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About Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden

About Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was one the largest allied operations from World War II. It took place in September of 1944. The goal was to get hold of the bridges over the Maas, Waal and Rhine in the Netherlands. This way, they bypassed the well defended Siegfriedline (Westwall), which protected Germany along the Rhine. They hoped or a quick advance to Berlin, to end the war before Christmas of 1944.

Market Garden was a bold plan, by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. It was executed by 41,628 people from the English, American and Polish airborne troops and three divisions of ground troops.

A bridge too far
Operation Market Garden consisted of two parts: Operation Market, the largest airborne operation ever, and Operation Garden, the ground campaign of the British 30th Army Corps, which was to relieve the airborne troops at the captured bridges. It was an ambitious plan but failed due to bad weather circumstances and heavy German resistance, especially at the bridge near Arnhem. But there were more reasons for failure: a too great of a distance between the air landing zones and the bridges near Arnhem and Nijmegen, communication problems, the difficult advance of the ground forces and mistakes made in the supreme command. After the successful Battle for Nijmegen, the Allied did not succeed to conquer the last bridge near Arnhem; it became the proverbial ‘bridge too far’.

Source: Liberation Route Europe

Our documentary

This short video, shows Anna van Ravenswaaij and war veteran Les Fuller. Both of them have experienced Operation Market Garden from up close, in their own way. You can view their remarkable stories here.

Les Fuller was with the British 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment and was one of the parachutists who jumped during Operation Market Garden. After a good landing, he faced many obstacles, which ultimately resulted in him losing his right arm and being held captive in a prison camp.

The Royal Dutch Mint has produced a short documentary in which 98 year old Fuller tells his impressive story. You can view the full documentary here.
You can view the full documentary here.

Market Garden 5 Euro Coin