Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation

Veterans and royals gather this weekend to mark the 80th anniversary of one of World War II's greatest Allied debacles: an unprecedented but failed airborne operation to seize Dutch bridges and forge a path into Nazi Germany.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Britain's Princess Anne will join a handful of remaining veterans to commemorate Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated plan to enter Germany through the Netherlands in a surprise advance to end the war in 1944.

On Saturday, hundreds of parachutists will re-enact the September 1944 airborne assault by jumping from a number of planes, including a historic Dakota transporter similar to those used in the actual operation.

Willem-Alexander will "lay the first wreath at the Airborne monument and meet the last veterans who took part in the operation," Dutch officials said.

On Sunday, Princess Anne and other dignitaries will attend a memorial service at the Oosterbeek war cemetery to remember those Allied soldiers who died during the operation, including around 1,400 during the Battle of Arnhem.

- 'Disastrous' -

Market Garden started on September 17, 1944 as a daring plan which Allied commanders had hoped would hasten the end of the war in Europe, opening up an invasion route to Berlin.

Thousands of British, US and Polish paratroopers were dropped above the Netherlands in the largest airborne and glider operation in history, to occupy bridges and waterways from Belgium to the Dutch city of Arnhem and open the way for Allied tanks.

"Dogged by bad luck and bad weather, the airborne operation failed mainly because the drop zones were too far from the objectives," wrote British historian Antony Beevor.

"Radio communications failed disastrously and the Germans reacted far more rapidly than expected," he said.

Conceived by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the plan went ahead despite warnings from the Dutch resistance that two German SS Panzer divisions were in the area.

Ultimately the Allies, driving up a single road towards the final bridge across the lower Rhine at Arnhem, failed to link up with the airborne assault troops, who were forced to surrender.

The battle was immortalised by the 1977 Hollywood war epic "A Bridge Too Far" directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Sean Connery, James Caan, Gene Hackman and Robert Redford.

The bridge at Arnhem is now named after British Lieutenant Colonel John Frost who together with 600 men held it for four days before being overrun.

In total, the ill-conceived operation saw the Germans take around 6,600 prisoners and Allied losses totaled almost 15,000, according to Beevor.

The Netherlands was finally liberated in May 1945 and in September that same year, the first commemoration of Arnhem was held in Oosterbeek as it has been every year since.

- 'Ultimate sacrifice' -

The 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden culminated this week with a series of commemorative events.

This included the solemn reburial of two Allied soldiers who died at the time, and whose remains were only discovered and identified a few years ago.

Private Henry Moon from Yorkshire in northern England and South African Lieutenant Dermod Anderson were reburied with full military honors on Wednesday.

"I think what strikes me as I've been around over the last couple of days, is the number of Airborne Division flags I've seen flying from people's homes, outside bars or restaurants and in public places," said Robert Desics, the military chaplain who conducted Moon's burial.

"This is clearly an anniversary which has deep significance for the Dutch," he told AFP.

The commemoration of Operation Market Garden "just shows that we do not forget those who lost their lives, made that ultimate sacrifice 80 years ago," added David Snowdon, Moon's great nephew.