Operation Market Garden, 1st Airborne Division, September 17th, 1944, Part 4

<p>The first lift is down. The bridge is eleven kilometres away. And the clock is already running.</p><p>This episode covers the afternoon and evening of Sunday, September 17th, 1944, as the British 1st Airborne Division sets out for the road bridge at Arnhem.</p><p>Major Freddie Gough's Reconnaissance Squadron is to get there first, by Jeep, and hold the bridge until the infantry arrive. Instead, his lead vehicle drives into an ambush on a sandy track east of Wolfheze, set minutes earlier by a German training battalion that happens to be in the right woods at the right hour.</p><p>Behind him, three parachute battalions take three roads into the town. We follow each in turn. Frost's battalion along the river, through cheering Dutch crowds in Oosterbeek, to a railway bridge that blows up with his men standing on it. Fitch's battalion on the middle road, where a camouflaged Citroën carrying the German garrison commander of Arnhem drives into the leading platoon's sights. Dobie's battalion to the north, swallowed by the woods and the darkness.</p><p>And we follow the Germans: Krafft's blocking line, Spindler's defences hardening east of the landing zones, and von Tettau in the west, preparing a dawn assault on the ground where the second lift is due.</p><p>By midnight, part of one battalion is at the bridge. The rest of the division is scattered across eleven kilometres of Dutch countryside, and the divisional commander cannot be found.</p><p>Part Four of our Operation Market Garden series. Start with Part Three if you haven't heard it. This is the corected 1.2 version without the double section that was previously released.</p><p>For maps, photographs and the full source base: worldwar2-sof.com</p><p>#MarketGarden #OperationMarketGarden #ABridgeTooFar #Arnhem #WWII #WWIIHistory #MilitaryHistory #Airborne #1stAirborneDivision #XXXCorps #WW2Podcast #HistoryPodcast</p>