Operation Varsity

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Operation Varsity
Part of World War II
C-47 transport aircraft drop hundreds of paratroopers as part of Operation Varsity
Date 24 March 1945 Location Wesel, Germany Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Canada  United Kingdom  United States	Germany
Commanders
Bernard Montgomery Eric Bols Matthew B. Ridgway	Günther Blumentritt
Strength
16, 870[1]	8,000 (est.) [2]
Casualties and losses
2378—2700 casualties[3] 56 aircraft[4]	3500 captured[4]

The Allied disposition in western Europe by March 1945.

Operation Varsity was a joint American—British airborne operation that took place towards the end of World War II. Its intention was to aid the British 21st Army Group secure a foothold across the River Rhine in western Germany as a part of Operation Plunder by landing two airborne divisions on the eastern bank of the Rhine near the towns of Hamminkeln and Wesel. The operation took place on the morning of 24 March as a part of Operation Plunder, the overall effort by 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross the river and from there enter Northern Germany. The operation involved two airborne divisions from US XVIII Airborne Corps, namely the British 6th Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division.

The operation was a success for the two airborne divisions involved, with both divisions landing and securing the territory they had been assigned to capture, aiding the advance of 21st Army Group by capturing a number of bridges across the Rhine and securing several towns which could have been used to delay the advance of the formation. The two divisions incurred more than two thousand casualties during the operation, but also captured around three thousand German soldiers in the process. The operation is notable for being the last large–scale Allied airborne operation of the conflict, as well as being the largest to take place in history.^[5]

[edit] Background

By March 1945, the Allied armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine. The Rhine was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied advance,^[6] but if breached would allow the Allies to access the North German Plain and ultimately advance on Berlin and other major cities in Northern Germany. Following the 'Broad Front Approach' laid out by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, it was decided to attempt to breach the Rhine in several areas.^[7] Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commanding the British 21st Army Group devised a plan to allow the forces under his command to breach the Rhine, which he entitled Operation Plunder, and which was subsequently authorized by Eisenhower. Plunder envisioned the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey and the U.S. Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William Simpson crossing the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and an area south of the Lippe Canal.

To ensure that the operation was a success, Montgomery insisted that an airborne component was inserted into the plans for the operation to support the amphibious assaults that would take place, which was code–named Operation Varsity.^[8] Three airborne divisions were initially chosen to take part in Varsity, these being the British 6th Airborne Division, the US 13th Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division, all of which were assigned to the US XVIII Airborne Corps. One of these airborne formations, the British 6th Airborne Division, was a veteran division; it had taken part in Operation Overlord and the assault on Normandy. However, the 17th Airborne Division had only been activated in April 1943 and had arrived in Britain in August 1944, too late to participate in Operation Overlord. The Division had also been absent from Operation Market-Garden, and the only action it had seen was during the Ardennes campaign; it was therefore an inexperienced formation which had never taken part in a combat drop.^[6] The 13th Airborne Division had been activated in August of 1943 and was sent to France in 1945 but the formation itself had never seen action, although one of its Regiments, the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment had seen action in Italy, Southern France, and in the Ardennes. ^[9]

[edit] Allied Preparation

Operation Varsity was therefore planned with these three airborne divisions in mind, with all three to be dropped behind German lines in support of 21st Army Group as it conducted its amphibious assaults to breach the Rhine. However, during the earliest stages of planning Varsity, it became apparent to the planners that the 13th Airborne Division would be unable to participate in the operation, as there were only enough combat transport aircraft in the area to effectively transport two divisions.^[10] The plan for the operation was therefore altered to accommodate the two remaining airborne divisions, the British 6th Airborne and the US 17th Airborne Division. The two airborne divisions would be dropped behind German lines, with their objective to land around Wesel and disrupt enemy defences in order to aid the advance of the British Second Army towards Wesel. ^[11]

To achieve this, both divisions would be dropped near the town of Hamminkeln, and were tasked with a number of objectives: they were to seize the Diersfordter Wald, a forest that overlooked the Rhine and had a road linking several towns together; several bridges over a smaller waterway, the River Ijssel, were to be seized to facilitate the advance; and the town of Hamminkeln was to be captured.^[5] Once these objectives were taken, the airborne troops would consolidate their positions and await the arrival of Allied ground forces, defending the territory captured against the German forces known to be in the area.

