Editing 101st Airborne Division (section)

===== Operation Market Garden =====
[[File:101st Airborne inspecting broken glider in Holland army.mil-2007-09-12-112355.jpg|thumb|Men of the 101st Airborne Division inspect a broken glider, September 1944.]]

On 17 September 1944, the 101st Airborne Division became part of [[XVIII Airborne Corps]], under [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Matthew Ridgway]], part of the [[First Allied Airborne Army]], commanded by [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[Lewis H. Brereton]]. The division took part in [[Operation Market Garden]] (17–25 September 1944), an unsuccessful Allied military operation under [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery]], commander of the Anglo-Canadian [[21st Army Group]], to capture Dutch bridges over the Rhine. It was fought in the Netherlands, and is the largest airborne operation of any war.<ref name="WrightGreenwood2007">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fi3Q-YvWB9kC&pg=PT50 |last1=Wright |first1=Robert K. |last2=Greenwood |first2=John T. |name-list-style=amp |title=Airborne Forces at War: From Parachute Test Platoon to the 21st Century |year=2007 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-028-3 |page=62}}</ref>

The plan, as outlined by Montgomery, required the seizure by airborne forces of several bridges on the [[A50 motorway (Netherlands)|Highway 69]] across the Maas ([[Meuse River]]) and two arms of the [[Rhine]] (the [[Waal (river)|Waal]] and the [[Nederrijn|Lower Rhine]]), as well as several smaller [[canal]]s and [[tributary|tributaries]]. Crossing these bridges would allow British armoured units to [[flanking manoeuvre|outflank]] the [[Siegfried Line]], advance into northern Germany, and encircle the [[Ruhr Area|Ruhr]], Germany's industrial heartland, thus ending the war. This meant the large-scale use of Allied [[airborne forces]], including both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, along with the [[1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|British 1st Airborne Division]].

The operation was initially successful. Several bridges between [[Eindhoven]] and [[Nijmegen]] were captured by the 82nd and 101st. The 101st met little resistance and captured most of their initial objectives by the end of 17 September. However, the demolition of the division's primary objective, a bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at [[Son en Breugel|Son]], delayed the capture of the main road bridge over the Maas until 20 September. Faced with the loss of the bridge at Son, the 101st unsuccessfully attempted to capture a similar bridge a few kilometers away at [[Best, Netherlands|Best]] but found the approach blocked. During the fighting near Best, Private First Class [[Joe E. Mann]] of 3rd Battalion, 502nd PIR posthumously earned the division's second and last Medal of Honor during WWII for throwing his body unto a German grenade he was too badly wounded to throw back, saving several of his fellow soldiers. Other units continued moving to the south and eventually reached the northern end of Eindhoven.

At 06:00 on 18 September, the [[Irish Guards]] of the [[Guards Armoured Division|British Guards Armoured Division]] resumed the advance while facing determined resistance from German infantry and tanks.<ref name="Gill">{{Cite book |last1=Gill |first1=Ronald |last2=Groves |first2=John |name-list-style=amp |title=Club Route in Europe: The History of 30 Corps from D-Day to May 1945 |publisher=MLRS Books |year=2006 |orig-year=1946 |isbn=978-1-905696-24-6}}</ref>{{Rp|p71}} Around noon the 101st Airborne were met by the lead reconnaissance units from [[XXX Corps (United Kingdom)|British XXX Corps]]. At 16:00 radio contact alerted the main force that the Son bridge had been destroyed and requested that a replacement [[Bailey bridge]] be brought forward. By nightfall the Guards Armoured Division had established itself in the Eindhoven area<ref name="Randall, p. 33">Randall, p. 33</ref> however transport columns were jammed in the packed streets of the town and were subjected to German aerial bombardment during the night. XXX Corps engineers, supported by German prisoners of war, constructed a class 40 Bailey bridge within 10 hours across the Wilhelmina Canal.<ref name="Gill"/>{{Rp|p72}} The longest sector of the highway secured by the 101st Airborne Division later became known as "Hell's Highway".

Due to Operation Market Garden significantly extending the 21st Army Groups line, the 101st was attached to 21st Army Group to prevent its lines from being undermanned. The 101st reinforced the Nijmegen salient and relieved the British [[43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division|43rd Wessex Division]] to defend against the [[Battle of the Nijmegen salient|German counter offensive]] against the salient in early October. The division was relieved in late November 1944 and returned to SHAEF reserve for rest and refit.