Slaughter in Holland
photo taken from wikipedia.org
During World War II, thousands of soldiers were killed. One of the most famous blunders which caused the deaths and wounded of thousands of troops was known as Operation Market-Garden. This was a British plan to end the war very quickly. But in order for this plan to succeed, many young men would be put to the ultimate test, facing odds very much not in their favor.
This plan was to drop thousands of paratroopers into German-occupied Holland. Their mission was to take and hold an group of bridges. At the same time, divisions of tanks would launch their attack, cross these bridges and ultimately push into Germany. This plan sounded great for the optimistic leaders who felt the war was now in their favor.
Almost immediately after the mission was undertaken, things started to go wrong. Bridges blew up, soldiers were cut off from their units, well-equipped German soldiers were outnumbering and outmaneuvering almost every objective, and the body count started to clime. After many days, with almost everything going the opposite way as was planned, many soldiers of the American and British forces were captured or killed.
The most infamous event of this operation, was at the final bridge known as Arnhem bridge. British paratroopers were dropped into the area, were able to capture the bridge, yet there were hundreds of German troops awaiting them. They were instantly surrounded and slowly but surely began taking casualties. The paratroopers were cut off from the rest of the Allied forces and had little ammunition to hold their positions. Hand-to-hand fighting became the main form of combat and the city of Anaheim was reduced to rubble before the British finally surrendered to the Germans.
