Today's a big day in history

Tollbooth Willie

Tollbooth Willie

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On this day of September 17th in 1944 the largest airborne operation of all time, Operation Market Garden, was launched.

Operation Market Garden (September 17–25, 1944) was an Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. It was the largest airborne operation of all time.

The operation plan's strategic context required the seizure of bridges across the Maas (Meuse River) and two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. Crossing the Lower Rhine would allow the Allies to outflank the Siegfried Line and encircle the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. It made large-scale use of airborne forces whose tactical objectives were to secure a series of bridges over the main rivers of the German-occupied Netherlands and allow a rapid advance by armoured units into Northern Germany.

Initially the operation was successful and several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen were captured. However the ground force's advance was delayed by the demolition of a bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Zon[7], delaying the capture of the main road bridge over the Meuse until September 20. At Arnhem the British 1st Airborne Division encountered far stronger resistance than anticipated. In the ensuing battle only a small force managed to hold one end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them they were overrun on the 21st. The rest of the division, trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, had to be evacuated on the 25th. The Allies failed to cross the Rhine, which remained a barrier to their advance until the offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945.

A tragic and unforeseen consequence of the operation's failure was the Hongerwinter (Hungerwinter). During the battle Dutch railway workers went on strike in order to aid the Allied assault. In retribution Germany forbade food transportation and in the following months thousands of Dutch citizens starved to death.
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The operation resulted in the loss of over 17,000 Allied soldiers and around 10,000 German soldiers.
 
I wish we had HD color movies to watch of this Operation.
 
I'm watching it right now. Possibly has the finest ensemble cast of all time.

Redford, Connery, Olivier, Caan, Caine, Hackman and Hopkins being the biggest names I can recall.
 
Such a huge undertaking.

Watching the Operation Market Garden scenes in Band of Brothers made it seem considerably tiny.

Then again, it made the Battle of the Bulge seem tiny too... but I suppose that's because it focuses on such a small group of people.
 
Yup, plus the 101st weren't in as tough a position during Market Garden as the British 1st Airborne and the Polish brigade.
 
Warped said:
I wish we had HD color movies to watch of this Operation.
Click to expand...

That's a bit strange, isn't it? If you're talking about some sort of reconstruction in a film or on television, then fair enough. But to watch the actual thing in HD as a form of entertainment is a bit distasteful. You'd be watching thousands of men die...
 
Not one butt joke?
This is not the willie I know.
 
Today is also.

This day, 1970, Jimi Hendrix perished via his own vomit.
 
I was half-expecting it to be Asscock day, or something, when I read that Willie made the thread.
 
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