It failed in its most important objective: securing the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem. The operation succeeded in capturing the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen along with many towns, and a few V-2 rocket launching sites. It was the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point. About 100,000 German soldiers were in the vicinity to oppose the allied offensive. The plan anticipated that they would cover the 103 km (64 mi) from their start to the bridge across the Rhine in 48 hours. The land forces advanced from the south along a single road surrounded by flood plain on both sides. The land forces consisted of ten armored and motorized brigades with a similar number of soldiers. The airborne soldiers, numbering more than 41,000, were dropped in sites where they could capture key bridges and hold the terrain until the land forces arrived. The airborne operation was undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps of the British Second Army. British General Bernard Montgomery was the architect of Market Garden. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined US and British airborne forces ( Market) followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges ( Garden). Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine River), creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944.
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