Operation Market Garden Battle Analysis

With German forces on the run following the Allied success at Normandy and the breakout and pursuit across France, Allied forces were staged to enter Germany in late summer 1944. Both Field Marshal Montgomery and General Bradley clamored to be given the priority of effort. General Eisenhower chose Montgomery’s Operation MARKET GARDEN as the plan for action. It called for airborne forces to open the route for a ground force to move more than sixty miles up a single road, ending up north of the Rhine River near Arnhem, Netherlands. By accomplishing this task, the German Ruhr industrial heartland would be within easy grasp. But the operation failed. The ground force

The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched, in the dense forest of Ardennes Wallonia in eastern part of Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg. This battle was one of the largest fought by the United States Army, on the Western Front in Europe, during World War II. This fierce battle, was between the German Nazi’s, the American Army, Canadian Army, and the British Army, was one of Hitler’s last attempt to split the Allies driving them towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves. Were the Germans able to stop the Americans and the British from getting their supplies? Was the weather a factor and if so, who did it assist in the battle? Was the American Army able to counter attack in a timely manner and stop the German Nazi’s invasion?

     The object of the German offensive was to push through the Belgian Ardennes, cross the Mousse, retake Antwerp and its harbor facilities, thrust to the north and reach the sea which they almost succeed in doing. This would cut off the Allied troops in Holland and Belgium, making it impossible for them to withdraw. The success of the operation depended on three important

“The battle [is also] known by different names. The Germans [called it] ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’, while the French [called] it ‘Battle of the Ardennes’. [American and Britain] called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive.” The main goal for the Germans for this offensive was to split the British and American forces in half and capture the port city of Antwerp. This would “cause an encirclement of four allied armies and [force] a peace negotiation” (Cirillo). The Germans almost had complete surprise when the offensive was launched on “December 16th, 1944, at 05:30” and the offensive start with “an artillery barrage of over 1,600 artillery pieces.” The assault took place across an “80 mile front [that] the 6th Panzer Army had to cover” (Quarrie 1). “The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division.” This was the lead unit for the 6th Panzer Army and was the lead division for the assault. The 26th Infantry was covering the part of the front where the push started. They were caught completely by surprise. “Equipped with only 32 M4 tanks, 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men” (MacDonald 1). The initial assault went well for the Germans and they break through the thinly defended American lines. Just “20 hours in [from the start of the assault] German forces are just 55 miles out from their objective”. By this time the casualty rate is below from what the

The 8th Air Force arrived in England with one main mission, to destroy Germany’s ability to wage war over Europe. They were to do this by flying day bomb runs on a massive scale to compliment the night time raids that the RAF were conducting. These massive formations

This battle in France was known as Operation Overlord. For 37 days after the initial invasion, the 319th GFAR provided continuous fire support for

And many more; Herald Gage, the soldier said “ He was scared….scared for his life, scared of the innocents lives…watching his friends die from the German fierce defense was the hardest thing he could do and the sound of the bombs were freighting and he only hoped that our country gets back what belonged to us from the beginning . In January 1944, General Eisenhower was appointed to carry out the Operation Overload; Months before the occurrence of the D-Day, the allies carried out the deceit operation, to make the Germans think that the target was somewhere rather than being in Normandy. Many things were used to deceive the Germans fake equipment and fraudulent radio

The Dutch. The ground force commanders were too optimistic about their ability to push north on the timeline the planners established. With only one road to move north on and no room to maneuver, XXX Corps faced the possibility of grinding to a complete halt if their leading elements were unable to fight their way through the German defenses. This happened every day of the operation and put the armor column behind schedule just hours after the start of Garden. With terrain limiting the ability of the Guards Armored to maneuver their tanks to defeat German tanks and armored vehicles they conceded two principles of war; maneuver and mass. Without maneuvering, the tank column was never able to keep the enemy off balance or confront them with new dangers (Department of the Army, 2008). The Germans knew by the end of the first day what the Allied intentions were and with only one

Early on the misty winter morning of Dec. 16, 1944, more than 200,000 German troops and nearly 1,000 tanks launched Adolf Hitler's last bid to reverse the flow out/decline/get worse fortunes that had begun when allied troops landed in France on D-Day. Trying to drive to the coast of the English Channel and split the allied armies as they had done in May 1940, the Germans struck in the Ardennes Forest, a 75-mile stretch of the front seen as dense woods and few roads, held by four inexperienced and fight-worn American divisions placed/assigned therefor rest and seasoning.

The Coalition Forces had an extreme advantage in equipment and the Soldiers’ preparation for the Battle of 73 Easting. The main U.S. unit in that battle was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), which comprised three ground squadrons 1st squadron (Ghost Troop); 2nd squadron (Eagle Troop); and 3rd squadron (Iron Troop). They also had the support of an aviation attack squadron and an aviation support squadron. In addition, each ground squadron had three cavalry troops, headquarters troop, a tank company, and a self-propelled howitzer battery. Moreover, each cavalry troop comprehended 120 soldiers, 9 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, and 12 M3 Bradley fighting vehicles. The Regiment’s mission included repelling or destroying the Iraqi's forces

The allies were slowly pushing through the Ardennes Forest on the German/Belgium boarder, with a force of 600,000 American soldiers, and 55,000 British soldiers (Battle of the Bulge, HistoryNet). The allies pushed through this area because they felt this was the least likely place for the enemy to set up an attack; the Germans selected it because it was easy to conceal troops in the hills. Hitler hoped to catch the Allies off guard and quickly separate the army and finish them off easily because they were divided. (World War II Timeline: December 18, 1944-December 31,

This involved getting British tanks across the Rhine River and into Germany so that the Allies could continue their push against the Germans (Ambrose 179). After only ten days in Holland, the operation had ultimately failed. The failure was attributed with the Allies being outmanned, fighting elite German troops, and bad coordination between American infantry and British tanks (Ambrose 213). The rest of their time in Holland was spent on the front line. Eventually, they got to return to France to rest, and after awhile, were sent into Bastogne, Belgium to help with a counterattack against the Germans, who had surrounded the Allies as a part of the Battle of the Bulge.

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The specific contributions combat engineers made during this operation primarily came from within the 82nd Airborne Division. Under the leadership of Brigadier General (BG) James Gavin, his paratroopers were tasked with dropping in northeast Netherlands to secure bridges at the towns of Grave and Nijmegan. The 82nd Airborne Division’s primary target was securing the bridges at Nijmegan to facilitate the Allied Forces XXX Corps, who would be arriving through Nijmegan to a town called Arnhem. Arnhem was a town that laid on the German / Dutch border. Allied Intelligence determined that two SS Panzer Divisions of German forces occupied that town.

Where was the battle of Arnhem fought? It was fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem. Oosterbeek, wolheze, Driel and the surrounding country side, from September 17-26 in the year 1944. After a successful victorious end of the Normandy campaign, Marshal Bernard Montgomery put together a daring operation to open up a way to the Ruhr Valley by seizing a bridgehead north of the Rhine, at Arnhem. On September 17, Operation Market, the largest airborne and glider operation in history (five thousand aircraft) was carried out by three Allied airborne divisions. Operation Garden was the ground side in which the Thirtieth (British) Corps was to link up with the British First Airborne