Eight decades after the Allies jumped into the Netherlands in a failed attempt to seize a path into Germany, hundreds of paratroopers once again descended into Arnhem. Soldiers from more than a dozen NATO countries parachuted onto Ginkel Heath, outside of the Dutch city on Saturday, Sept. 21, commemorating the same jumps done by the Allies 80 years ago during Operation Market Garden. The jumps culminated a week of memorial events for the mission, a failed attempt during World War II to secure an invasion route into Germany.
“Today we commemorate the brave young soldiers who risked and sometimes gave their lives for our freedom,” Arnhem Mayor Rene Verhulst said at Saturday’s event. He said that in 1944, “courage, sacrifice and hope came together in the shape of the airborne landings” that made up the “Market” part of Market Garden.
On Sept. 17, 1944, the Allies launched the two-pronged mission. More than 35,000 American and British paratroopers would jump in, taking nine bridges and securing a path over the Rhine River. British ground forces would then advance through the route, entering German territory. After early success across the Netherlands, the Allies failed to capture the bridge at Arnhem, being pushed back. When Market Garden officially ended on Sept. 25, more than 15,000 British and American troops had been killed, wounded or captured by the Nazis. Much of the Netherlands was liberated from German control, but the hoped for charge into Germany was halted.
The jumps this Sept. 21 are part of a larger, days-long memorial celebration in the Netherlands. Approximately 120 members of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions — units that took part in Market Garden — participated in the events, while U.S. Air Force C-130H planes ferried parachutists over the jump sites on Saturday. 12 World War II veterans were also in Arnhem to witness the commemoration.
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Ahead of Saturday’s jumps, other events recreated parts of the Market Garden mission. Active-duty and veteran soldiers, as well as World War II reenactors, recreated the crossing of the Waal River in Nijmegen on Sept. 20. Dressed in World War II uniforms, they paddled across the waters; this group was not facing down withering fire from the Germans, as the soldiers in 1944 did.
The celebrations and reenactments come three months after similar memorials and events were held for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. More than 1,000 American troops took part in those memorials, which similarly featured paratroopers jumping into Europe and reenactments, as well as plenty of vintage World War II gear and uniforms, in honor of those who fought and died to liberate Europe from the Nazis.
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