Key Facts
- Date
- Night of 25–26 September 1944
- Men evacuated
- ~2,400
- Crossing point
- Neder-Rijn (Lower Rhine) near Driel
- Engineers providing boats
- Royal Canadian Engineers and Royal Engineers
- Duration
- One night
Strategic Narrative Overview
For nine days the 1st Airborne Division held a shrinking perimeter around the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek while relief attempts failed to break through German lines. By 25 September the division was exhausted and heavily outnumbered. The 1st Polish Parachute Brigade provided covering fire as Glider Pilot Regiment soldiers marked escape routes with white tape through the woods to the river bank.
01 / The Origins
Operation Market Garden, launched in September 1944, aimed to secure a series of bridges across the Netherlands and cross the Rhine, potentially ending the war in Europe by late 1944. The British 1st Airborne Division landed at Arnhem to seize the final bridge but was cut off by stronger-than-expected German forces, leaving the division surrounded on three sides and in danger of total destruction.
03 / The Outcome
During the night of 25–26 September 1944, Royal Canadian Engineers and Royal Engineers ferried approximately 2,400 men across the Lower Rhine in small boats to safety north of Driel. The evacuation ended Operation Market Garden and abandoned Allied hopes of crossing the Rhine and closing the European Theatre before the end of 1944, prolonging the campaign into 1945.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.