of his headquarters as he sat down to the lunch later sampled by John Killick, at first flattered himself that the attack was intended as a coup-de-main to seize his own person. He leaped into a car, papers spewing out of his briefcase as he ran down the steps of the Tafelburg, and shifted his command post six miles south-eastwards. Model was fifty-three, a music-master’s son from Magdeburg whose undoubted military competence was less important in Hitler’s eyes than his loyalty. Army Group B’s commander was untainted by aristocratic connections, a blunt professional who still asserted that the war could be won. Model and his senior officers now urgently assessed the nature of the Allied threat, and began to assemble resources to meet it. The 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions possessed about 3,000 men apiece, together with a company of Mark IV tanks, and assorted support weapons. The strength of each division amounted, in total, to that of a weak Allied brigade.
At 1340* 5 all units of the two divisions were ordered to stand to. General Walter Bittrich, commanding II SS Panzer Corps, quickly guessed that Allied intentions focused upon the bridges to the Rhine. He ordered 9th SS to address itself chiefly to dealing with the British at Arnhem. Tenth SS was to defend the Nijmegen bridge, ten miles southward. By 1540, 9th SS had assembled a force of thirty armoured cars and personnel carriers. “These soldiers were thinking about their families, as everything had virtually been packed for the move to [Germany],” said Captain Wilfried Schwartz. “The mood was a resigned: ‘Here we go again!’ They were inevitably disappointed at first, but the officers and NCOs were able to overcome this and get the soldiers quickly into action.” At 1800, some two hours before British paratroopers reached the Arnhem bridge, Captain Viktor Graebner’s 9th SS armoured column roared between the great sweeps of girders traversing the Rhine at Arnhem and headed for Nijmegen. Afterwards, there were recriminations among the Germans about a confusion of orders: Bittrich had intended 9th SS to secure both ends of the Arnhem bridge before proceeding to Nijmegen, and he had wanted Graebner on the south bank. Yet German success in reinforcing Nijmegen before the Americans got there was to prove even more important than events at Arnhem. Graebner’s dash, along with the commitment of some 10th SS units, decided the outcome of the entire Market Garden battle, by pre-empting the Allies and attaining a vital objective on their road. We should note the timings. The British had begun to land five hours— five hours —before Graebner crossed Arnhem bridge. Frost’s men were still not even in sight. This was a prodigious amount of leeway to allow German soldiers with motor vehicles to respond to a surprise assault. To have a chance of success, the Allies needed to seize the Dutch bridges within minutes of landing. The British and German timetables were already perilously out of step, to the detriment of the attackers.
General Maxwell Taylor’s 101st Airborne Division was responsible for seizing the objectives closest to the Allied ground advance: the bridges at Eindhoven, thirteen miles from the XXX Corps start line; Son, five miles beyond; and the Willems Canal, five miles further. The moment the “Screaming Eagles” hit their drop zones, they moved with all the urgency that had been expected of them to secure four crossings over the River Aa and the Willems Canal. They gained the road bridge over the Dommel river and the canal bridge at Best. As they approached the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son, four miles north of Eindhoven, it exploded before their eyes. Paratroopers swam the canal to establish a bridgehead on the southern side. By midnight, though Taylor’s men were facing heavy fighting, the 101st held a fifteen-mile corridor. And although Allied plans were optimistic, they had made ample provision for German demolitions. On
At 1340* 5 all units of the two divisions were ordered to stand to. General Walter Bittrich, commanding II SS Panzer Corps, quickly guessed that Allied intentions focused upon the bridges to the Rhine. He ordered 9th SS to address itself chiefly to dealing with the British at Arnhem. Tenth SS was to defend the Nijmegen bridge, ten miles southward. By 1540, 9th SS had assembled a force of thirty armoured cars and personnel carriers. “These soldiers were thinking about their families, as everything had virtually been packed for the move to [Germany],” said Captain Wilfried Schwartz. “The mood was a resigned: ‘Here we go again!’ They were inevitably disappointed at first, but the officers and NCOs were able to overcome this and get the soldiers quickly into action.” At 1800, some two hours before British paratroopers reached the Arnhem bridge, Captain Viktor Graebner’s 9th SS armoured column roared between the great sweeps of girders traversing the Rhine at Arnhem and headed for Nijmegen. Afterwards, there were recriminations among the Germans about a confusion of orders: Bittrich had intended 9th SS to secure both ends of the Arnhem bridge before proceeding to Nijmegen, and he had wanted Graebner on the south bank. Yet German success in reinforcing Nijmegen before the Americans got there was to prove even more important than events at Arnhem. Graebner’s dash, along with the commitment of some 10th SS units, decided the outcome of the entire Market Garden battle, by pre-empting the Allies and attaining a vital objective on their road. We should note the timings. The British had begun to land five hours— five hours —before Graebner crossed Arnhem bridge. Frost’s men were still not even in sight. This was a prodigious amount of leeway to allow German soldiers with motor vehicles to respond to a surprise assault. To have a chance of success, the Allies needed to seize the Dutch bridges within minutes of landing. The British and German timetables were already perilously out of step, to the detriment of the attackers.
General Maxwell Taylor’s 101st Airborne Division was responsible for seizing the objectives closest to the Allied ground advance: the bridges at Eindhoven, thirteen miles from the XXX Corps start line; Son, five miles beyond; and the Willems Canal, five miles further. The moment the “Screaming Eagles” hit their drop zones, they moved with all the urgency that had been expected of them to secure four crossings over the River Aa and the Willems Canal. They gained the road bridge over the Dommel river and the canal bridge at Best. As they approached the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son, four miles north of Eindhoven, it exploded before their eyes. Paratroopers swam the canal to establish a bridgehead on the southern side. By midnight, though Taylor’s men were facing heavy fighting, the 101st held a fifteen-mile corridor. And although Allied plans were optimistic, they had made ample provision for German demolitions. On
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