Description Of An Operation Market-Garden

By September 1944, it was the height of World War II. The German Army in Western Europe was in full retreat, and the defensive positions in the west disintegrated, leading to what became known as “The Void”. To the strategic commanders, primarily within General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), it was believed that the German Army was repeating once again what it had done during World War I in November 1918. This widespread disintegration of German forces led to the expectation that the war would be over by Christmas of 1944. British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery of the 21st Army Group proposed an operation, codenamed Market-Garden, that could potentially hasten the German collapse, and deliver
Operation Market-Garden required strategic and tactical commanders alike to analyze and accept prudent risk, build cohesive teams through mutual trust, and exercise disciplined initiative. Accepting prudent risk is a deliberate exposure of ground forces to a potential injury or loss when the commander determines that the outcome in the terms of mission accomplishments is worth the cost. Building cohesive teams through mutual trust actively requires commanders, subordinates and partner forces to share in the overall trust of the organization and the mission at hand. Exercising disciplined initiative within an operation as complex as Market-Garden required forces both on the ground and located within headquarters to take action in the absence of orders, when existing orders no longer fit the situation or when unforeseen opportunities or threats arise. Operation Market-Garden was an Allied operation that was to take a total of three days to execute, however, given the complex and overwhelmingly dynamic situation on the ground, the operation lasted a total of nine days, resulting in an Allied defeat, deeming the mission a total
Small teams of the 101st Airborne eventually moved south towards Eindhoven, making contact with the British 44th Royal Tank Regiment, fighting off German forces and eventually securing the bridge located at Eindhoven. The American 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment was assigned to take the bridge located at Nijmegen, however due to a failure of communication, the unit was delayed and were not assembled until 3 p.m. and did not move towards the bridge until after 6 p.m., allowing troops from the German 10th SS Reconnaissance Battalion to arrive and set up defenses. The attack at Nijmegen Bridge failed due to the reinforcements of the German Army, leaving the bridge within German