Chapter 8

Endnotes

1. Ltr, Gavin to OCMH, 17 Jan 54. Gavin says twenty-eight boats, but most combat interviews say thirty-three. In addition to sources previously cited for the 82d Abn Div, see, for this period, 21 A Gp, Operation MARKET-GARDEN, 17-26 Sep 44.

2. 82d Abn Div G-2 Sitrep, 19 Sep 44.

3. 505th Prcht Inf AAR.

4. Evg Sitrep, A Gp B, 19 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Letzte Meldung.

5. 508th Prcht Inf AAR.

6. Although quick to give credit to the glider pilots as pilots and to many as individual ground fighters, neither the 82d nor 101st Airborne Divisions had any real praise for the pilots acting collectively in tactical ground units. Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous With Destiny, page 3 18, call glider pilots "the most uninhibited individualists in the Army." Much of the difficulty lay in that American pilots received only a minimum of ground training and had no tactical organization once they had delivered their loads. The subject is discussed in detail in Houston, Airborne Operations, Chapter VII, and in Warren, Airborne Operations in World War II, pages 152-53.

7. Mng and Evg Sitreps, A Gp B, 20 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Letzte Meldung. Mention of armor appears only in American accounts.

8. MS # A-898, Kampfhandlungen in Nordfrankreich 1944 der 6.Fallschirmjaeger-Division. IL Teil. Kaempfe an der Seine und Rueckzugsbewegungen durch Nordfrankreich (Generalleutnant R. von Heyking, comdr, 6th Prcht Div); MS # B-368, Einsatz und Kampf der 6. Fallschirmjaeger-Division vom 19.11.1944 bis zur Kapitulation (10-5.1945) (Generalmajor Rudolf Langhaeuser).

9. Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0200, 21 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen.

10. Ltr, Gavin to OCMH, 17 Jan 54.

11. Combat Intervs with Long and personnel of Co B, 505th Prcht Inf.

12. Ltr, Gavin to OCMH, 17 Jan 54.

13. Combat interviews on this operation are available in considerable detail.

14. Order, A Gp B to Armed Forces Comdr Netherlands and II SS Pz Corps, 2245, 19 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.

15. On 21 September, near a Dutch fortress northeast of the highway bridge, a bazooka man from the 504th Parachute Infantry, Pvt. John R. Towle, rushed beyond his company's outposts to intercept a German attack that was supported by two tanks and a half-track. He was instrumental in breaking up the thrust before falling mortally wounded from enemy mortar fire. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

16. Tel Convs, CofS A Gp B to Gen Bittrich, 2330, 20 Sep 44; CofS A Gp B to CofS II SS Pz Corps, 0915, 21 Sep 44; CofS OB WEST to CofS A Gp B, 1355, 21 Sep 44; and CofS A Gp B to OKW/WFSt, 1440, 21 Sep 44. All in A Gp B KTB (Text).

17. Ltr, Gavin to OCMH, 17 Jan 54. In 1949 an official board of inquiry reported to the Netherlands Government as a majority finding that it was likely a young Dutchman, Jan van Hoof, cut some detonator wires on the bridge, but the board did not say whether this act actually saved the bridge. See Letter to OCMH (24 Sep 56) from Dr. L. de Jong, Executive Director of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation. Though the story has attracted considerable notice in the Netherlands, only vague and inconclusive reference to it can be found in Allied records. See also Gilbert R. Martineau ed., Holland Travel Guide (Paris: Nagel, 1951), p. 528; Ltrs in OCMH files from Col. A. L. van den Berge, Military Attaché, Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington, D.C.; and Ltr, Bestebreurtje to OCMH.

18. Almost all after action reports and combat interviews contain references to Dutch assistance. See also Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous With Destiny, passim; Ltr, Gavin to OCMH, 17 Jan 54; correspondence with Colonel Boeree; and Ltr, Bestebreurtje to OCMH.

19. For this account of British units, see FAAA, Opns in Holland; Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland; 1st Abn Div, Rpt on Opn MARKET, Pt. I.

