Montgomery's audacious plan to punch a narrow hole through German lines and turn the flank of the Siegfried line.
The aim was to lay a 'carpet' of Airborne forces to capture vital bridges over the Meuse, Rhine and Lower Rhine around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, then force the 2nd Army, spearheaded by the British XXX Corps down the causeway to link up with the Airborne divisions. German resistance was, however, much stronger that expected as 2 German Panzer units were resting in the area and the supposedly 'scratch' units defending the line fought hard. Additionally the nature of the terrain made it particularly easy for the germans to cut the road, raised between low-lying boggy fields. Although the US 101st and eventually the 82nd Airborne secured their bridges the column was unable to reach the British 1st Airborne in Arnhem, who were surrounded and crushed. Their 10 day stand, however, became legendary.