If everything goes to plan, you'll be relieved in two days. If not two, then three days.
Well, this was the day that British tanks were meant to be rolling over Arnhem bridge.
And when we left yesterday, almost everything seemed to be going great for Operation Market
Garden. Every bridge along the route except one was in Allied hands, and although the
British tanks were still fifty miles to the south at Son, by the morning of Day 3 the
bailey bridge was finished. The road ahead looked clear. The question is, would they
make it? Intro graphic
Yesterday we saw stalled attempts made by 1st Airborne to get to Frosts troops at the
bridge, whilst Frost himself and 2nd Battalion continued to hold on. Ammunition and food
supplies were running low, so relief was desperately needed now. The 82nd had destroyed the German
attack from the Reichswald, for only a handful of losses, but only made token attempts to
take the Nijmegen bridge. Nijmegen was now a German fortress. The 101st continued to
fight on all fronts, especially near Best, whilst building a bailey bridge at Son, since
XXX Corps had finally arrived. The 19th of September was a Tuesday. Its Day
3 of Operation Market Garden. The good news was that XXX Corps and the 101st had finished
constructing the bailey bridge at Son and were able to advance. Up to this point, XXX
Corps had gone 18 miles from their initial starting positions. This may seem slow, and
it was, but they were about to make up for it. The tanks reached Veghel by half 7 in
the morning, and by half eight, theyd covered another 14 miles, reaching the 82nd at Grave.
In two hours, theyd advanced further than theyd gone in the previous two days, around
24 miles. 42 hours after starting the Operation they were now at Nijmegen and only about 8
miles from the British at Arnhem. There was a good chance that theyd reach the British
in time. They still had an entire day left to go the final 8 miles to Arnhem. 8 miles.
Except that the 82nd Airborne still hadnt taken Nijmegen bridge… the only bridge not
taken intact or not on the first day, and hadnt been in Allied hands at all. Nijmegen
bridge was now guarded by a lot of SS infantry, supported by self...propelled guns, 88mm guns,
and artillery, and theyd had plenty of time, unopposed by the 82nd, to fortify Nijmegen
city. For the past two days, most of the 82nd Airborne
had sat on the Groesbeek Heights. There had been no attacks on Groesbeek on the first
day. On the second day, a paper German division had been repulsed without too much trouble.
And the Germans didnt mount any serious attacks on the Heights the entire third day either.
The American units dug in at Groesbeek along with Gavin and Browning had no impact on what
was now becoming a hard fought house...to...house brawl for the city of Nijmegen and the southern
end of the Nijmegen bridge. As British tanks and infantry moved towards Hunner park, they
came into the sights of the German 88mm guns. Several tanks brewed up and the fighting began,
and would rage on for hours, with little ground gained this day. Nijmegen was still in German
hands. The Germans had two Kampfgruppen in the city
under the overall control of Kampfgruppe Reinhold which was located at Lent, just north of Nijmegen.
One, Kampfgruppe Euling, held Hunner Park and the Nijmegen Road Bridge, and the other,
Kampfgruppe Henke, guarded the Nijmegen Rail Bridge. Euling only had around 100 men at
his disposal backed by four assault guns. But they were veteran SS soldiers, supported
by a much larger contingent of artillery than normal. SS...Lieutenant...Colonel Zonnenstahl
had four oversized batteries at his disposal. Coupled with a unique way of delivering that
artillery… by putting boxes on a map and naming or numbering them so it was easier
for forces on the ground to call for artillery support… Zonnenstahl was able to bring down
copious amounts of fire to stall Allied assaults. Harmel attributed the successful defence of
Nijmegen to this artillery support, which allowed, over the course of the battle, the
small force of SS troops to maintain their positions against a much larger attacking
force. Nijmegen wouldnt fall into Allied hands this day.
But its ok, Frost was holding the bridge at Arnhem. Just. There were now two German Kampfgruppen
surrounding him and they attacked on all sides. Kampfgruppe Brinkmann continued to attack
from the East and Kampfgruppe Knaust, a heavier battlegroup, now attacked from the North.
