Battle of Arnhem 1944
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 17 September 1944 – 26 September 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Netherlands | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Operation Market Garden | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 51.9802, 5.9003 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Arnhem was fought during the Second World War, as part of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It took place around the Dutch city of Arnhem from 17 to 26 September 1944. The Allies had swept through France and Belgium in August 1944, after the Battle of Normandy. Market Garden was based upon the smaller Operation Comet that had been overtaken by events. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, who favoured a single push northwards over the branches of the Lower Rhine River, allowing the British Second Army to bypass the Siegfried Line and attack the important Ruhr industrial area.
The First Allied Airborne Army was to capture the bridges to secure a route for the Second Army with US, British and Polish airborne troops dropped in the Netherlands along the line of the ground advance, being relieved by the British XXX Corps. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division landed at Arnhem to capture bridges across the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine), with the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade following on. XXX Corps was expected to reach Arnhem in two to three days.
The 1st Airborne Division landed some distance from its objectives and met unexpected resistance, especially from elements of the II SS Panzer Korps.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arnhem (revision 1380334648), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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- Liberation of Arnhem 1945 · 1 km
- Battle of Arnhem (1813) 1813 · 1 km
- Siege of IJsseloord 1585 · 4 km
- Battle of the Nijmegen salient 1944 · 8 km
- Siege of Knodsenburg 1591 · 14 km
- Battle of Otterlo 1945 · 16 km
Browse more: battles in Netherlands · Europe · World War II era battles