OSAmag80

70th Anniversary of
Operation Market Garden
On D Day June 6th 1944 the three tanks and fifteen men of 4th
Troop 'B' Squadron 4th17th Royal Dragoon Guards landed on the
Normandy coast. Our amphibious DD tank (ambitiously named
on the side 'Cooks Tour') had been swamped during the landing
and had been replaced by a conventional diesel Sherman. Three
months later we had reached Holland having motored 500 miles.
We had been in action during the bitter fighting in Normandy,
were involved in the crossing of the River Seine, carried out a
recce of the City of Lille to be met by an ecstatic crowd in the
Place de la Republique and been in action in Belgium. Out of the
original fifteen crew and three tanks, seven of our comrades had
been killed, two missing, three wounded and two paws, and had
seven Sherman tanks destroyed by enemy action.
The German West Wall fortifications, known as the Siegfried
Line was 480 km long and ran opposite the French Maginot
Line from Basle to Cleve. It was constructed to delay an offensive
so that reserves could be brought forward and was a formidable
obstacle with tank defences and block-houses.
In order to outflank the German defence line an operation by
Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Lower Rhine
at Arnhem was endorsed by the supreme commander, Eisenhower,
to commence 17th September 1944. Called Operation Market
Garden it comprised a parachute offensive with ground support.
The ground offensive, Operation Garden, was to commence at
the Belgian-Dutch border, proceeding via Eindhoven, Uden, and
Nijmegen to Arnhem, the front being only one road width wide.
British XXX Corps was to attack down the road, with British 8th
Corps and 12th Corps on either side of the narrow corridor
being carved out by XXX Corps.
The airboume offensive, Operation Market, was to take place at
points along the same road, the US
101 st Airborne Division dropping in
the area of Zon, Veghel and Uden,
capturing the bridges over the
Wilhemenia Canal and the Zuid
Willemsvaart Canal. The US 82nd
Airborne Division was to capture the
bridge over the Maas at Grave and the
over the Waal at Nijmegen and to
dominate the high ground known as
the Groesbeek Heights between
Nijmegen and the German border.
The British 1st Airboume division
was tasked to capture the bridge at
Arnhem and to establish a bridgebead
across the Rhine. All went horribly
wrong however; the 1st Airborne was
dropped too far away from the
Arnhem Bridge. The main purpose of
a parachute drop is surprise, but this
was not achieved as the 9th and 10th
SS Panzer Divisions were refitting in
the Arnhem area. To add to the
difficulties the radio connection
between the commander Major-
General R E Urquart and the 1st
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0
Sketch map 1: The Market Garden Plan
17 September 1944 in Belgium
Airbourne failed. He was trapped in a house for 24 hours to
evade a German patrol and therefore losing command of the
operation.
The object of Garden was to meet up with and relieve the
airbourne troops who had been dropped to capture the bridges at
Grave, Nijmegen and Arnbem. We were to follow the Guards
Armoured Division who was leading the assault. The problem of
course, attacking on such a narrow front with a long tail back,
was the possibility of flank attacks by the Germans cutting off
the supply route and reinforcements. As we motored north alerts
became frequent and it was necessary to stop and take up
positions behind trees lining the road. The US 82nd Airborne
had successfully taken the bridge at Grave so we pushed on to
Nijmegen, which we reached without any difficulty.
The bridge across the River Waalat Nijmegen
We parked in the open square just before the bridge. The town
was obviously short of food and we were besieged for anything
we could spare. The Dutch Resistance put in an appearance
solemnly parading around the square two Dutch girls with their
heads shaved, who had consorted with the German troops. It was
a pity the Resistance had nothing better to do. (During the
liberation of Rugles in France the
Resistance were shaving heads in the
high street. One of our tank
commanders told his gunner to fire
the machine gun over the perpetrators
to put a stop to it, but in error he fired
the main gun scattering everyone at
great haste.) Later when we had
returned to Nijmegen I was detailed
to pick up some potatoes from a
nearby Nunnery. The nuns had taken
the two girls into their protection and
given them wigs to cover their shaven
heads.
It was decided to cross the river by the
rail bridge. Whilst we were waiting to
go across, our eo-driver was found
wandering about with amnesia. The
Squadron Leader sent him to casualty
from whence he was invalided home.
The Squadron pushed on with the
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
riding on the tanks in an attempt to
reach the Polish Airborne Brigade at
Driel to the west of Arnbem. It was
extremely hot and dusty. The column
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