In
Commemoration
Operation Market Garden 2017
73rd anniversary of the famous ‘Operation Market Garden’ was commemorated in Europe with a demonstration carried out by airborne troops from several countries. Alex van Noije and Joris van Boven report from this annual event.
From 11 to 16 September 2017, the international parachuting exercise Falcon Leap took place for the third time, this also being the 25th anniversary of the 11th Airmobile Brigade of the Dutch Army. Military personnel from eight different countries trained together by jumping with each other’s equipment. The exercise, which encourages collaboration between the various allies, is linked to the memory and commemoration of Operation Market Garden, conducted during the Second World War. Operation Market Garden was an allied offensive against the Germans in the Netherlands in September 1944, perhaps the most important such in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Market Garden was largely unsuccessful, because the last bridge at Arnhem could not be captured. The result of this failure was the ‘Hunger Winter’ for the northern part of the Netherlands.
Operation Market Garden consisted of two major sub-operations. The first operation was to drop a large number of airborne troops behind German lines and was called Market. The second operation was a ground offensive from Belgium to the Netherlands under the name Garden. British, Polish and American airborne troops were to occupy the important bridges across some major Dutch rivers. The ground troops could quickly move from Belgium towards the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. Operation Market Garden was seen as a failure by the Allied Army Staff, with the most crucial bridge at Arnhem not captured. During this major airborne operation, many paratroopers were killed, and are commemorated at the annual Market Garden Memorial.
The official historic anniversary of Operation Market Garden started in Brabant in Son and Breugel. On Sunday, 17 September 1944, 4,500 paratroopers landed in the fields west of Son and Breugel in a timeframe of 45 minutes. In addition, there were 53 Waco gliders towed by the Douglas C-47 Skytrains. The Paulushoef farm was chosen as marker for the drop zone, name of this farm was written in big white letters on the roof. People from nearby farms helped the Allies in every way possible after their landing.
Paratroopers board aircraft
Now, on 15 September 2017, to commemorate the opening action of Market Garden, a group of parachutists were dropped over Son and Breugel. The paratroopers, from the Round Canopy Parachuting Team (RCPT), landed in the area surrounding the Brouwerskampweg and Sonniuswijk. The RCPT team has members from 26 different countries and operate in the manner of Operation Market Garden in 1944, with authentic uniforms and jumping from a C-47 Dakota, to commemorate those who fought for Europe’s freedom.
The next day, the RCPT continued to Veghel to conduct a jump there. At 6 pm, they jumped in the Kruigenstraat. The Ham en Havelt area was the scene of fierce fighting on 22 September 1944. That battle entered history books as ‘Black Friday.’ Finally, on 17 September 2017, around 3.30 pm, there was also a jump on De Horstjens in Eerde. That landing took place on a field of drop zone A, which had not been used since the 3rd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment landed there in September 1944.
Luftwaffe Transall C-160 taxiing out
In addition to the RCPT team, which traditionally makes parachute jumps during commemoration activities, there are also international military teams deployed then, facilitated during the commemorations by the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The two highlights were the public events on 13 September, at the Houtdorperveld at Ermelo and the commemoration jump on 16 September, at the Ginkelse Heide at Ede near Arnhem. On both days, between 0800h and 1400h more than 800 parachutists landed in the designated areas.
All aircraft that dropped parachutists operated from Eindhoven Air Base, with the Royal Netherlands Air Force providing a C-130 Hercules for the commemoration. The German Luftwaffe flew in with two Transall C-160 aircraft, the Polish Air Force provided a C295 transport and the US Air Force flew one C-130 from the United States to Eindhoven. In the past, the Belgian Air Force and the British RAF also flew during the commemorations, but not this time.
The paratroopers participating in exercise Falcon Leap were from eight different countries: Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Poland and the United States. During the exercise, the troops were completely mixed, and therefore able to operate together and use each other’s equipment and aircraft. This type of training ensures that the troops are widely deployable and that they are not dependent on their own equipment and aircraft during expeditionary operations. The large and complex final scenario of the exercise was a series of commemorative jumps during the Market Garden Memorial. In some cases, the paratroopers boarded their aircraft with engines running on the apron, adding to the serious training element of the exercise, even though the jump was purely commemorative. Training internationally in addition to conducting the commemoration events, allows both the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Netherlands Army to effectively execute the exercise objectives of Falcon Leap as well as commemorate Market Garden.