Operation Varsity would be the largest single–drop airborne operation conducted during the conflict; more significantly, it would also go against previous airborne strategy by having the airborne troops drop after the initial amphibious landings, in order to minimize risks to the airborne troops after the experiences of Market-Garden.^[12] Unlike Operation Market-Garden, the airborne forces would only be dropped a relatively short distance behind German lines, thereby ensuring that reinforcements in the form of Allied ground forces would be able to link up with them within a short period, and not risking the same type of disaster that had befallen the British 1st Airborne Division when it had been isolated and practically annihilated by German infantry and armour at Arnhem. It was also decided by the commander of the 1st Allied Airborne Army, General Lewis Brereton who commanded all Allied airborne forces, including US XVIII Airborne Corps, that the two airborne divisions participating in Operation Varsity would be dropped simultaneously in a single 'lift', instead of being dropped several hours apart, which also occurred during Operation Market-Garden. Supply drops for the airborne forces would also be made as soon as possible to ensure adequate supplies were available to the airborne troops as they fought.^[13]

[edit] Axis Preparation

By this period of the conflict, the number of German divisions remaining on the Western Front was rapidly declining, both in numbers and quality, a fact in the Allies favour.^[14] By the night of 23rd March, Montgomery had the equivalent of more than thirty divisions under his command, whilst the Germans could field around ten divisions, all weakened from constant fighting.^[15] The best German formation the Allied airborne troops would face was the First Parachute Army, although even this formation had been weakened from the losses it had sustained in earlier fighting, particularly when it had engaged Allied forces in the Reichswald Forest in February.^[16] First Parachute Army had three corps stationed along the river; 2 Parachute Corps to the north, 86 Corps in the centre, and 63 Corps in the south.^[17] Of these formations, 2 Parachute Corps and 86 Corps had a shared boundary which ran through the proposed landing–zones for the Allied airborne divisions, meaning that the leading formation of each corps would face the airborne assault – these being 7 Parachute Division and 84 Infantry Division.^[18] After their retreat to the Rhine both divisions were under–strength and did not number more than 4,000 men each, with 84 Infantry Division supported by only 50 or so medium artillery pieces.^[18]

The seven divisions that formed the First Parachute Army were short of manpower and munitions, and although farms and villages were well prepared for defensive purposes, there were few mobile reserves, ensuring that the defenders had little way to concentrate their forces against the Allied bridgehead when the assault began.^[19] The mobile reserves that the Germans did possess consisted of some 150 armoured fighting vehicles under the command of First Parachute Army, the majority of which belonged to XLVII Panzer Corps.^[20] Allied intelligence believed that of the two divisions which formed XLVII Panzer Corps, 116 Panzer Division had up to 70 tanks, and 15 Panzergrenadier Division 15 tanks and between 20—30 assault guns. Intelligence also pointed to the possibility of a heavy antitank battalion being stationed in the area.^[18] However, the Germans did possess a great number of antiaircraft weapons; on 17th March Allied intelligence estimated that the Germans had 153 light and 103 heavy antiaircraft guns, a number which was drastically revised a week later to 712 light and 114 heavy antiaircraft guns.^[20] The situation of the German defenders, and their ability to effectively counter any assault, was made even more difficult by the Allies. The Allies launched a large–scale air attack a week prior to the beginning of Operation Varsity. The air attack involved more than ten thousand Allied aircraft and concentrated primarily on Luftwaffe airfields and the German transportation system.^[18] The German defenders were also hampered by the fact that they had no reliable intelligence as to where the actual assault would be launched; although German forces along the Rhine had been alerted as to the general possibility of an Allied airborne attack, it was only when British engineers began to set up smoke generators opposite Emmerich and began laying a sixty-mile-long smokescreen that the Germans knew where the assault would come.^[21]

[edit] The Battle

Map of the planned drop zones for Operation Varsity.

Operation Plunder began at 9pm on the evening of March 23rd, and by the early hours of the morning of March 24th Allied ground units had secured a number of crossings on the eastern bank of the Rhine.^[22] In the first few hours of the 24th, the transport aircraft carrying the two airborne divisions that formed Operation Varsity began to take off from airbases in England and France and began to rendezvous over Brussels, before turning northeast for the Rhine dropping zones. The airlift consisted of 541 transport aircraft containing airborne troops, and a further 1,050 troop–carriers towing 1, 350 gliders.^[22] The 17th Airborne Division consisted of 9, 387 personnel, who were transported in 836 C-47 Dakota transports, 72 C-46 Commando transports, and more than 900 Waco CG-4A gliders. The 6th Airborne Division consisted of 7,220 personnel transported by 42 Douglas C-54 and 752 C-47 Dakota transport aircraft, as well as 420 gliders.^[23] This immense armada stretched more than two hundred miles in the sky and took two hours and thirty–seven minutes to pass any given point, and was protected by some 2, 153 Allied fighters from the U.S. Ninth Air Force and the Royal Air Force.^[24] At 10am on the 24th, British and American airborne troops belonging to the 6th Airborne Division and 17th Airborne Division began landing on German soil, some thirteen hours after the Allied ground assault began.^[22]

