Operation Market Garden Failure

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 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 invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Overlord or D-Day, was perhaps one of the most important battles in the human history. The invasion took place on June 4, 1944, at the Coast of Normandy in France. Troops from over twelve countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America participated in the fight against Germany. Although the battles were enduring and hard-fought, the Allies achieved the final victory; the Allies were finally able to set their feet on the European soil again. The Allied invasion of Normandy was a major turning point of the war that led to the ultimate liberation of Europe from the Nazi forces.

planning and seemingly endless training had finally come together to form the operation known as

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.

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.

According to Gordon Alchin, a British politician, this battle was the last major Nazi offensive in World War II. The Germans lost so much that it was impossible for them to launch another attack on Allied forces. The battle was fought in forested areas of the Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front. It was a surprise attack planned by the Germans. Due to the support of the German crowds, they all cheered for him during this battle. “Give all for our Fatherland and our Fuhrer!” (Goolrick 19). Hitler planned this because he knew that the Nazi party was

They were not expecting an attack of this magnitude from Germany at the time. Mr. Porter remembers the weather being so bad that the entire month of January they were only able to get into the air one time. This put the ground forces in a terrible situation. The Ardennes Offensive, more commonly referred to as The Battle of the Bulge because the initial attack created a bulge in the Allied front lines by the Germans, was the largest battle on the Western Front in Europe. Also, it was the largest battle that the United States Army ever fought during WWII. America ended up suffering 75,000 casualties by the end of this battle. (MacDonald)

Launched on 31 July 1917, the British & Canadian offensive in Flanders had aimed to drive the Germans away from the essential Channel Ports and to eliminate U-Boat bases on the coast. But unceasing rain and shellfire reduced the battlefield to a vast bog of bodies, water-filled shell craters, and mud in which the attack ground to a halt.

The destruction of anti-air elements and disruption of communication was the goal of these bombardments. This effort was largely successful and there was little anti-air during the Operation on the following day. On the morning of 17 September 1944, Operation Market Garden began in earnest. The morning was clear and warm for the beginning of the airborne operation. The first of three drops took off with no issues as final bombing runs were executed on the anti-air elements of the German defenses. The operation had for major groups in action the 101st, the 82nd, the 1st British Airborne Division, and the XXXth Armored Division.

Known as Operation Mist, it was the beginning of the offensive operation conducted by the German Army during the Battle of the Bulge. With only a small force of 80,000 Allied forces, 14 Germany divisions would attack with a 250,000 strong force in the first battle conducted in the western front. Assigned different engagement boundaries spread throughout Germany, Belgium and

The big September/October Allied breakthroughs across the length of the Hindenburg Line – including the Battle of the Argonne Forest – are now lumped together as part of what is generally remembered as the Grand Offensive by the Allies on the Western front. The Meuse-Argonne offensive also involved troops from France, while the rest of the Allies, including France, Britain and its dominion and imperial armies, and Belgium contributed to major battles in other sectors across the whole

The events of 6th June 1944 are widely regarded as one of the most significant actions that led to the defeat of Hitler in World War 2. By landing vast amounts of prepared allied troops onto the shores of France, the allied forces created a second front, boosted the morale of the western public and, probably most importantly, stopped the possibility of the Soviet Union becoming the most powerful country in the world. The sheer size of the event and the amount of planning before, as well as the fact that it was a success shows just how significant it was. From the beginning of the Allied planning, they collectively realised that it would not be easy for them to land on France and therefore it would be incredibly significant if they were able to. The

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that led to the failure of Operation Market Garden, the largest Airborne Operation during World War II. This paper first sets the stage for the operation by identifying key players, size and composition of both Allied and axis forces, outlining strategic factors and analyzing why this operation was significant in winning the war against Nazi Germany. Next it gives an overview of the operational setting, including the scheme of maneuver. Furthermore, it analyzes the tactical situation including weather and terrain analysis and the effects it had on both allied and German Forces. It identifies and gives example of how the Allies lack of intelligences analysis and the lack of risk assessment