Operation Market Garden

As part of the 80th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden there was a demonstration of the parachute drop at Eerde, just north of Eindhoven, originally accomplished by the US 101st Airborne Division. There was also a demonstration by current 101st of the Airborne Assault tactics used by modern day members.

This was the first event of a weeklong reenactment of the operation and included parachute drops at 3 locations, gliders in Arnhem and a procession of several hundred vehicles tracing the British XXX Corps route to Arnhem.

This is not a comprehensive analysis of Operation Market Garden. It was the largest airborne assault up to that time and remains one of the most controversial operations of WW2. The plan was put together very rapidly, crucial intelligence from the Dutch Resistance was ignored, the timelines were overly optimistic, and the wet ground of the Netherlands forced the 50,000 strong XXX Corps to progress up a single highway making them vulnerable to harassing attack.  The following gives a bit of context for the memorial drop at Eerde.

Operation Market Garden

By September 1944, the Germans had withdrawn back towards Germany and the long-Allied Supply lines from Normandy slowed their advance to a stand still. The Americans favoured a broad front strategy, but Montgomery wanted to bypass the Siegfried Line to the north and hook into the German manufacturing heartland in the Ruhr Valley. Operation Market Garden was approved, with Market being the deployment of 3 Airborne Divisions, the US 101st Airborne at Eindhoven, the US 82nd Airborne at Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division along with the Polish 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem to capture and hold the bridges to support the British XXX Corps Advance. A total of 20,000 men in 2,000 aircraft set off on Sunday 17 September 1944 to capture the bridges.

C47s getting loaded for Operation Market Garden.

Operation Garden involved the British XXX Corps progressing northward to cross the Rhine at Arnhem and break out into the Ruhr Valley. Montgomery said this action would end the war by Christmas.

The 101st Airborne deployed 6,614 soldiers on 17 September. The drop zones were crowded.

The Screaming Eagles of the 101st had responsibility for 5 bridges and were dropped in 3 zones. The 501st Brigade landed in Drop Zone A near Vehgel (Eerde) to control the bridge across the canal there, the 502nd and 506th were landed in Drop Zones B and C to capture the Bridge across the River Son and other canal bridges just north of Eindhoven. Resistance from the Germans slowed the attack on the Son Bridge so the bridge was blown before it could be taken. The rest of the bridges were taken intact.

The 82nd Airborne landed in 5 drop zones just south of Nijmegen to capture bridges across the Maas and Waal Rivers and canals that linked the rivers. All of the bridges were successfully taken, except for the Waal Bridge where the attack failed.

The British 1st Paras landed in drop zones and glider landing zones some distance from the Bridge. Due to a lack of aircraft, only half the division was able to land on the first day and half of the landed troops stayed to guard the drop zones for the subsequent drop. One battalion made its way to the north end of the bridge and dug in.

The British XXX Corps set off on Sunday and met up with the 101st Airborne the next day. That night XXX Corps Engineers constructed a Bailey Bridge to replace the blown one and the Corps continued North.

The bridge at Nijmegen was not taken until the fourth day when the 82nd Airborne crossed the river in canvas boats and secured the bridge.

The Polish airborne were delayed due to bad weather and only arrived on the 5th day and were dropped into heavy German fire.

On September 25, the British finally received the order to withdrawn after 9 days of brutal fighting. They withdrew 2,398 survivors out of a force of 10,600. 1,485 had been killed and the remainder wounded and captured. The bridge remained in German hands and was finally blown by US aircraft on 07 October to deny its use to the Germans.

Memorial Drop at Eerde

Drop Zone

The Memorial Drop was conducted at the original Drop Zone A north of Eindhoven, the first location that the paratroopers landed in the Netherlands. The drop was conducted by the Round Canopy Parachute Team (RCTP) Netherlands. They are part of a multinational organization that stages commemorative drops and education to school children.

The drop zone is the rectangle shown at 45 degrees in the picture. The drop zone is treelined which caused a bit of excitement. The jumps were made out of a vintage C47 transport (also known as a Dakota or DC-3). They did three separate sorties, each with 3 drops of 6 parachutists each, plus a final drop of the Jump Master and Safety officer.

