Operation Market Garden - The Battle for Holland, September-November 1944

Market Garden

Market Garden covers the Allied operations in Holland from September to November 1944. This includes two major operations, one to capture Arnhem, code-named Operation Market Garden, the second to open a deep-water port in Antwerp by clearing the heavily defended Scheldt Estuary.

The first of these operations was the brainchild of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the British 21st Army Group. The Allies assembled the largest ever airborne force and dropped it along a 60-mile corridor leading from the front lines to Arnhem. Meanwhile, 30 Corps launched its assault north toward Arnhem, linking up with the paratroopers along the way.

The German reaction was quick and brutal as vicious battles broke out all along ‘Hell’s Highway’ and in Arnhem. On both sides, heroic last-stands were fought to the last, bold amphibious assaults were launched, and desperate counterattacks crashed into enemy lines.

Meanwhile, the First Canadian Army launched its own massive attack to clear the Scheldt Estuary. Here, Germans have dug themselves in so tight, that only a bloody step-by-step operation by the Canadians can clear them out.

Market Garden also includes all of the Canadian and British forces that fought in the flooded and muddy battlefields of Holland. The Canadians got so good at fighting in the mud and water of Holland that they earned the nickname, Water Rats.

These are Montgomery’s greatest gambles and now you are part of it. Can you help get the lads home by Christmas?

Bridge by Bridge

The Allies have landed a massive airborne force behind our lines and reports have arrived telling grim stories of a strong British armored attack south of Eindhoven. There can be only one objective: a crossing over the Rhine at Arnhem. I needn’t tell you that this would spell disaster for Germany!

All along the Belgian-Dutch border, German troops dig-in their heels and put an end to the Allied pursuit across France and Belgium. There, the canals and flooded fields of Holland will slow the Allied advance and give them time to organize a strong defense of Germany.

With the outbreak of Operation Market Garden, the German reaction is instant. The II. SS-Panzerkorps happens to be ideally placed to resist the British paratroopers in Arnhem, while a wide assortment of ad-hoc battlegroups are organized to oppose the American paratroopers and the 30 Corps along ‘Hell’s Highway’.

These battlegroups range in quality and motivation, including Fallschirmjäger, heavy tanks, training battalions, machine-gun companies, and fragments of SS formations. Strange formations, such as whole battalions of anti-aircraft guns and fortress machine-gun battalions have been called up to block the Allied assault.

Despite the motley appearance and equipment of these troops, they all have one goal in mind: to keep the Allies out of and away from their beloved Germany. The Führer himself has issued orders to hold until the last man and bullet are spent in defense of the Fatherland—nothing will make these men fight harder!

The defense of the Reich starts here and you will lead your kampfgruppe to glory!