Operation Market Garden: What You Didn't Know About the 101st Airborne | American Artifact 213

0:05 So what happens when you develop an over complicated plan

0:10 to be executed on a strict timetable over difficult terrain?

0:16 Well, I'll tell you what you get.

0:18 You get Operation Market Garden.

0:21 So Operation Market Garden was kicked off in September of 1944.

0:27 And basically what the allies were trying to do was

0:31 circumvent the Sigf freed line uh also kind of secure

0:35 the approaches to the port at Antworp and uh

0:39 as the the saying goes end the war by Christmas.

0:43 And again this is going to be well

0:46 known for its complications and for its ultimate failure.

0:51 And in a previous series,

0:53 we talked about the the 82nd Airborne's zone in Naimeme.

0:58 Uh the the British First Airborne is going to be up in Arnham.

1:02 And over the next few episodes,

1:04 we're going to be talking about what happened in Operation Market Garden,

1:07 where we are right now in the sector of the 101st Airborne.

1:16 Heat.

1:35 Heat.

1:40 Heat.

1:42 Heat.

2:13 Now, like I said, we are in the area

2:15 of operations for the 101st Airborne Division,

2:19 which is just north of the city of Einhovven.

2:23 Uh for the 101st Airborne, there were three different drop zones that they

2:26 had for each one of the regiments.

2:28 Uh to the the far north, you had drop zone A.

2:31 uh the 5001st parachute infantry division

2:33 or regiment is going to be landing there.

2:36 Uh drop zone B, you're going to have the 502nd and then drop zone C,

2:39 furthest to the south, is going to be secured by the 56th.

2:44 Uh right now I am standing in drop zone A.

2:47 So, so this is where the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment was going to land.

2:52 Uh with us today, we got some artifacts that we're

2:53 going to be looking at here in a little bit.

2:55 But with us today we have my buddy Sander with Trails of History who's going

2:59 to kind of orient us as to what's going on here in this drop zone.

3:05 So we're standing now here on the southern end of drop zone

3:08 A where second battalion and third

3:10 battalion landed during operation market garden.

3:12 First battal battalion however landed on the other side of the zillfart

3:17 and had the task of going from the west into Feckl.

3:21 But now here on this drop zone,

3:22 third battalion would land here and would go south and between the road of St.

3:26 Udora and Feckl and defend that area.

3:29 And the second battalion would head north towards the town

3:32 of Feckl to capture the bridges over the South Villims.

3:35 The first battalion however they had to capture the bridges over

3:39 the AA river and eventually in a combined assault with the first battalion

3:43 on the left flank from the west and the second battalion

3:46 from the south they both simultaneously went

3:49 into Fel and captured the town itself.

3:53 So, here on drop zone A where the 501st Parachute

3:58 Infantry Regiment landed on September 17th in Operation Market Garden,

4:02 they have what's really kind of a a neat little memorial here.

4:07 Uh what we are looking at is a Pathfinder.

4:11 So, the Pathfinders were the guys who came out ahead

4:13 of the main body and dropped into the area uh of the drop

4:19 zone and then laid down uh homing beacons so that the men

4:24 following them uh could be dropped into the right area.

4:28 So, if you look over like on the other side of this guy's helmet,

4:31 it's a little bit shadowed here,

4:32 but uh there's a a headquarters tick uh right there.

4:37 And uh unfortunately I was unable to uh attend the the trip where it happened.

4:43 But last December uh Andrew Bio and the rifle uh brought what will

4:50 likely be the the last 101st Airborne Division veteran out to this very spot.

4:57 Uh I got to see the video is yeah pretty pretty neat moment.

5:01 But yeah, this is the the memorial here

5:04 on drop zone A where the 50ohirst landed.

5:08 And we've also got pretty interesting artifact that we've brought back today.

5:14 I'm at the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment drop zone.

