John Frost Bridge Netherlands

Legendary

Part of Operation Market Garden, British forces captured and defended the bridge in the Battle of Arnhem.

Photo by Engyles

On the night of September 17, 1944, British soldiers fired a flamethrower at German positions in the bridge towers. The flames hit an ammunition store, which exploded.

The bridge had been freshly painted, and the paint caught fire. The whole area stayed lit up like daylight for most of the night, so the soldiers had to give up their attack.

They were part of Operation Market Garden, a huge Allied plan launched in September 1944. Thousands of paratroopers dropped into the Netherlands to grab a series of bridges.

The bridge at Arnhem was the last one. If the Allies held it, they could cross the Rhine River and drive straight into Germany.

Almost nothing went to plan. The paratroopers landed too far from the bridge, and German forces in the area were far stronger than expected.

Out of an entire division, only about 740 men actually made it to the bridge. They were led by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost.

Frost's men took the northern end and were immediately surrounded. Two German Panzer divisions attacked them.

They were supposed to hold out for two days until help arrived. They held for four.

Help never came. The men ran out of food and ammunition, and Frost was wounded and taken prisoner on September 20.

The bridge itself was destroyed by Allied bombers a few weeks later. A new one was rebuilt in exactly the same style and opened in 1948.

In 1978, the bridge was renamed in Frost's honor. The story was also made into a famous movie called A Bridge Too Far.

Walk across the bridge and look at the northern end, where Frost's men dug in. Visit the Airborne Museum in nearby Oosterbeek, set inside a hotel that was used as a British headquarters during the battle. Stop at the Airborne at the Bridge information center right beside the water, which tells the story from three different sides.