Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges

The Battle of Arnhem, fought in the early autumn of 1944, remains without a doubt the most hotly debated battle of the North West European Campaign, both then and now. From its inception in the sixteen canceled airborne operations during August, we will chart the problems, many of which were ignored by men desperate to get into battle, the compromises and mistakes that pitched lightly armed and ill equipped paratroopers and glider infantry into an unequal struggle against an SS panzer troops. We follow the eight mile route that 2 Para took to reach the bridge at Arnhem, slipping through the German defenses.Meanwhile, the remainder of the force tangled with 9th SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division, whose presence in the woods north of Arnhem had been dismissed as a figment of an intelligence officers’ imagination. The film reaches a finale as 2 Para isolated from the rest of the Division and with the US Airborne and XXX Corps stalled at the Nijmegen Bridge, fights a bitter battle for survival that ultimately ended with the message ‘Out of ammunition. God save the King.’The Market Garden Collection will continue in Arnhem –Battle of the Woods out later this year.