On this day, 70 years ago...

Operation MARKET-GARDEN commenced.

On September 17th, 1944, allied Airborne Divisions dropped into Holland with the goal of capturing the city of Arnhem, to make a path across the Rhine river and into Germany. The hope, was that the success of the operation would end the war by Christmas of 1944. It was expected that the German occupiers in Holland were mostly just inexperienced kids and frail old men.

It was planned: The British 1st Airborne Division would drop around Arnhem and take the city, and that they must defend it at all costs. Meanwhile, American, Canadian, Polish and British airborne would drop in south-western Holland, near the border with Belgium, and meet up with a three-mile long convoy of tanks and trucks called XXX Corps ("Thirty Corps"), and escort them to Arnhem, where they would relieve the British 1st Airborne, move Allied forces across the Rhine river, and then take Berlin by Christmas.

XXX Corps and the forces escorting them would have to haul ass to Arnhem, with the American 101st and 82nd Airborne moving along a single stretch of road. Along this single stretch of road, they were planned to capture the cities of Eindhoven, Son, Veghel, Grave, and Nijmegen. They had to capture the bridges in each city, to keep XXX Corps moving along.

Problem was, there was more German resistance than had been anticipated.

Operation MARKET-GARDEN, planned to last 2 - 4 days, ended up lasting 8 days. The single stretch of road that led from Eindhoven to Arnhem, became known as 'Hell's Highway.' The Germans blew up most of the bridges along Hell's Highway, making progress painfully slow for the allies. They were behind schedule very early on.

Eventually, casualties were so high, XXX Corps was so badly battered, and they were so far behind schedule, that all hopes of reaching Arnhem in time were shattered.

The British 1st Airborne in Arnhem had been desperately defending the city for a week against vicious German counterattacks, and they did it in the hopes that XXX Corps would arrive in time.

Little did they know, that XXX Corps was not to arrive.

Allied casualties were somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000. German casualties were somewhere between 3,000 and 13,000. Operation MARKET-GARDEN had failed, and all hopes of ending the war by Christmas of 1944 were shattered.

This is a campaign that does not get much recognition. You always hear about D-Day, or the Battle of the Bulge, but almost never do you hear about MARKET-GARDEN. This was a foolhearted plan that failed miserably. A plan that relied on far too much on chance and assumption. It was a major roll of the dice...one that the allies lost and paid the price for.

You can find a more detailed description of MARKET-GARDEN here.

So today, I want to hear your opinions, OT. Do you know or have you known veterans of this campaign? Did they tell you any stories? What are your opinions of the campaign on Hell's Highway?

Wait, you actually read all of that which I typed?

Wow, I didn't expect anybody to read it, honestly :P I don't figure there are many history buffs here on GameSpot.

But yes, World War II remains the deadliest war ever fought. Anywhere between 40 million and 80 million people died.

First World War is more interesting then the second one.

Good movie...

Eh, maybe in certain areas.

The Western Front is kind of boring, since hearing about guys spending two or more years sitting in muddy trenches throwing mustard gas at each other gets old after a while.

The Eastern Front is more interesting. More movement.

Trench war interesting?

Exactly, it's not. The WW1 Western Front is such a non-interesting topic imo.

The Eastern Front was not a trench war hardly at all, but it still wasn't too interesting either.

Yeah Americans don't find the First World War interesting, probably because of the tiny sacrifice they had or something.

We didn't have to get involved at all....modern Europeans so ungrateful.

That was not our war at the start. It took time before American intervention was necessary.

@LJS9502_basic It's not like America joined because they were such good guys, it was mostly about the Germans torpedoing American ships. And even if the Germans won ww1, it wouldn't have been that bad for most Europeans except for the French, Belgians and the British.

Well the US had a non intervention policy but they did try to broker peace.

Thanks for intervening in the First World War with your little navy, no air force and militia instead of an army.

See, I am grateful.

PS. WW2 was won by Russia.

I prefer the Pacific War.

I think all three theaters of war are interesting, though. The European theater is interesting because of the politics and the mass warfare. The North African theater is interesting because of how unconventional desert warfare was, and because how it was the entry point for a lot of countries into the war.

However, I think the Pacific War is more interesting because of how unorthodox it was. The sheer, primitive brutality of that war was dehumanizing, and the horrors that were experienced on islands like Peleliu and Okinawa made it look like the soldiers in Europe had it easy in comparison. It was, in my opinion, a better defined war. I honestly think that most people don't understand just what the Pacific War was. I often observe people who just think of it as "just a war in the jungle", but it was so much more than that.

Some people ay that there was more at stake in Europe, so therefore, it was more significant than the war in the Pacific. I disagree. The Japanese committed atrocities in China and the Philippines were far worse than what the European Axis did (with the sole exception of the Holocaust). Guess what? The Japanese had prison camps in the Philippines that were almost no different than the Nazi concentration camps in Europe. There was just as much at stake in the Pacific as there was in Europe.

The same Russia that needed the US to supply them with arms?

@Englandfc1966 Considering that the Americans joined the war around the same time that Russia brokered a peace deal with the Germans, I'd say they were a very big reason why the allies won.

The Entente powers won because of Great Britain and France.

hashtag fact

Keep on trolling

@deeliman:

Are you implying the only two entente countries that mattered, the two biggest contributing countries and the two countries that spear headed the final push against the central powers weren't responsible for winning?

I would like for you stop the trolling.

they should have listened to general Bradley.

Incorrect. But I'm not going to go there again.

Thank you. And that statement is spot on.

Technically, Russia did win the war.

After all, they were the ones who personally invaded and pillaged Berlin. They are the ones who truly put an end to the Third Reich by cutting down the Nazi flag at the top of the Reichstag, and raising the Russian flag in its place for all of Berlin to see.

MEDAL OF HONOUR FRONTLINE and AIRBORNE !!!

@Kevlar101

Nice post OP. Thanks for sharing.

They were on the winning side at least.

Again they can thank the U.S. for a great deal of supplies, and thank the U.S. and British for winning the Western side and constant bombing the German manufacturing sites and other targets constantly, which in turn constrained Germany and limited their capabilities. Without that, Germany beats Russia on the one front.

And how big a player was Russia against Japan, hmmmm?

Ok, I've made my point, I truly am done with this. Discussed this before.