20. Evg Sitrep, A Gp B, 1845, 21 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Letzte Meldung; Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0135, 23 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen; Bittrich Questionnaire, copy in OCMH.

21. Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, pages 514-16, vividly describes the traffic problems on the highway.

22. Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, pp. 230-43.

23. Order, A Gp B to all subordinate commands, 1700, 21 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB Operationsbefehle.

24. See Mng Sitrep, A Gp B, 1000, 18 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Letzte Meldung.

25. TWX, A Gp B to OB WEST, 0600, 22 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle; MS # B149 (Poppe); Noon Sitrep, A Gp B, 1330, 22 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Letzte Meldung.

26. For the story of the defense of Veghel, the author is indebted to Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous With Destiny, pp. 352ff. The authors of this authoritative work conducted additional interviews and correspondence to supplement unit records and combat interviews. See also battalion histories of the 327th Glider Infantry in combat interview files of the 101st Airborne Division, plus unit journals and after action reports.

27. MS # B-149 (Poppe).

28. Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0135, 23 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen; MS # B-149 (Poppe).

29. MS # C-001 (von der Heydte).

30. Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0200, 24 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen.

31. Ibid.

32. See History of 325th Glider Infantry, 82d Abn Div Combat Interv file.

33. Order, A Gp B to First Prcht Army, Fifteenth Army, Armed Forces Comdr Netherlands, Wehrkreis VI, 1200, 23 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.

34. See Daily Sitreps, A Gp B, 27 Sep 44, and later dates, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen.

35. Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0135, 23 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen; Bittrich Questionnaire, copy in OCMH.

36. Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland.

37. TWX, Model to Rundstedt, 1300, 24 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Anlagen, Lagebeurteilungen/Wochenmeldungen, 15.V.-11.X.44.

38. German figures from Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0220, 27 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen. The Germans claimed approximately 8,000 British casualties, including 6,450 prisoners (1,700 of them wounded) and 1,500 dead.

39. 1st Abn Div, Rpt on Opn MARKET, Pt. I.

40. Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland. A complete tabulations of losses through 25 September follows:

41. Casualty figures on British ground forces furnished by Cabinet Office Historical Section; others from Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland. The 8 and 12 Corps for the same period (17-25 Sep) incurred 3,874 casualties and lost approximately 18 tanks.

42. FAAA Memo, sub: German analysis of Arnhem, 18 Dec 44, in SHAEF FAAA files; Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, pp. 360-61; Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, pp. 242-43.

43. Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, p. 242.

44. FWD 14764, Eisenhower to comdrs, 13 Sep 44, in SHAEF SGS 381, I.

45. Copy of Hitler order, filed at 0500, 25 Sep 44, in A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.

46. TWX, A Gp B to OB WEST, 0100, 25 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.

47. TWX, A Gp B to Fifteenth Army, 1630, 26 Sep 44, and to First Prcht Army, 0030, 27 Sep 44, and 1330, 28 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.

48. Daily Sitreps, A Gp B, 0145, 2 Oct 44, and 0030, 3 Oct 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen.

49. For the defensive phase of MARKET GARDEN, see Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland; FAAA, Operations in Holland; Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, pp. 240-41; Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous With Destiny, pp. 374 ff; and unit journals and after action reports of the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions.

50. A colorful account of this action, entitled "The Incredible Patrol," by Cpl. Russ Engel appeared in Life Magazine, January 15, 1943.

51. Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, pp. 361, 367-68.

52. V-25550, Brereton to Eisenhower, 10 Oct 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.

53. FWD 16687 Eisenhower to Montgomery, 2 Oct 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.

54. Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland.

55. 21 A Gp Gen Opnl Sit and Dir, M-527, 27 Sep 44, and Ltr, de Guingand to Smith, 26 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.

56. FWD 16181, Eisenhower to CCS, 29 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.

57. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 328.

58. Report on Supreme Comdr's Conf, 18 Oct 44, dtd 22 Oct 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.

59. Hq Br Abn Corps, Allied Abn Opns in Holland. Detailed figures follow:

a. Figures for the 82d Airborne Division are not available for the last six days, past 5 November 1944.

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