Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Operation Varsity
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Background== [[File:OperationVarsity1945.svg|thumb|The [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] disposition in [[western Europe]] by March 1945]] By March 1945, the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the [[Rhine|River Rhine]]. The Rhine was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied advance,<ref name="Armyhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.armyhistory.org/ahf2.aspx?pgID=877&id=139&exCompID=56 |title=Operation Varsity: The Last Airborne Deployment of World War II |access-date=2008-05-01 |author=Seelinger, Matthew J. |year=2007 |publisher=Army Historical Research |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201185145/http://www.armyhistory.org/ahf2.aspx?pgID=877&id=139&exCompID=56 |archive-date=1 December 2010}}</ref> but if breached would allow the Allies to access the [[North German Plain]] and ultimately advance on [[Berlin]] and other major cities in [[Northern Germany]]. Following the [[Broad front versus narrow front controversy in World War II|Broad Front approach]] laid out by [[General of the Army (United States)|General]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]], the [[Supreme Allied Commander]] of the [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force|Allied Expeditionary Force]], it was decided to attempt to breach the Rhine in several areas.<ref>Saunders, Tim, p. 41</ref> [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery]], commanding the Anglo-Canadian [[21st Army Group]], devised [[Operation Plunder]], subsequently authorized by Eisenhower, for a Rhine crossing by the forces under his command. Plunder envisioned the [[Second Army (United Kingdom)|British Second Army]], under [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] [[Miles Dempsey|Miles C. Dempsey]], and the [[Ninth United States Army|U.S. Ninth Army]], under [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[William Hood Simpson|William Simpson]], crossing the Rhine at [[Rees, Germany|Rees]], [[Wesel]], and an area south of the [[Lippe]] Canal.<ref>Devlin, p. 258</ref> To ensure that the operation was a success, Montgomery insisted that an airborne component be inserted into the plans for the operation, to support the amphibious assaults that would take place; this was code-named Operation Varsity.<ref>Devlin, pp. 258β259</ref> Three airborne divisions were initially chosen to participate in the operation, these being the [[6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|British 6th Airborne Division]], the [[13th Airborne Division (United States)|U.S. 13th Airborne Division]] and the [[17th Airborne Division (United States)|U.S. 17th Airborne Division]], all of which were assigned to [[XVIII Airborne Corps|U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps]], commanded by [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Matthew Ridgway|Matthew B. Ridgway]]. One of these airborne formations, the British 6th Airborne Division, commanded by [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] [[Eric Bols]], was a veteran division; it had taken part in [[Operation Overlord]], the [[Invasion of Normandy|assault on Normandy]] in June the previous year. However, the U.S. 17th Airborne Division, under Major General [[William M. Miley|William Miley]], had been activated only in April 1943 and had arrived in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] in August 1944, too late to participate in Operation Overlord. The division did not participate in [[Operation Market Garden]]. It did, however, participate in the [[Battle of the Bulge|Ardennes campaign]] but had yet to take part in a combat drop.<ref name="Armyhistory"/> The U.S. 13th Airborne Division, under Major General [[Eldridge Chapman (United States Army officer)|Eldridge Chapman]], had been activated in August 1943 and was transferred to [[France]] in 1945; the formation itself had never seen action, although one of its regiments, the [[517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team|517th Parachute Infantry]], had fought briefly in [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italy]], and later in [[Operation Dragoon|Southern France]] and the Ardennes campaign.<ref name="Flanagan 289">Flanagan, p. 289</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)