At the beginning of the day, 2 Paras perimeter still consisted of 10 out of the original
18 houses theyd occupied on Day 1. But now, the Germans were receiving a steady stream
of reinforcements. 88mm guns were brought up to pound the buildings, and two Tiger tanks
managed to get through the wreck of vehicles on the bridge and cross from the southern
side of the Rhine. Artillery fire from across the river, including Nebelwerfers, hammered
the British positions. The battle was now fully in the Germans favour as more assault
guns and Mark III and Mark IV tanks rolled from the East. 2 Para was being blasted out
from its positions, one strong point at a time. But the Germans didnt have it all their
own way. Rubble blocked the streets, making it difficult for tanks to move up, and a few
vehicles and tanks were knocked out in the fighting. The Paras were down to scraps of
ammunition, yet they continued to resist. They did get some artillery support from 1st
Airborne, which did result in the Germans turning their guns on the church spires thinking
artillery spotters were in them, but this wasnt the case. According to Urquhart, [Frost
and Gough discussed the likelihood of Gough and his Recce boys scalding across the Bridge
at last light to try and force a link with XXX Corps.] You know its desperate when the
forces in need of relief are actually considering aiding the relieving forces. The idea was
dropped, but the resistance continued, despite the fact that Frost had to order his men to
stop sniping the Germans to conserve the little ammunition they had left. The British could
now found it difficult move between the buildings as German machine guns would open up in the
spaces between them. German infantry had to assault the British houses and literally drag
the Paras out of their positions. It seemed a hopeless situation for the British, but
they fought on, hoping that reinforcements would come from either 1st Airborne, or from
the south. Its worth noting that as long as 2nd Battalion
continued to hold out in Arnhem, the Germans would have a difficult time reinforcing the
10th SS Panzer Division at Nijmegen. The Germans were relying on the Pannerden Canal to get
their troops across the Rhine, but this was slow. What this meant was that the Germans
at Nijmegen would receive no reinforcements until 2nd Battalion were defeated, and 2nd
Battalion wouldnt receive reinforcements until the Germans at Nijmegen were defeated too.
Effectively, there were two sieges going on at the same time, and whichever cracked first
would decide the fate of the entire battle. If German resistance collapsed at Nijmegen,
the British would get to Frost and be over the Rhine. If Frost is defeated, German reinforcements
would stream into Nijmegen and 1st Airborne would be doomed. There was still a chance
for both sides to claim victory. But the difference between the Germans at
Nijmegen and Frost at Arnhem was was 2nd Battalion was potentially about to get reinforced from
the West. 1st, 3rd, 4th and 11th Battalions, supported by the South Staffords and elements
of 2nd Battalion who hadnt made it to the bridge now attempted to break through to Frost.
Dobies 1st Battalion and half the South Staffords went forwards first, supported by 3rd Battalion
who went in beside them. They cleared a few light defenses where the Germans had had their
main line the day before. But then everything went wrong. The Germans of Kampfgruppe Spindler
had pulled back slightly from the previous days positions ... which did have the benefit
of allowing Urquhart to escape his prison and make his way back to Divisional HQ ... but
it also meant the Germans now outflanked the British on all sides. And this wasnt eyes
and ears battalions, this was the 9th SS Panzer Division, armed with tanks, artillery and
self...propelled guns. Some occupied the route ahead, others occupied the ridge to the north,
and more were positioned across the river in the brickworks to the south. The lightly
armed British paratroopers, backed up by little artillery, no air support or tanks and exhausted
on their third day of fighting, were hopelessly caught in a crossfire. The 1st and 3rd Battalion
were pinned down by German fire and by 06:30, after only two hours, the attack was over.
Those that survived were either wounded or ran out of ammunition and were forced to surrender
in the next hour or so. The 140 men of 3rd Battalion had been more or less wiped out.
1st Battalion and the first half of the South Staffords suffered much the same fate.
