September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far by John C. McManus

Author:John C. McManus [McManus, John C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 20th Century, History, Military, Netherlands, United States, World War II
ISBN: 9781101585399
Google: OY_7RDosiSwC
Amazon: B00OSS1IUG
Goodreads: 16646780
Publisher: NAL Caliber
Published: 2012-06-01T03:00:00+00:00

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At the division command post in the woods outside of Nijmegen, General Gavin and his staff spent the night studying maps, planning the river crossing. Mindful that time was a crucial factor for the survival of the British paratroopers at Arnhem, the general hoped to launch the crossing shortly after sunrise. For that to happen, though, the 504th’s advance to the riverbank needed to go smoothly, with little German interference. Plus, the XXX Corps engineers needed to get the boats to them in time. Gavin planned to load the regiment’s 3rd Battalion aboard the boats and launch them right where the Maas-Waal Canal intersected with the Waal River, about a mile north of the railroad bridge (in essence flanking the Germans who were now fighting Vandervoort’s men and the Grenadier Guards). Fire support for the crossing would come from the 2nd Battalion, along with two battalions of tanks from the Irish Guards, and a blend of British and 82nd Airborne artillery.

Troopers from C Company, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, would operate the boats and ferry their infantry brothers to the enemy-held north shore. When they had disgorged the 3rd Battalion, they were to turn around, row back to the south side, and ferry the reinforcing 1st Battalion, plus headquarters and supporting personnel, to the north side. The engineers were hardly well prepared for their daunting job. They had no training in the handling of boats and, like everyone else in the 82nd Airborne, no experience whatsoever with amphibious operations. Yet now Gavin planned to place them center stage for Market Garden’s greatest drama. To Lieutenant John Holabird, one of the engineer platoon leaders, the choice “was flattering . . . and at the same time a little fantastic.” He and his men had always felt distinctly different, and a bit scorned, by the rough-hewn men of the rifle companies. “We were always somewhat of a joke—effete and a little precious. We usually followed people around, not led them.” They did not need to match the riflemen for sheer toughness. That was beside the point. Gavin chose them for their creativity, innovation, and ingenuity.

While the engineers focused on ferrying the assault troops and clearing mines from the riverbank, everyone else was supposed to destroy all German resistance and seize the northern ends of both bridges. The terrain would not be easy. “The north bank on which the landing was to be made had sloping edges and insecure footing,” a unit after-action report stated. “Beyond the water’s edge stretched flat ground for approximately 800 yards at which distance runs a 30 foot high dike with a 20 foot road on top.” As the 504th captured this ground and the bridges, Vandervoort’s 2nd Battalion, 505th, and Goulburn’s Grenadier Guards would resume their urban push for the southern end of the bridges. Gavin knew full well that his plan was risky, but he believed it was the only hope of taking the bridges quickly enough to save the 1st Airborne and Market Garden itself.

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