5:19 Um, and I was here just a few months ago with an actual

5:22 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment veteran named

5:26 Dale Noble with the rifle project.

5:28 So, I I was just here and we were at this monument,

5:31 but we're here today to talk about Julian Ule, whose jacket I bought back.

5:37 Um, that's this is Julian Ule in this photograph.

5:41 And, uh, when Operation Market Garden started,

5:45 the 501st was commanded by Howard Jumpy Johnson.

5:50 And he was very much loved by his men.

5:53 and he was uh one of those commanders that the men really got behind.

5:58 Later on during Operation Market Garden when they were

6:01 out on what was called the island on October 8th,

6:06 um Johnson was hit in the stomach by German uh

6:10 shrapnel and uh it was it was a severe wound.

6:13 Medics didn't think he would last and he eventually did die of his wounds.

6:20 While he was dying, he said to Julian Ule here,

6:24 "Take care of my boys." And passed away.

6:27 Julian Ule then assumed command um of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

6:34 So, we have Julian Ule's M43 jacket.

6:38 Um presum presumably the one that he wore here um with his 101st patch.

6:44 And we also have his armband.

6:46 This is also Julian Ule, but this is the armband, his invasion armband.

6:51 And on the back, he typed that this is his armband from Operation Market Garden.

6:57 But um I've been wanting to bring these out for a while.

6:59 I've had I've had this for a long time and we've

7:02 been wanting to do a series on the 101st Airborne

7:05 during Operation Market Garden and um we're finally getting to do

7:10 that today and um with with memories of uh Jumpy Johnson,

7:15 Julian Ule, and Dale Noble who I was here with just a few months ago.

7:20 It's really an amazing artifact to bring out to this landing zone.

7:56 We've now moved into the town of Erida.

7:59 This is really close to Veel and is all going to be

8:02 part of the area of operations for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

8:07 You can see a church here behind me.

8:09 Uh we're going to go take a look at that in a moment.

8:11 But there were a lot of photos that were taken

8:13 here in this area that that we're going to go

8:15 and and kind of see if we can do a little

8:17 then and now uh here today here in the town of Erda.

8:22 They have this old windmill that was here in September of 1944.

8:28 So, as you can imagine,

8:30 for for these young American guys who are going to be landing here in this area,

8:35 uh this was pretty fascinating.

8:37 You know, something that you wouldn't see at home.

8:38 So, there were quite a few pictures that that were

8:41 taken of this windmill and also close to the windmill.

8:50 Well, they have this monument here that is quite nice

8:55 that is dedicated to the men of the 501st parachute infantry regiment.

9:02 Uh so there you can see it has their their motto there, Geronimo.

9:08 Uh, and then down here has uh a little memorial to to the dead.

9:15 So, 12 British and 48 Americans.

9:21 Yeah, quite nice.

9:25 I just walked up to the windmill to take

9:27 a quick look and noticed that on the side here.

9:31 Uh they have another little kind of wall of remembrance

9:36 to those who were killed in this area in Operation Market Garden.

9:40 Uh so men like Patrick Patrick Chot and Arthur Earl and Jack Delay,

9:46 guys from the 501st parachute infantry regiment of the 101st Airborne.

9:50 And then right here,

9:52 you notice it says in in this windmill was killed on Monday,

9:58 September 18th, 1944, about 11:00 in the morning.

10:02 Jacob H.

10:03 Windgard, Pennsylvania,

10:04 Sergeant 500 First Parachute Infantry Regiment Airborne Division.

10:08 May he rest in peace.

10:09 on the American cemetery of Margaraten.

10:12 And it says, "Between the windmill and the house was

10:17 a British Sherman tank knocked out during the fight on Sunday,

10:22 September 24th, 1944.

10:24 In that tank were killed three British soldiers.

10:26 May they rest in peace in the churchyard of Erda." Yeah.

10:32 And then over here it lists the uh the British who were killed in this area.

