#OPERATION MARKET GARDEN

[theworldatwar]

British soldiers lay in wait guarding the road from Eindhoven to Nijmegen (nicknamed Hell’s Highway) during Operation Market Garden - Netherlands, Sept 1944

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Filling up the Shermans is a time honored part of the annual Market Garden memorial parade.

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Pictured above: Brig. Gen. Anthony C. Mcauliffe, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, gives his various glider pilots last-minute instructions in England before the take-off on September 17, 1944 for Operation market Garden.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden. Its objective was to create a 64 mile salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine River), creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany.

In the end, Market Garden was one of the costliest Allied failures of WWII, but remains a remarkable feat of arms. This is not because of its strategic ambition, but because of the determination and courage shown by Allied airborne troops and the units that tried to reach them.

It did however, lead to the liberation of a large part of the Netherlands at a time when many Dutch people were close to starvation.

(Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force archives)

[coolthingsguyslike]

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Crossroads - Band Of Brothers (2001)

[fayestardust]

On September 16, 1944, Private Ivor Rowberry wrote a final letter to his mother. Five days later, he was killed. He was just 22. He was part of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment, volunteering for airborne service. During We Happy Few 506's Operation Market Garden Tour this weekend, Mark Huberman, the actor who plays Lester Hashey in Band of Brothers, read his letter to us (pictured).

I would normally post it under the cut, but it is so moving that I want everyone to read it.

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Dear Mom,

Usually when I write a letter it is very much overdue and I must make every effort to get it away quickly. This letter, however is different. It is a letter I hoped you would never receive, as it is just a verification of that terse, black-edged card which you received some time ago, and which caused you so much grief. It is because of that grief that I wrote this letter, and by the time you have finished reading it I hope that it has done some good, and that I have not written in vain. It is very difficult to write now of future things in the past tense, so I am returning to the present.

Tomorrow we go into action. As yet I do not know exactly what our job will be, but no doubt it will be a dangerous one in which many lives will be lost – mine may be one of those lives. Well Mom, I am not afraid to die. I like this life, yes for the past two years I have planned and dreamed and mapped out a perfect future for myself. I would have liked that future to materialise, but it is not what God wills, and if by sacrificing all this I leave the world slightly better than I found it I am perfectly willing to make that sacrifice. Don’t get me wrong though, Mom; I am no flag-waving patriot, nor have I ever professed to be.

England’s a great little country, the best there is, but I cannot honestly and sincerely say “that it is worth fighting for”. Nor can I fancy myself in the role of a gallant crusader fighting for the liberation of Europe. It would be a nice thought, but I would only be kidding myself. No, Mom, my little world is centred around you, and includes Dad, everyone at home, and my friends at Wolverhampton, that is worth fighting for, and if by doing so it strengthens your security and improves your lot in any way, then it is worth dying for too. Now this is where I come to the point of this letter. As I have already stated, I am not afraid to die, and am perfectly willing to do so, if, by my doing so, you benefit in any way whatsoever. If you do not then my sacrifice is all in vain. Have you benefited, Mom, or have you cried and worried yourself sick? I fear it is the latter. Don’t you see, Mom, that it will do me no good, and that in addition you are undoing all the good work I have tried to do. Grief is hypocritical, useless and unfair, and neither you or me any good.

I want no flowers, no epitaph, no tears. All I want is for you to remember me and feel proud of me; then I shall rest in peace, knowing that I have done a good job. Death is nothing final or lasting; if it were there would be no point in living; it is just a stage in everyone’s life. To some it comes early, to others late, but it must come to everyone some time, and surely there is no better way of dying. Besides, I have probably crammed more enjoyment into my 21 years than some manage to do in 80. My only regret is that I have not done as much for you as I would like to do. I loved you Mom; you were the best mother in the world, and what I failed to do in life I am trying to make up in death, so please don’t let me down, Mom, don’t worry or fret, but smile, be proud and satisfied. I have never had much money, but what little I have is yours. Please don’t be silly or sentimental about it, and don’t try to spend it on me. Spend it on yourself or the kiddies, it will do some good that way. Remember that where I am I am quite O.K. and providing that I know you are not grieving over me I shall be perfectly happy. Well, Mom, that is all, and I hope I have not written it all in vain. Goodbye, and thanks for everything.

Your unworthy son,

Ivor

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[victusinveritas]

Anthony Hopkins in "A Bridge Too Far" (1977)

Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.

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OPERATION MARKET-GARDEN: a British soldier fires a Bren gun in an open field near Arnhem as haystacks blaze in the background. source

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Eighty years today

[theworldatwar]

A windmill serves as an observation point - Holland, Sept 1944

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Troopers of the 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division getting on the C-47 Skytrain en route to German-occupied Holland. RAF Spanhoe, England. September 17, 1944

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September 21, 1944, British Cromwell tanks of the 2nd Welsh Guards are photographed as they cross the bridge at Nijmegen in Holland during Operation Market Garden.

(Photo courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

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A beautiful day to fall from the sky

Market Garden remembrance, Ginkselse Heide, 21/09/2024

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A Bridge Too Far (1977)

[insidecroydon]

Lest we forget? After 80 years, council has forgotten Arnhem

Proud Paras: the 2023 Battle of Arnhem commemoration service. Croydon is Arnhem’s twin town, but does not have any plans to mark the 80th anniversary Council has no plans to commemorate 80th anniversary of one of the most famous battles of the Second World War, which was centred on Croydon’s twin town in the Netherlands In the early hours of September 17, 1944, tens of thousands of Allied troops…

[victusinveritas]

Sean Connery (General Urquhart)

"A Bridge Too Far" (1977)