The 1st British Airborne Division was dropped over 60 miles into the enemy held Netherlands on the northern bank of the Neder Rijn, near the town of Arnhem. It was to seize and hold a bridge or bridges over the river. Between it and the relieving troops of the British 30 Corps were two further United States airborne divisions dropped to seize other river crossings, the 82nd at Nijmegen and the 101st at Eindhoven. Thus 30 Corps would drive north from the Dutch/Belgian border, linking each division in turn to form a bridgehead that would extend over the Rhine. This would allow Montgomery to launch his assault on the industrial heartland of Germany and end the war by
