Watch a Band of Brothers episode and have a close look at the site of one of the most famous battles from an entirely new viewpoint, the air!
Listen to the explanation and watch the battle as a drone captures the sights from the air, blended with scenes from the Band of Brothers episode so you can actually see what really happened and where it happened.
As we set the stage for the battle, the 101st Airborne parachuted into the Netherlands for Operation Market Garden. When ‘Market Garden’ ended in failure, the 101st was positioned on the ‘Island’ between the Rhine River at Arnhem and the Waal River at Nijmegen. The ‘Island’ is a tract of low land reclaimed from the rivers, intersected by drainage waterways, and surrounded by tall dikes on the riverbanks.
On the North side of the Rhine, there is a lot of high ground overlooking the ‘Island.’ This entire area was now German territory after the British 1st Airborne Division withdrew from the Oosterbeek region on September 25th. In the wooded area on the high ground, unseen by the Allies, the Germans had a tremendous supply of ammunition, including a lot of artillery and mortars. From the higher ground, the Allies were continuously being shelled.
The Allies had no place they could take cover, and the Germans could see them everywhere they went.
The bridges at Nijmegen had to be retaken by the Germans, even though they suffered many casualties from a sudden air attack. The bridges had to be recaptured so the Allies couldn’t launch another attack on Arnhem.
During the night German SS Companies secretly crossed the Rhine and waited to launch a counterattack on the Allies to support the Germans primary attack, which was to be launched from further west.
Patrolling the area at this time was Easy Company. They came across the German SS Companies, and a huge battle took place.