US troops invade Netherlands for Market Garden commemoration

Eight decades after the Allies jumped into the Netherlands in a failed attempt to secure a path to Germany, hundreds of paratroopers once again descended into Arnhem. Soldiers from more than a dozen NATO countries parachuted into the Ginkel Heath outside the Dutch city on Saturday, Sept. 21, to commemorate the same jumps the Allies made 80 years ago during Operation Market Garden. The jumps were the culmination of a week of commemorative events for the mission, a failed World War II attempt to secure an invasion route to Germany.

“Today we remember the brave young soldiers who risked and sometimes gave their lives for our freedom,” Arnhem Mayor René Verhulst said during the event on Saturday. He said that in 1944, “courage, sacrifice and hope came together in the form of the airborne landings” that formed the “Market” part of Market Garden.

On September 17, 1944, the Allies launched the two-pronged mission. More than 35,000 American and British paratroopers would jump in, capture nine bridges, and secure a path across the Rhine. British ground forces would then advance along the route and into German territory. After an early success in the Netherlands, the Allies failed to capture the bridge at Arnhem and were pushed back. By the time Market Garden officially ended on September 25, more than 15,000 British and American troops had been killed, wounded, or captured by the Nazis. Much of the Netherlands was freed from German control, but the hoped-for attack on Germany was halted.

The Sept. 21 jumps are part of a larger, days-long commemoration in the Netherlands. About 120 members of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions — units that took part in Market Garden — took part in the events, while U.S. Air Force C-130H aircraft ferried paratroopers over the jump sites on Saturday. Twelve World War II veterans were also in Arnhem to witness the commemoration.

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Before Saturday’s jumps, parts of the Market Garden mission were recreated by other events. Active and veteran soldiers, as well as World War II reenactors, recreated the Waal River crossing in Nijmegen on September 20. Dressed in World War II uniforms, they paddled across the water; this group did not face the withering fire of the Germans, as the soldiers did in 1944.

The festivities and reenactments come three months after similar commemorations and events were held for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. More than 1,000 U.S. troops took part in those commemorations, which featured similar paratrooper jumps and reenactments in Europe, as well as plenty of vintage World War II gear and uniforms, honoring those who fought and died to liberate Europe from the Nazis.

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