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By Root 883 0

and 508th had to cover six miles between their landing zone on the heights of Groesbeek and the town of Nijmegen. By 1930, they had secured intact a crossing over the Maas–Waal canal. This was a considerable achievement. Yet they faced the same problem as the British 1st Airborne. It took time for units to assemble on the ground and get into action. Given the decision to land the 82nd so far from its key objectives, no more could have been expected of the paratroopers. Yet once again a six- or seven-hour delay, against an enemy who could deploy in motor vehicles, was critical. Gavin’s last objective, the 1,960-foot road bridge at Nijmegen, was the most important of all. Yet here his men were frustrated. As the 1/508th advanced through the streets into the town, they encountered heavy German fire. The Reconnaissance Battalion of 9th SS Panzer had got there before them. Though it had taken Graebner’s men some hours to make their vehicles fit to travel, and to probe warily down the road south of Arnhem looking out for paratroopers, they had only fifteen miles to cover and suffered no interference. It remains a mystery why Allied fighter-bombers were not deployed to patrol this vital link, to deal with just such enemy movements as those of Graebner.

Gavin acknowledged long afterwards that he made a mistake by assigning Roy Lindquist, least impressive of his regimental commanders, to take Nijmegen. The 82nd’s commander considered that Lindquist did not address the town and its vital bridge “either intelligently or aggressively,” partly because the 508th had been given too many assignments, across too wide a front. American planning focused on the threat of German intervention from the Reichswald Forest north and east of Nijmegen, and laid much emphasis upon holding their dropping zone at Groesbeek, to frustrate such an enemy movement. Knowing the critical importance of Nijmegen, Gavin regretted not giving the job to Colonel Reuben Tucker’s 504th, his best unit. Yet, for any airborne soldiers, the Waal was bound to be a tough assignment, once surprise had been lost and it became necessary to fight through urban streets to reach the bridge.

Some of the best troops in the German army were now deployed in readiness to fight the Americans for possession of Nijmegen bridge. Model had explicitly forbidden its demolition. He wanted to hold open the road to move reinforcements southwards for a counter-attack. Many accounts of Market Garden have concentrated on the “might-have-beens” of British failure at Arnhem. Yet it seems at least as relevant to examine those of Nijmegen. If elements of the 82nd Airborne had been landed closer to the bridge, and if the vast Allied force of fighter-bombers had been used to block German armoured vehicles dashing into battle along open Dutch roads, that crossing could have been taken on the first day. As it was, failure swiftly to secure Nijmegen was at least as damaging to the outcome of the battle as British inability to capture both sides of the bridge at Arnhem. If paratroopers were able quickly to seize objectives, they might realistically be expected to hold these against enemy counter-attacks. But if they were required to fight a long battle to capture their prizes, while the enemy was able to reinforce, then it was most unlikely that the airborne force could prevail.

The three British parachute battalions which set out to march into Arnhem on the first afternoon did not approach the town until evening. The Germans faced grievous problems in responding to the Allied assault. Many of their men, too, had to advance into battle on foot. Others travelled on bicycles and in commandeered civilian vehicles. But the defenders possessed just enough transport and were given just enough time for small forces to throw themselves across the paths of the paratroopers. It has often been suggested that the assault on Arnhem was frustrated by SS panzergrenadiers. This is a half-truth. In the first hours after the Allied landings, decisive delay was imposed by a miscellany of German sub-units. These created a