I Airborne Corps (United Kingdom)

The I Airborne Corps was the commanding formation of the airborne forces during Operation Market Garden. It consisted of the British 1st Airborne Division, Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, US 82nd Airborne Division and US 101st Airborne Divisions during the operation. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning.

Operation Market-Garden

The aim of Market Garden was to force a crossing of the lower Rhine in the Netherlands during 1944 and thus end the war earlier than would otherwise have been possible. That strategy was forced upon the Allies because they simply outran their logistical support too far to be able to follow General Dwight Eisenhower's broad front attack strategy. During Market Garden, the airborne troops were to land and seize various bridges over the numerous rivers in that part of the Netherlands. They were then to be relieved by formations of the British XXX Corps pushing into the bridgehead.

During the operation the I Airborne Corps forces were carried from the United Kingdom in RAF Transport Command and IX Troop Carrier Command aircraft. The two American divisions dropped nearer the existing frontline, with the 101st assaulting Eindhoven and the 82nd coming down on Nijmegen. The British division, and later the Polish brigade were dropped much further north, near the town of Arnhem.

Things began to go wrong almost from the start. The 101st was relieved relatively quickly, as they were close to the existing front. However, in the area of the 82nd's drop zone serious and prolonged fighting broke out, blocking the advance of XXX Corps. The reasons for this resistance were two-fold. Firstly there were two SS divisions present in the area which intelligence had not accounted for, and they put up a stiff fight, despite being depleted and sent to the area to rest and recuperate. Secondly, Generalfeldmarshal Walter Model, the German Ob West, happened to be eating a meal only a couple of miles from one of the drop zones. He thus got very early warning of the attack and was able to order prompt countermeasures.

As a result of the fighting at Nijmegen, the British airborne division was cut off. It had only managed to secure part of its objectives in the first place, and when it tried to form up to put in a cohesive attack on the remainder its units were cut to pieces by the Germans. It was forced into a smaller and smaller perimeter around a small village to the west of Arnhem, and a detachment desperately tried to hold on to objective they had captured; one end of the two bridges across the Rhine itself. The detachment was overwhelmed after a titanic struggle. The Polish brigade were not dropped into the area north of the river in the end. They parachuted south of the Rhine and attempted to force a crossing to relieve the British division. In this effort they largely failed, although some British troops did make it back across.

Deactivation

I Airborne Corps suffered horrendous casualties during Market Garden. The British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were particularly hard hit. The former never fought as a unit again during the war, neither did I Airborne Corps itself.