. The situation was very serious that Adolf Hitler himself took control of the matter and worked hard to strengthen his army. He called from retirement some of the best commanders he had to organize an army and fight the allied troops. The process of recruiting and reinforcing the army was immediately underway. Reinforcements were brought from Germany so as to increase the number of troops and the experience of the army. Having studied the movements of the allied troops the German army and air force were placed on strategic locations and were ready to fight the allied troops. Their magnitude and power were a key to the failure of the Market Garden operation. This had not been expected by the allied troops and caught them by surprise. The German troops were familiar with the geography and terrain of the region making it easy for them to maneuver around and attack their enemies unexpectedly.
Response of the Germans to the Allied Operations
Through their intelligence, the Germans were able to track and know the movement of the allied troops especially the second division of the British army. They were aware that the allied troops would launch an offensive attack at Nijmegen, Wessel and Arnhem to reach the industrial town of Ruhr (Ryan 1995, 244-248). The Germans also knew that the air force would be used to launch offensive attacks against them but they did not know the exact spots of the attack. With this intelligence the German troops were well prepared and planned a strategic attack against their enemies who were unaware of the operation.
September 17th was the first day of the battle. On this day, the allies saw a lot of victories. Almost all their troops landed successfully on their expected sites facing little or no resistance. The troops were able to advance and capture most of the bridges, canals and rivers. The progress of all the troops was as expected and the allies hoped to capture the industrial town of Ruhr and take control of the German-occupied Netherlands.
The British landings at Arnhem caught the Germans by surprise. Some of the commanders thought that the paratroopers were commandos who had come to kidnap them. Therefore they moved to safer locations. However with time they were aware of what was going on and were quick to respond to the attacks. The first move was to send reconnaissance troops to the scene to investigate the status of the situation. They also sent reinforcements to the troops at the bridges to offer resistance to the allied troops. This quick resistance was fruitful and the Germans were able to recover a copy of the Market Garden operation from an American officer who was shot dead.
On the second day the reconnaissance troops were heavily beaten at the bridge at Arnhem by British troops as they attempted to cross back to the city. However, the German troops had defended well the area east of Nijmegen and were able to seize one of the landing zones of the 82nd airborne zone. There was a lot of fog and clouds on this day which delayed the lifting of air troops favoring the Germans to kill and capture allied soldiers who lacked enough ammunition, armor and supplies.
On the third day at Arnhem German troops spotted the 1st battalion, an allied troop and opened fire at them. The battalion was defenseless since it was caught on open ground. It was disintegrated and the survivors quickly retreated. The scenario was almost the same to other allied troops in Arnhem. The allies faced a lot of casualties and several soldiers were taken as war prisoners. In the days that followed the allies faced a lot of casualties. The main causes of these casualties were poor communication among the troops, poor weather and the strength of the attack of the German troops who knew their movements and had a clear understanding of the region. By the 9th day of the battle the allied troops were so weak especially those who were in the Ruhr region. The allies started to evacuate their troops from the battlefield. To avoid further attacks from the Germans the evacuations were conducted at night. Most of the survivors were evacuated from Ruhr and were ferried through the Rhine River under heavy protection from the Canadian and Polish troops. At last, Germany had full control of Ruhr and Operation Market Garden came to an end.
References
Learning Resources for Teaching History. 2011. Second World War: Operation Market Garden (Arnhem). Learning Resources for Teaching History, 1-11.
McArthur, Charles W. 1990. Operations analysis in the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force in World War II. Chicago: American Mathematical Soc.
Mrazek, James. 2008. Airborne Combat: Axis and Allied Glider Operations in World War II. Miami: Stackpole Books.
Ryan, Cornelius. 1995. A Bridge Too Far. New York: Simon and Schuste.