The C47 could carry 18-22 paratroopers or 6,000 pounds of cargo. The US procured over 9,300 C47s throughout the war. Approximately 100 countries' armed forces have operated the C-47 with over 60 variants of the aircraft produced. As with the civilian DC-3, the C-47 remains in service to the present day, over 80 years after the type's introduction.

When I was in Cold Lake in the late 1970’s, a DC-3 with a CF-104 nose was called Pinocchio was used to train the pilots to operate the fighter radar. It had big armchair type seats and was used for the weekly shopping flight into Edmonton. It was in use until Canada acquired the CF-18s in the early 80’s and I had a few chances to have a ride.

Para Drops

The drop zone was treelined and it was a breezy day, so the first pass dropped a flag to show the wind speed and direction. There were 6 parachutists dropped during a pass.

The paratroopers were dropped from about 600 ft and drifted a fair bit due to the wind.

The exited the plane close together but were pretty well separated as they approached the ground.

Just about to land.

Several of the early parachutists drifted long, so they kept moving the drop line further back. During one of the later drops, this guy barely cleared the trees at the front end of the drop zone. The crowd was concerned, going from OOOH to applause as he made it over the line of trees.

Videos of the landings.

A closeup as the jumper exits the aircraft.

Many of the jumpers had pictures of veterans who had jumped in the same location on 17 September 1944.

Not all the jumps were successful, a couple guys landed a few fields over, two of them landed in a cornfield off the end of the drop zone, and this guy landed in the bushes right behind me. Everyone was watching the field, so we didn’t hear him until he hit the bushes. The jumper was OK and said his lines got crossed. Several of the jumpers hit the ground quite hard and since this was the first of several memorial jumps in the week, I’m sure there were some walking wounded before then end of the demos.

The Jump Master and Safety Officer were the last ones off the plane and demonstrated why they had their positions by casually landing on their feet and walking off the field.

A video from the RCPT shows the drop from the aircraft perspective.

101st Airborne Assault Demo

After the 1944 demo, the 101st Airborne Division put on a modern-day demonstration of a helicopter borne Airborne Assault. In typical Dutch fashion, the viewing area was on top of a hill that is normally a grazing area for cows with many bovine landmines still active on the ground.

The lunch time entertainment was provided by the 101st Airborne band who played a great collection of 1940’s music for the crowd of 10,000 who watched the displays.

The Airborne Assault was a typical very professional American Army demonstration. The 101 Airborne troops assaulted positions held by the Dutch Airborne acting as the Enemy. The Commander had a little speech at the start of the demo, stating the 101 was the only Airborne Assault Group in the world. He said they could transit over 900 kms overnight and a seemingly safe enemy encampment could be having breakfast with 4000 Screaming Eagles the next morning.

A pair of UH-60 Helicopters dropped in the advance troops with a couple heavy machine guns to cover the main assault force.

The helos landed and the advance force set up in the woods just to the right. The enemy is just out of view at the bottom of the picture. After setting up covering fire, the main force came in on 2 Chinooks.

Once on the ground the troops streamed out.

Watch the short video to get an idea of the suppressing fire the troops were putting down.

After the troops were unloaded, the UH-60 came back for resupply and removal of the wounded.

Next the Chinooks returned slinging heavy loads.

With overwhelming firepower, the Airborne quickly dispatched the bad guys and retook Eedle. They put on a very impressive display with a running commentary on the troop deployment and tactics.

This was only the first demonstration in honour of Operation Market Garden. The RCPT did drops at Nijmegen and Arnhem, and several hundred British WW2 vehicles recreated the British XXX Corps progress, or lack of it, towards Arnhem.

There was a collection of British Vehicles at the Airborne Demo site. I didn’t realize at the time why they were there, but they later took part in the XXX Corps reenactment.

There were a variety of vehicles on display. There were no tanks here, but several took part in the XXX Corps demo.

The reenactors were all from the UK based on their uniforms and accents, and as with any road trip with a British vehicle, sometimes some enroute repairs are required.

It was a great day to see the para troops landing on the same drop zone the airborne used 80 years ago and the contrast with the current Airborne Assault techniques provided a great example as to how techniques have progressed. Despite the lack of success of Operation Market Garden and the ongoing controversies of who was at fault, the fact that 10,000 people showed up on a Tuesday morning was an encouraging sign that the sacrifice of the soldiers is still front of mind for a new generation.