Comes with hand-signed C.O.A.

This incredible and museum-grade WWII combat is dated 1944 and was used during Operation Market Garden. Codenamed 'Market Garden', this plan involved the seizure of key bridges in the Netherlands by the 101st and 82nd US Airborne Divisions, and 1st British Airborne Division who would land by parachute and glider. This map is a very rare marked “EMERGENCY PRINTING” with updated aerial navigation lines as of JUNE 1944 (the same month as the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy).

What makes this map extremely rare is that is shows all of the Operation Market Garden airborne and glider drop zones. This map shows the 1st British Airborne DROP ZONE of Arnhem, the 82nd Airborne Division (US) DROP ZONE of Nijmegen, and the 101st Airborne Division (US) DROP ZONE over the regions of Uden through Eindhoven.

In the summer of 1944, General Bernard Montgomery came up with a plan to cross the River Rhine and advance deep into northern Germany to shorten World War II.

General Montgomery named his two-part plan Operation Market Garden; Market was the airborne operation employing three divisions: the U.S. Army’s 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, the British 1st Airborne, and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade. This group formed the first Allied Airborne Army, and their objective for this mission was to seize key bridges in the Netherlands after landing by parachute and glider. Once the airborne troops landed, the British XXX Corps would advance over the bridges and cross the Rhine and its tributaries (the Garden portion of the operation). The bridges were at Eindhoven (around 13 miles from the start line), Nijmegen (53 miles away), and Arnhem (62 miles away), as well as two smaller bridges at Veghel and Grave that were between Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

If successful, the plan would open a route into the German industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley, and liberate the Netherlands- ending the war early.

The Plan:

In the summer of 1944, the Allies came up with an ambitious scheme to cross the River Rhine and advance deep into northern Germany and shorten the war.

Codenamed 'Market Garden', this plan involved the seizure of key bridges in the Netherlands by the 101st and 82nd US Airborne Divisions, and 1st British Airborne Division who would land by parachute and glider.

Then the British 30 Corps could advance over the bridges and cross the Rhine and its tributaries. The bridges were at Eindhoven, around 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the start line, Nijmegen, 85 kilometres (53 miles), and Arnhem, 100 kilometres (62 miles) away, as well as two smaller bridges at Veghel and Grave that lay between Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

If successful, the plan would liberate the Netherlands, outflank Germany’s formidable frontier defences, the Siegfried Line, and make possible an armoured drive into the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland.

The Landings:

On 17 September the airborne divisions landed. Eventually all the bridges were captured in what was one of the largest airborne operations in history.

The plan failed largely because of 30 Corps’ inability to reach the furthest bridge at Arnhem before German forces overwhelmed the British defenders. Allied intelligence had failed to detect the presence of German tanks, including elements of two SS Panzer divisions.

Arnhem:

Around 10,000 men from Major-General Roy Urquhart’s 1st British Airborne Division and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade landed at Arnhem. But their landing zones were 11 kilometres (seven miles) from the bridge at Arnhem. Only one battalion reached the objective while the remaining soldiers were squeezed into a pocket at Oosterbeek to the west.

Apart from a few anti-tank guns and howitzers, modified to fit inside gliders, the lightly armed airborne troops had few heavy weapons with which to resist tanks.

30 Corps:

Although units of 30 Corps captured Nijmegen bridge in conjunction with the US 82nd Airborne Division, they could not reach the furthest bridge at Arnhem. Much of its advance was along a single narrow causeway, which was vulnerable to traffic jams and German counter-attacks.

In some places the advance was hindered by marshes that prevented off-road movement. Throughout the battle the Germans also showed a remarkable ability to put together scratch battle groups that fought to delay the armoured columns.

Problems:

Operations were also hampered by a shortage of transport aircraft. The airborne troops were flown into the Netherlands in three lifts rather than all together.

Arnhem’s wooded landscape severely restricted the range of wireless sets, so communication failures also reduced the chance of success. Thick fog in England and low clouds over the battle zone hampered both resupply and the air-lifting of reinforcements.

Evacuation:

On 24-25 September about 2,100 troops from 1st Airborne Division were ferried back across the Rhine. Another 7,500 were either dead or made prisoners of war.

The crossing of the Rhine and the capture of Germany's industrial heartland were delayed for six months. Now, the Allies would have to fight their way into the Reich on a broad front. There would be no quick victory.