Free Republic

Every time a paratrooper in Britain’s airborne regiments goes to the stores to pick up his parachute as a prelude to going into action, it’s handed over with the same old corny gallows-humour banter — ‘Bring it back if it doesn’t work and we’ll exchange it.’ You could apply the same logic to the Parachute Regiment’s most famous World War II mission: the abortive attempt to capture from the Germans the bridge over the Rhine at the town of Arnhem in the north-east of the Netherlands in the autumn of 1944. It spectacularly did not work — and, once it...

Every time a paratrooper in Britain’s airborne regiments goes to the stores to pick up his parachute as a prelude to going into action, it’s handed over with the same old corny gallows-humour banter — ‘Bring it back if it doesn’t work and we’ll exchange it.’ You could apply the same logic to the Parachute Regiment’s most famous World War II mission: the abortive attempt to capture from the Germans the bridge over the Rhine at the town of Arnhem in the north-east of the Netherlands in the autumn of 1944. It spectacularly did not work — and, once it...

About six miles from Maastricht, in the Netherlands, lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall/winter of 1944. Every one of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries, has been adopted by a Dutch family who mind the grave, decorate it, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" soldier in a place of honour in their home. Annually, on "Liberation Day," memorial services...

Here are some of the best fan banners and displays from around the world.

OOSTERBEEK, Netherlands (AP) - Sixty years ago, the skies above the Dutch countryside filled with the white silk of parachutes of 30,000 Allied troops while tanks rolled up from Belgium along a narrow road that became known as "Hell's Highway." In the legendary "Market Garden" operation, which began Sept. 17th, 1944, a massive force that was supposed to end World War II found it had attempted to go "a bridge too far." A ceremony Sunday commemorated the heroic but doomed assault with Dutch schoolchildren raising flowers above their heads before laying them on the graves of the 1,750 Allied soldiers...

ARNHEM, The Netherlands (AFP) - Dutch Queen Beatrix and Britain's Prince Charles laid wreaths for the victims of the failed Market Garden operation in World War II in a religious ceremony to honour the veterans of the epic Allied defeat. In the daring but doomed nine day operation in 1944 more than 1,700 paratroopers of the 10,000 dropped over Arnhem were killed. "It was not in vain, because here we stand 60 years later in a spirit of friendship and cooperation between European States that was just a dream 60 years ago ... 'A Bridge Too Far' has become a...

EDE, The Netherlands (AFP) - When British veteran Charles Grocett first saw the Ginkelse Heide, a piece of heathland near Arnhem, he was a 18-year-old paratrooper dodging enemy fire...sixty years on he was back to commemorate the failed operation Market Garden, the largest airborne and glider operation in history. "I was dropped here in this same place. It was not good, there were fireballs coming at you because the Germans were waiting for us," he recalled Saturday. More than 50,000 spectators gathered on the heather-covered land to see several hundred parachutists commemorate the day when almost 10,000 British, American and...

AMSTERDAM — Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has launched a blistering attack on Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery on the eve of the 60th commemoration of the costly failure of the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. Speaking on Dutch television on Tuesday, the 93-year-old German-born father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands said Montgomery had ignored warnings that his plan, Operation Market Garden, was doomed to failure. Bernhard also said the British had tried to pin the blame on the commander of the Polish forces who took part in the operation. He said he was convinced the British exerted pressure on...

It was part of the Allied’s Operation Market Garden, the biggest airborne operation in history. It was devised by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Its aim was to end the Second World War by the end of 1944. Operation Market Garden consisted of two strands: the occupation of bridges close to the Dutch-German border by airborne troops (Market) and the advance of the Second British Army (Garden). Some 35,000 British, American and Polish airborne troops were to be dropped into Holland over a three-day period from September 17, 1944. Once the waterways were secured they would be reinforced by ground troops...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...