82d Airborne Division

“82nd U.S. A/B Div, (less dets.), will land by Parachute and Glider commencing D Day south of NIJMEGEN; seize and hold the highway bridges across the MAAS River at GRAVES and the WAAL River at NIJMEGEN; seize, organize, and hold the high ground between NIJMEGEN and GROESBEEK; deny the roads in the Div area to the enemy; and dominate the area shown on Operations Overlay, Annex No. 3.”

Sunday 17 Septermber, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) dropped near Grave and succeeded in capturing the River Maas bridge and one of the vitally important bridges over the Maas-Waal canal, the lock-bridge at Heumen. The 505th PIR would seize the Groesbeek Heights and set up a blocking position there, to prevent a German armour attack out of the nearby Reichswald and to deny the Heights to German artillery observers. Both Lieutenant General Browing and Brigadier General Gavin felt this must be the Division's priority. The 508th PIR would secure the highground between Groesbeek and Nijmegen, overlooking the border with Germany. The 508th PIR was also tasked with taking the 600 meter long Nijmegen highway bridge if possible, but because of miscommunication they did not start until late in the day. Had they attacked earlier they would have faced only a dozen Germans. By the time the 508th attacked, troops of the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion were arriving. The attack was stopped, leaving the Nijmegen bridge in German hands.

This was vital. Unlike some of the bridges to the south, which were over smaller rivers and canals that could be bridged by engineering units, the Nijmegen and Arnhem bridges crossed two arms of the Rhine that could not be bridged easily. If either of the Nijmegen or Arnhem bridges were not captured and held, the advance of XXX Corps would be blocked and Operation Market Garden would fail.

Monday 18 September, Grave proved to be well defended, and German forces continued to press on the 82nd deployed on the Groesbeek heights to the east of Nijmegen. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment defended successfully against German attacks in Horst, Grafwegen, and Riethorst. Early in the day, German counterattacks seized one of the Allied landing zones, where the Second Lift was scheduled to arrive at 13:00. The 508th PIR attacked at 13:10 and cleared the LZ by 14:00, capturing 16 German flak pieces and 149 prisoners. Delayed by weather in Britain, the Second Lift did not arrive until 15:30. This lift brought in elements of the 319th and 320th Glider Field Artillery battalions, the 456th Parachute Field Artillery battalion, and medical support elements. Twenty minutes later, 135 B-24 bombers dropped supplies from low level (100m), 80% of which were recovered. At the end of two days the XXX Corps advance was behind shcedule, and the Nijmegen and Arnhem brigdes were still in German hands.

Tuesday 19 September at 08:20, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment made contact with XXX Corps at Grave. This enabled the Regiment to move on to other missions and place the 3rd Battalion in division reserve. By the afternoon of the 19th, advance units of XXX Corps were arriving in Nijmegen. By this time, according to the original plan, they were due in Arnhem. A combined effort to take the Nijmegen bridge was mounted by two companies from the Guards Armoured Division and the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The attack got within 400 meters (400 yards) of the bridge before being stopped; skirmishing continued throughout the night. A plan was developed to attack the south end of the bridge again while the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment planned to cross the river in boats 2 km (1 mile) downstream and then attack the north end. The boats, requested for late afternoon, never arrived. Once again XXX Corps was held up in front of a bridge.

Wednesday 20 September, the boats ordered by the 82nd Airborne the day before failed to arrive until afternoon, and a hasty daylight assault crossing was ordered. At about 15:00, the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR made the crossing in 26 canvas assault boats into well-defended positions. The unit had no training on the British-made boats. A shortage of paddles required some troopers to paddle the craft with rifle butts. About half the boats survived the crossing under heavy fire; survivors then assaulted across 200 meters (200 yards ) of open ground on the far bank and seized the north end of the bridge. German forces withdrew from both ends of the bridge, which was then rushed by Guards tanks and the 2nd Battalion, 505th PIR, securing the bridge after four days of struggle. Thus the way was open to Arnhem. There a critical and courageous fight was being made by the gallant British 1st Airborne Division.

When General Dempsey of the 2nd Army met Brigadier General Gavin, commander of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, he is reported to have said (in reference to the Nijmegen attack), "I am proud to meet the commander of the greatest Division in the world today."