The Battle of the Nijmegen salient or the Defence of the Nijmegen bridgehead was a series of engagements that took place in the Netherlands during World War II between 30 September and 8 October 1944. The battle occurred in the aftermath of Operation Market Garden, a failed attempt by the Allies to cut off German forces in the Netherlands and end the war quickly.
Walter Model who commanded German forces during Market Garden attempted to regain the Nijmegen salient which had been seized by the allies to contain the offensive and drive them off the Betuwe, which became known as 'the Island'. Wilhelm Bittrich led the II SS Panzer Korps in the counter-offensive, in particular with the aim of retaking Nijmegen and its bridges. German forces were not prepared to make assaults and many units were without tank support. The 21st Army Group (General Bernard Montgomery) commanded the area from Southern Holland to the North sea. British forces on the island were led by General Ivor Thomas who commanded an ad hoc force assembled to defend the area. Despite losing some ground, the British managed to repel all the attacks. British troops then counter-attacked from 4 October, and managed to recapture all of the lost ground and gained a number of villages. The British were then reinforced by the US 101st Airborne Division and further German efforts were again defeated. When the Arnhem road bridge was destroyed by US medium bombers on 7 October, sporadic fighting continued for a further three days but the Germans called off the attack. The Germans suffered many casualties in infantry and tanks. The 21st Army Group, already committed to the defence of the salient, sent resources for the Battle of the Scheldt.
In September 1944, the Allies had launched Operation Market Garden, an offensive from the Dutch-Belgian border across the south of the Netherlands through Eindhoven and Nijmegen toward the Rhine bridge at Arnhem. The goal was to cross the Rhine and bypass the Siegfried Line in preparation for the final drive towards Berlin but also to cut off the Germans still in the Netherlands. Allied airborne troops managed to take the bridges but delays resulted in the defeat in the Battle of Arnhem. The advance stopped south of the Nederrijn, resulting in a narrow salient that ran from the north of Belgium across the south-east of the Netherlands, and was vulnerable to attack. The area between the Rhine and Waal rivers became the new front line on the Betuwe, also known as 'the island' to the allies.
During the latter stages of Market Garden, the British 43rd Wessex Division had moved up to relieve the Guards Armoured Division. Elements of the 43rd took Oosterhout from the Germans on 22 September and then gained Opheusden and Dodewaard the following day, but they were unable to push the frontline any further. The Household cavalry managed to reach the Polish Parachute Brigade at Driel following which 4th Dorsets attempted to reinforce 1st Airborne Division but suffered many losses after crossing the river. A conference had already been held at Valburg and a decision was made that the 1st Airborne should be evacuated. This was achieved at night in Operation Berlin on 25/26 September. With the completion of the evacuation, Thomas was made responsible for the defence of The Island. The 5th Guards Armoured Brigade and 8th Armoured Brigade as well as the 69th Infantry Brigade were placed under his command. In reserve was the 151st Infantry Brigade and 231st Infantry Brigade from 50th Northumbrian Division which had come up in support.
The German bridgehead on The Island by this time initially encompassed the villages of Elden, Elst, Huissen and Bemmel. Elst was lost on 25 September after several days of bitter street fighting with troops from the 43rd Wessex Division. The following day the Germans crossed the Rhine in battalion strength and managed to gain a small bridgehead at Randwijk. This was only lightly held by the 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment troops but on seeing the Germans they were soon reinforced by the Hampshires and Somersets with additional support from tanks of 8th Armoured Brigade. The British intention was to take the dyke road near Randwijk which was used by the Germans for ferry crossings. Despite interference from the Luftwaffe, the British were able to force the Germans out after a final gun battle in the village church, the Hampshires took 150 prisoners. The German bridgehead south of the Nederrijn was destroyed. On the same day, the 69th Infantry Brigade launched an attack to secure the area in front of them – Bemmel was captured by the 5th East Yorkshire Regiment. The following day the Green Howards secured the area of Heuvel, but were unable to take Baal and Haalderen due to German troops in the brickworks that were able to call in heavy artillery fire including Nebelwerfer fire.
The German High Command (Generalfeldmarschall Walther Model) in command of Heeresgruppe B, regarded the allied bridgehead north of the Waal River as a severe threat. They feared that the Allies could still use the area as a springboard to the north to cut off the 15th Army in the western part of Holland and threaten the plains of north-west Germany. Hitler, in a special Führer Directive issued on 25 September, had ordered the destruction of the allies in the Nijmegen–Arnhem area. For Model, it was imperative to recapture the ground they had lost in the Betuwe by acting quickly, before the Allied front had settled. Model ordered Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich (II SS-Panzer Corps) to destroy the Allies between the Nederrijn and Waal by coordinated armour and infantry attacks from the north and east. With the 10th SS Panzer Division already engaged on The Island, Bittrich was given the 9th Panzer Division and the 116th Panzer Division for the counter-attack. These latter formations were brought up from the Battle of Aachen, where the US First Army had penetrated the Siegfried Line. Upon arrival the 9th Panzer Division took over command of battlegroups Knaust and Bruhn, ad hoc formations composed of reserve and depot infantry, which had engaged the British 1st Airborne Division. The other armoured formation in the Arnhem area, the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen was pulled out of the line for a move to Paderborn for rest and refitting.
To ensure proper coordination of the counterattack, all German units on The Island were placed under command of Bittrich's II SS Panzer Korps to devote his attention exclusively to the conduct of the upcoming operation. In addition, the headquarters of XII SS Corps now assumed command over all German forces west of Arnhem on 27 September.
Three Army Corps were involved: the II Fallschirmjäger Korps to the east of Nijmegen, the II SS Panzer Korps on the Island and the XII SS korps. The latter operated from the north bank of the Nederrijn west of Arnhem and the south bank near Kesteren and Ochten, the area where the two rivers the Nederrijn and Waal approached to within a few miles of each other. These three army Corps were to launch coordinated attacks that intended to cut off the Allied concentration at Nijmegen through the south of the Waal and Nijmegen, from Groesbeek to the Maas-Waal Canal. II Fallschirm Korps would launch a converging attack north of the Waal against the Nijmegen bridgehead from the east and west of II SS Panzer and XII SS korps respectively. There was also a plan to destroy the Nijmegen road bridge in the hope that it would hamper Allied supplies and reinforcements. Hitler on the news of the failure of its destruction during its capture by the allies ordered an inquiry.
The Allies led by Dwight Eisenhower were already having issues with supply lines becoming stretched, and were in need of supplies for the coming winter. The Scheldt estuary needed to be cleared, so that the huge port of Antwerp could be opened to Allied shipping, making supplies easier to get to the new stabilised front line. This had been delayed, not just by Market Garden, but because Boulogne, Calais and Cap Griz Nez remained in German hands, besieged by the First Canadian Army. By the time Market Garden was over, Calais and Cap Gris Nez still hadn't fallen.