Battle of the Battles By: Lindsey Simmes, Nadia Gelle, Christina Denton

Operation MArket Garden -September 17-25, 1944 -Fought By: The Allied Powers (France,Britain, and Russia) against Germany - 9 day battle that occurred 14 days after D-Day -Operation Market Garden was an attempt to outflank the “West Wall” of the German defense line to gain access to the lower Rhine river in the Netherlands.

Commanders of the Operation Market Garden Lieutenant-Colonel John Dutton Frost: Airborne Officer of the 1st Airborne Division Bernard Montgomery, was a senior officer of the British Army and the Head General that lead the operation General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne, remembering how his forces were scattered all over Normandy during the D-Day drop, insisted on a high degree of concentration. Gerd von Rundstedt was a Operation Market Garden commander. He was Field Marshal during World War II.

Big concept The Allied Powers wanted to advance into Germany by capturing 8 bridgeheads

Operation Market-Garden was a twofold operation: Market Portion: Airborne assault raid to capture bridges across eight key waterways Garden Portion: The Ground advances following the airstrike to capture the bridgeheads

2 Plan Action Airstrike Attack 5,000 assault planes Stretched 94 miles by 3 miles wide Largest airborne operation in the world Ground Troops Elite assault troops with little to no experience Men ranging from age 20-56

BridgeHeads that were to be captured 1st Attack: 101st Airborne Division Capture canals and river crossings between Eindhoven and Grave 2nd Attack: 82 Airborne Division Capture the bridge over the river of Waal in the city of Nijmegen 3rd Attack: 1st Airborne Division Known as the “Red Devils” Capture the lower Rhine bridge in the city of Arnhem Hold the bridge for 48 hours The air reconnaissance carried light artillery since you could only bear so much weight in the aircraft. Once they reached there drop point they would push each other as fast as they could out of the plane to avoid landing just a few meters off.

Maps 3 Airborne Divisions dropped into Holland Troops then sprinted from Belgium to act as reinforcements

16,000 Casualties

'The bullets hitting the water looked like a hailstorm, kicking up little spouts of water. When we reached about the halfway point, then the mortar and artillery fire started falling. And when a boat was hit with an artillery shell or a mortar shell, it just disintegrated, and everybody was lost.' (Moffat Burriss)

Succeses Losses Capture Bridgehead at Grave by using Shock Tactics Son Bridge in the city of Eindhoven was blew up by the Germans Allied Forces failed to cross the Rhine river, leading to the victory of the Germans Issues Keeping the road of Eindhoven to Arnhem clear for ground troops

“Hitler's last desperate offensive” Ardennes Offensive Aka Battle of the bulge “Hitler's last desperate offensive” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a8fqGpHgsk

About the battle Lasted from Mid-December 1944 to the end of January 1945 500,000 American troops (Largest land battle during the 20th Century) German objective was to break up the British and American Ally lines, before crossing the river of Meuse to capture the Allied supply port in the city Antwerp as well as capturing Belgium The Germans would then proceed to take out four allied troops, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers’ favor. Code name for Ardennes Offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine") Fought in the city of Ardennes in France. Known as the ghost front that was occupied by Allied Troops

About the plan cont. Planned in total secrecy by the German Army Threatened to kill the SS officers and soldiers families if secrets were leaked 80,000 soldiers died in total (Bloodiest battle for U.S. troops, losing 19,000 men) The degree of surprise achieved was compounded by the Allies' overconfidence, their preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack of combat contact in the area by the U.S. 1st Army

The Plan The Germans came in through the Ardennes Forest with heavy artillery and tanks The “sixth panzer” army would take the lead to attack and capture Antwerp The “fifth panzer” army would attack the centre of american forces to capture the road of St. Vith and drive on into Brussels. The “seventh panzer” army would attack in the south to create a buffer zone to prevent reinforcements to the Allied troops Absurd plan, since Germany was in re-treat from D-Day. No way of recovering

The Third Reich would then collapse within months of the battle The battle of the Bulge Resulted in an Allied victory, that led to the deaths of 100,000 German soldiers The Third Reich would then collapse within months of the battle

Overview Operation Market garden: Ardennes Offensive Ground and Airstrike to create an opening into Germany Resulted in an Allied Defeat Ardennes Offensive Divide the allies and capture the Allies supply drop Germans wanted a peace treaty signed to end the war in the Axis Powers’ favor Resulted in an Allied success bringing the Third Reich to an end

Work cited http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_arnhem.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_arnhem_01.shtml http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=52 https://www.rt.com/op-edge/184228-battle-arnhem-anniversary-commemoration/ http://olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1944marketgarden.php http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1753.html