Operation Berlin (Arnhem rescue)

Operation Berlin
Part of the Battle of Arnhem Operation Market Garden
Type	Withdrawal
Location	The Lower Rhine at Oosterbeek, the Netherlands
Planned	25 September 1944
Planned by	Major General Roy Urquhart
Objective	Safely withdraw the British 1st Airborne Division
Date	Night of the 25/26 September 1944 2200 – 0500
Executed by	43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
Outcome	Approximately 2,400 men evacuated
Casualties	Approximately 95 killed

Operation Berlin (25–26 September 1944) was a night-time evacuation of the remnants of the beleaguered British 1st Airborne Division, trapped in German occupied territory north of the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden in the Second World War. The aim of the operation was to withdraw safely the remnants of the division, surrounded on three sides by superior German forces and in danger of being encircled and destroyed. The operation successfully evacuated approximately 2,400 men of the British 1st Airborne Division and effectively ended Market Garden, the Allied plan to cross the Rhine and end the war in Europe by the end of 1944. The surviving glider pilots attached to the division were ordered to lay a white tape through the woods, leading from the Perimeter, the grounds of the Hartenstein Hotel, to the north bank of the Neder-Rijn (Lower Rhine) where the Royal Canadian Engineers were waiting with small boats to ferry them to safety across the Rhine to a landing point north of Driel.

In September 1944 the Allies launched Operation Market Garden, an attempt by the British 2nd Army to bypass the Siegfried Line and advance into the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland. The operation required the 1st British Airborne Division and the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions to seize several bridges over rivers and canals in the Netherlands, the main target being the bridge at Arnhem. This would allow General Brian Horrocks' XXX Corps to advance approximately 30 miles up an 'airborne corridor' to relieve the 10,095 men flown into Arnhem, charged to capture and hold the bridge over the lower Rhine and so enable the Allied forces to advance into the Ruhr valley. They were told they would be relieved in just two days. Of the men taken to Arnhem, approximately 40% were members of the Parachute Regiment, later supported by members of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade. The remainder of the division comprised a number of Regiments. These were flown in and landed in gliders, piloted by just over 1200 members of the Glider Pilot Regiment, almost its total strength. The landings and Parachute drops extended over three days beginning on 17 September 1944. However, they encountered far more resistance than had been expected, including the II SS Panzer Corps. Only a small force under Lt. Col. John Dutton Frost were able to reach the bridge, (now named 'The John Frost Bridge') and capture and hold one end of it, but, heavily outnumbered and outgunned, were overwhelmed after four days. The rest of the division established a strong defensive position called 'The Perimeter' in the grounds of the Hartenstein Hotel (now the Airborne Museum) in Oosterbeek, a suburb of Arnhem, in the hope that when XXX Corps did arrive, they would be able to cross the river and establish a bridgehead there. The 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade landed south of the river on 21 September, but did not have the equipment to cross the river to assist the British. Meanwhile, XXX Corps' advance had been severely delayed and lead elements did not make contact with the Poles at Driel until 22 September.

...
Wikipedia