On this day in military history…
In September 1944, the 82nd Airborne Division undertook one of the most daring and costly operations of the Second World War: the assault across the Waal River at Nijmegen. Part of the ambitious Operation Market Garden, the objective was to seize key bridges across the Netherlands and enable Allied forces to break into Germany. Among those crucial crossings was the massive road bridge over the Waal in Nijmegen, heavily defended by German forces.
Initial attempts to take the bridge through direct assaults failed. The Germans had reinforced the northern side, and determined resistance turned back multiple attacks. Time was running out. Without the Nijmegen bridge, British armored units advancing from the south would be blocked, and the entire operation could collapse. The 82nd Airborne was given an extraordinary and desperate mission: cross the Waal River in broad daylight, under enemy fire, in small canvas boats, and attack the bridge from behind.
On the afternoon of September 20, the men of the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment prepared to launch their assault. They moved quietly to the river’s edge about two kilometers downstream from the bridge. The boats, delayed and incomplete, were little more than canvas shells. Some soldiers had no paddles and would use rifle butts to row. As they pushed off, the river ahead stretched wide, open, and fully exposed to the German guns entrenched on the opposite bank.
As soon as the first boats hit the water, the Germans opened fire with everything they had—machine guns, mortars, artillery. The paratroopers rowed furiously, bullets tearing through the canvas and splashing into the water around them. Boats capsized. Men were killed before they left the shore. Others drowned or were shot while swimming. Still, the assault pressed forward, boat after boat crossing the deadly current.
Those who reached the far bank immediately launched their attack. Fighting was brutal and close. The paratroopers, exhausted from the crossing and under constant fire, managed to overrun several enemy positions and began securing a foothold north of the bridge. Reinforcements followed, braving the same horrific crossing. Casualties mounted—dozens killed, many more wounded—but the attack gained momentum. In the late afternoon, American forces pushed toward the bridge itself. As they advanced from the north, British troops and tanks from the Guards Armoured Division attacked from the south.
By evening, the Nijmegen bridge was in Allied hands. The battered survivors of the 504th held the northern end while the tanks rumbled across. It was a hard-won victory—earned with grit, sacrifice, and almost unimaginable bravery. Around two hundred paratroopers were killed or wounded during the crossing alone. But their success enabled the Allied forces to advance beyond Nijmegen, even though the broader goals of Operation Market Garden would ultimately fall short.
