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On September 1944 the Allied airborne armies implemented operation Market Garden. A plan conceived by Bernard Mongomery to lay an airborne " carpet " over four key bridges leading to the heart of Germany, thus ending the war by Christmas 1944.Three airborne divisions ( and two Polish brigades ), the 101st , 82nd and British 1st Airborne division were to secure pre-assigned bridge objectives with the ultimate goal of providing a direct causeway for the British XXX Corp to travel up and into the heart of the industrial German Ruhr.
The last bridge, and key to the entire success of the operation, was the bridge at Arnhem. Warnings prior to the drop went completely unheeded that quite possibly German SS Panzer Grenadiers had been re-located to Arnhem. It was the British first Airborne division that was tasked to take and hold Arnhem. What took place after the drop was sheer carnage as the 1st British Airborne was virtually wiped out by the 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions. Lacking armor and lightly equipped, the division, while fighting heroically, was decimated by German SS units. Had Montgomery's overzealous commanders heeded intelligence gathered before the battle, the needless slaughter could have been certainly averted.
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