10:39 on the 24th and then also some of the Dutch civilians.

10:45 Just a moment ago when we were there at the memorial,

10:48 they talked about the British tank that got knocked out nearby.

10:52 Well, there was actually a picture that was

10:54 taken of that British tank right here.

11:02 So there, close to where my thumb is at, you

11:05 can see the tank with the windmill in the background.

11:11 And then this is what it looks like today.

11:16 For our journey through the UP 100 airborne at Operation Market Garden,

11:22 we are accompanied by Major Dick Wyers's files.

11:26 So, we have a lot of the original

11:29 papers and photographs from Major Dick Winter's files,

11:31 but he also made these bound editions.

11:35 This is the one for Holland that has all the papers consolidated into one place.

11:40 So, it's really convenient to bring these out cuz this is a copy.

11:44 Um, but it was from his files.

11:46 So, um, one of the things that's in here is this photo of this uh,

11:51 uh, windmill behind me.

11:53 Um, but we also are accompanied by Dick Winter's photo album.

11:57 Now, in his collection,

11:59 we have I think it's four uh books similar to this of photographs

12:06 and his original albums were pulled apart

12:09 when they worked on Bander Brothers the book.

12:12 And um later on he reassembled them into these types of books,

12:17 more modern photo albums.

12:19 And this writing here, I believe, is his wife, Ethel's writing,

12:23 but you can see the windmill that's behind me in these photographs.

12:28 And this is a treasure trove of information and photographs

12:32 and um uh really great for us to bring

12:35 this out here today to help us with to tell

12:38 the story of the 101st Airborne in Operation Market Garden.

13:15 Now, But we started off today in the areas of drop zone

13:19 A where the second and third battalion touched down on September 17th of 1944.

13:25 And I wanted to come up to where first battalion landed.

13:28 So we are northwest of Vele in the town of Hesvik Denta.

13:34 This is all Dutch and I don't have enough

13:36 flame in my throat to to pronounce it properly.

13:38 So if that's a little bit off, you'll have to excuse me.

13:41 But first battalion was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel

13:45 Harry Canard and uh they're going to touch down just

13:49 to the the west of where we are now

13:52 and are actually going to be moving right along this street.

13:57 So again we are on this street here in Hvakenta and are facing off to the west.

14:04 So once these guys in first battalion realized

14:08 that they were in the wrong spot, well,

14:09 they started moving down towards Vele and would have walked right along here

14:18 on this road in this picture that you see here uh in in front of me.

14:24 So, pretty cool that that we can come here and kind of stand

14:28 in the same spot where these guys walked

14:32 on the first day of Operation Market Garden.

14:37 Now, for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment,

14:40 casualties are actually going to be pretty light

14:42 on the first day of Operation Market Garden.

14:45 Now, again, they they had landed off of their drop zone.

14:48 first battalion had landed off of their drop

14:50 zone and Canard had this concern that, you know,

14:54 if they left their supplies behind, they might not be here when they get back.

14:57 So, as they were heading down to Veel, he left 46 men behind,

15:01 which included, I think, like eight guys who who had been wounded on the drop.

15:06 And uh they go on down to Veel.

15:09 Well, unfortunately for these 46 guys, they get surrounded by the Germans.

15:14 Uh Canard is going to go to Johnson, the regimental commander,

15:18 and ask to send a a company up here to relieve these men and rescue them.

15:23 Johnson didn't want to to risk, you know,

15:26 uh having a company that was going to maybe

15:30 be needed for a German attack in Vele.

15:32 So he says, "What about a platoon?" So at dark,

15:35 there's a platoon size element that comes up

15:37 here to try and and get these 46 guys.

15:39 Unfortunately, they weren't able to break through

15:41 and they end up becoming prisoners of the Germans.

15:44 But anyway, that was a little bit on the the 501st Parachute Infantry

15:48 Regiment and drop zone A on the first day of Operation Market Garden.