Assault From the Sky by John Weeks

Author:John Weeks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Assault From the Sky
ISBN: 9781782006091
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Arnhem

By the middle of September 1944 the Allied armies were all more or less at, or near to, the German frontier. In the south General Hodge’s First US Army was actually at the Siegfried Line, in the centre General Patton’s Third US Army was already starting to cross the Mosel and in the extreme north General Dempsey’s Second British Army was already at the Meuse-Escaut Canal and reaching into northern Belgium. The rush across France had been enormously tiring and expensive in men and machinery, but it now looked as if one more effort would push the crumbling Germany Army right back into Germany and then to all intents and purposes the war would be over. All it wanted was that last determined push, the Germans were demoralized, or so it was thought, and they were definitely short of supplies and ammunition of all kinds. On the Eastern Front the Russians were steadily pressing in towards the German frontier, and the time seemed right for a spectacular leap forward to catch the enemy off balance. Given time he would collect himself and regroup his forces, and it seemed highly likely that he could gain that time by holding the succession of rivers in front of the Second Army.

Stretching across the British Front were four major water barriers in the next 60 miles. Just beyond Eindhoven, in Holland, was the Wilhelmina Canal. Beyond that, at Grave, was the Maas. A few miles further on at Nijmegen was the Waal and finally at Arnhem the Rhine flowed, having diverted just before Arnhem into the Ijssel which ran off to the north. The ground could easily be flooded so as to stop almost all movement, and then the whole area could be held with comparatively light forces while the remainder were held well back to counter any breakthroughs. For the Allies a purely ground attack would have been doubly difficult as they were now nearly 400 miles from their supply ports and another was urgently needed. Antwerp had been captured, but could not be used until the river approaches to it had been cleared, and the Germans held the north bank of the Scheldt thereby stopping all shipping. A strong drive to ‘bounce’ the river lines across the front would also cut off Antwerp and allow the approaches to be cleared. So it would fulfil two purposes, and it appeared to be an ideal task for a large airborne operation.

On 2 August 1944 the Allied airborne divisions had been formed into one airborne army under the command of Lieutenant-General Lewis H. Brereton, who had started his airborne career under the famous Billy Mitchell in 1918. Brereton had been the Commanding General of the US Ninth Air Force, and since he was an air force general it was decided that the control of ground operations should be the concern of corps commanders, so two corps were formed. The army consisted of the following forces:

1. US XVIII Airborne Corps, commanded by Major-General Ridgway, newly promoted from command of the 82nd Airborne Division.

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