Codenamed Operation Market Garden, the airborne assault took place on September 17, 1944, when 10,000 allied paratroopers filled the skies above Holland, unaware of the troubled times ahead of them and the fact that fewer than 3,000 would return.
Allied intelligence reports indicated that German morale was low and enemy forces in the area were weak, nothing could have been further from the truth. German spirits were, in fact, high, and an SS Panzer unit was in Arnhem, overhauling its tanks.
Despite losing aircraft, the drop had gone according to plan and the British airborne units were quickly away to their allotted tasks with the lst Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron, heading towards the bridges. But of the 320 gliders involved in the operation, 38 failed to arrive. Included in those casualties were the jeeps of the reconnaissance squadron.
The Germans had initially been taken by surprise and after landing at Renkum Common, eight miles west of Arnhem, the lst Parachute Brigade set off in the direction of Arnhem, their objective - to seize the road and rail bridges across the Rhine.
Led by Lt Col Frost, 2 Para took the lower Oosterbeek road heading for Arnhem bridge, while I and 3 Para took separate routes in the same direction, only to be ambushed by German armoured units.
There were many heroic actions recorded during Operation Market Garden and the bravery of the fifteen Army Chaplains who served with the 6th Airborne division, saved many lives. But only a handful of the chaplains survived. After the battle they stayed behind to tend the wounded and were captured almost straight away.

In total 7,167 men were listed as killed, missing or wounded at Arnhem, in an operation described by some as, 'a total disaster'. But after the battle, in which the Paras won five Victoria Crosses, the American General Dwight Eisenhower was full of praise for the airborne warriors.
He said, 'There has been no single performance by any unit that has more greatly inspired me or more excited my admiration than the nine day action by the lst British Parachute Division between September 17 and 25'.
More info about operation Market Garden can be found at http://www.marketgarden.com/