The second half of the South Staffords now went in, but found themselves facing German
tanks and self propelled guns near the museum. Pinned down and with no anti...tank guns,
they had to rely on PIATs to try take out the tanks, but by 11:30 theyd also run out
of PIAT anti...tank rounds. The Germans now counter...attacked and overwhelmed the South
Staffords, who were forced to pull back through 11th Battalions positions.
11th Battalion, commanded by Lea, had been ordered by Urquhart to wait. He wasnt happy
that attacks were going in piecemeal. As the South Staffords fell back, 11th Battalion
was ordered to take the high ground north of the railway line, hopefully so they could
mount a fresh attack later. But this took time to prepare, and as they were setting
up, the Germans attacked. Mortars rained down on them and tanks appeared. The 11th was in
the open preparing to advance. Caught off guard by the Germans and in a hopeless situation,
the Battalion basically evaporated. Lea was taken prisoner and maybe 150 men got away,
the rest were either killed or taken prisoner. The last attempt to break through to Frost
at the bridge had failed with huge losses to the British. 1st Brigade had been torn
to pieces and now, in the early afternoon, the situation at Divisional HQ in Oosterbeek
looked bleak. The Germans were attacking into Oosterbeek from the East and the landing zones
could no longer be held. This was the day that the first of the RAF resupply drops fell
into enemy hands. 1st Airborne did receive some reinforcements from a Polish Glider unit
landing at Landing Zone L. Unfortunately, this went disastrously wrong for the Polish
as they landed on top of 10 Para Battalion as they retreated south near Wolfheze. The
Polish were quite...literally shot out of the sky and this didnt help 10 Paras retreat.
Chaos and confusion reigned, and Krafft was able to push the British 10th and 156 Battalions
(both now down to around 250 men each) and the surviving Poles beyond the railway line.
Urquhart desperately tried to organise a defence as the light faded. He would later refer to
the 19th as a dark and fateful day. At Arnhem, everything was going wrong.
Remember that bailey bridge at Son? You know, the one built overnight? It had been incredibly
important in the days events, allowing British tanks to roll on to Nijmegen. At 17:15 as
the American paratroopers sat in their positions in and around Son watching British trucks
drive across the bridge... the Son church tower exploded. Falling debris startled the
Americans as more explosions erupted from the schoolhouse. General Taylor came out the
schoolhouse to see enemy infantry and Panther tanks approaching from the south. Panzer Brigade
107 had arrived. General Student had brought Panzer Brigade
107 up from Helmond and it was now just yards from the newly built bailey bridge at Son.
A British truck was hit as it crossed the bridge. It exploded and sent flames over the
span and into the canal. The Americans reacted to the attack as best they could and even
managed to destroy two Panthers. One was knocked out in sight of the bailey bridge.
Fighting continued as darkness fell, and only after the attack bogged down did
Panzer Brigade 107 withdraw. Two tanks had been knocked out, but they had almost succeeded
in severing the supply line to the rest of XXX Corps… and they werent defeated yet.
If we compare the situation at the beginning of day 3 to the end of day 3, things had changed.
XXX Corps wasnt at Arnhem as expected, instead they were fighting a house...to...house battle
for the city and bridge at Nijmegen. The 101st at Son had built a bailey bridge in the morning
and only just managed to prevent it from falling into German hands in the evening. And the
last attempt to get to Frost had failed. Now the British around Oosterbeek were in a desperate
state as the Germans closed in on all sides. Frost still clung onto Arnhem bridge though.
There was still a chance of victory... for both sides. Everything was now at stake. Who
would fall first, the British at Arnhem or the Germans at Nijmegen? Tomorrow would be
the last chance to get to Frost at Arnhem, and it would require a lot more fight and
a daring feat of bravery from the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne.
The 19th was truly a dark and fateful day. A turning point. But do you think victory
could still have been achieved at this point? Or was it already too late? And guys, if you
have any questions about this battle, comment below and Ill get back to you as soon as I
can. Thanks for watching, thanks for subscribing, bye for now.