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Genuine Commemorative Miniature Medal in mint condition with ribbon.

MINIATURE COMMEMORATIVE OPERATION MARKET GARDEN MEDAL.

Ribbon Colours -  

Item - Genuine Commemorative Miniature Medal in mint condition with ribbon.

History and medal information - In late 1944 As part of "Operation Market Garden" Field Marshall Montgomerys plan the Parachute Regiment and American 82nd Airborne and 101st were dropped deep behind German enemy lines with 4 objectives to capture and hold, these include - Grave, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and the Last and deepest of them was the Bridge at Arnhem. This was the largest Airborne drop ever (upto that point) and was followed by a second wave including the Staffordshire regiment (now mercian) and Polish Brigade.

The idea was was to hold and secure each bridge (for 48 hours) along the route to allow XX Corps to pass over them the armour led by the Guards Armoured Brigade - Spearheaded by the Irish Guards and including Grenadier and Coldstream Guards to punch a hole through and link up with each unit along the route. 3 of the 4 Objectives were held but the tanks could not break through and reach the Paras at Arnhem.

The Paras were dropped amongst an Elite SS Panzer unit that were re-fitting their heavy panzers and held one end of the Bridge at Arnhem despite having no armour or proper anti-tank weapons (apart from the light PIAT) they held out for 5 days before being ordered to withdraw.

A Series of events led to the Operation failing even though 3 of the 4 objectives were completed and the Parachute regiment took the brunt of it.

The Crystal radios were not effective at long range and the units could not contact each other other than by the old fashioned runner. Intelligence had not picked up on the fact the SS Panzers were close reffiting. The Germans flooded the grounds either side of the roads and set up an effective 88mm anti tank system which could not be broken and picked off tanks and blocked road movement. Bad weather meant that the second wave of Airborne (Including the Polish Brigade) could not be dropped when they were planned. When the weather cleared they did finally drop but the LZ's and DZ'S (Landing Zone & Drop Zones) had already been overun and captured meaning the Airborne and Glider forces landing were mainly killed or captured.

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