[edit] 6th Airborne Division

The first British airborne unit to land was the 3rd Parachute Brigade, commanded by Brigadier James Hill.^[25] The Brigade actually dropped nine minutes earlier than it was scheduled to be, but despite this the unit was successfully dropped onto Drop–Zone A, although it faced significant amounts of small–arms & 20 mm antiaircraft fire. The Brigade suffered a number of casualties as it engaged the German forces in the Diersfordter Wald, but by 11:00 the Drop–Zone was practically clear of enemy forces and all battalions of the Brigade had formed up.^[26] The key town of Schnappenberg was captured by the 9th Parachute Battalion in conjunction with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, the latter unit having lost its commanding officer to German small–arms fire only moments after he had landed.^[25] However, despite taking casualties the Brigade cleared the area of German forces, and by 13:45 Brigadier Hill could report that the Brigade had secured all of its objectives.^[26]

The next British airborne unit to land was the 5th Parachute Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Nigel Poett.^[27] The Brigade was designated to land on Drop–Zone B and achieved this, although not as accurately as 3rd Parachute Brigade due to poor visibility around the Drop–Zone, which also made it more difficult for paratroopers of the Brigade to rally. The Drop–Zone came under heavy fire from German troops stationed nearby, and was subjected to shellfire and mortaring which inflicted casualties in the battalion rendezvous areas.^[28] However, 7th Parachute Battalion soon cleared the DZ of German troops, many of whom were situated in farms and houses, and the 12th Parachute Battalion and 13th Parachute Battalion rapidly secured the rest of the Brigades objectives.^[28] The Brigade was then ordered to move due east and clear and area near Schnappenberg, as well as engaging German forces who were gathered to the west of the farmhouse which had been taken as the headquarters for the 6th Airborne Division. By 15:30 hours Brigadier Poett reported that the Brigade had secured all of its objectives and linked up with other British airborne units.^[28]

The third airborne unit that formed a part of the 6th Airborne Division was the 6th Airlanding Brigade, commanded by Brigadier R. H. Bellamy.^[29] The Brigade was tasked with landing in company–sized groups and capturing several objectives, including the town of Hamminkeln.^[30] The gliders containing the airborne troops of the Brigade landed in Landing–Zones P, O, U and R under considerable antiaircraft fire, the landing being made even more difficult due to the presence of a great deal of haze and smoke. This resulted in a number of glider pilots being unable to identify their landing areas and losing their bearings, resulting in a number of gliders landing in the wrong areas or crashing.^[28] However, the majority of the gliders survived, allowing the battalions of the Brigade to secure three bridges over the Ijssel that they had been tasked with capturing intact, as well as the town of Hamminkeln with the aid of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment which had been dropped by mistake near to the town. The Brigade secured all of its objectives shortly after capturing Hamminkeln.^[28]

[edit] 17th Airborne Division

The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Edson Raff, was the lead assault formation for the 17th Airborne Division, and was consequently the first US airborne unit to land as part of Operation Varsity. The entire Regiment was meant to be dropped in Drop–Zone W, a clearing two miles north of Wesel; however, excessive ground haze confused the pilots of the transport aircraft carrying the Regiment, and as such when the Regiment dropped it split into two halves.^[31] Colonel Raff and approximately 690 of his paratroopers landed northwest of the Drop–Zone near the town of Diersfordt, with the rest of the Regiment successfully landing in Drop–Zone W.^[31] The Colonel rallied his separated paratroopers and led them to Drop–Zone W, engaging a battery of German artillery en-route, killing or capturing the artillery crews before reuniting with the rest of the Regiment.^[31] By two o'clock in the afternoon, the 507th had secured all of its objectives and cleared the area around Diersfordt, having engaged numerous German troops and also knocked out a German tank.^[32] The actions of the regiment during the initial landing also gained the division its second Medal of Honor, when Private George J. Peters posthumously received the award after charging a German machine–gun nest and eliminating it with rifle fire and grenades, allowing his fellow paratroopers to gather their equipment and capture the regiment's first objective.^[33]

The city of Wesel lies in ruin after Allied bombardment.

The 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment was the second US airborne unit to land after the 507th, under the command of Colonel James Coutts.^[32] En-route to the Drop–Zone, the transport aircraft containing the Regiment had the misfortune to pass through a belt of German antiaircraft weapons, losing twenty–two of the C-46 transport aircraft and damaging a further thirty–eight.^[34] Just as the 507th had, the 513th also suffered from pilot error due to the ground haze, and as such the Regiment actually missed their designated Drop–Zone, DZ X, and were dropped on one of the Landing–Zones designated for the British 6th Airlanding Brigade.^[35] However, despite this inaccuracy the paratroopers swiftly rallied and aided the British glider-borne troops who were landing simultaneously, eliminating several German artillery batteries which were covering the area.^[35] Once the German troops in the area had been eliminated, a combined force of American and British airborne troops stormed Hamminkeln and secured that town.^[36] By 2pm in the afternoon, Colonel Coutts reported to the Divisional Headquarters that the 513th had secured all of its objectives, having knocked out two tanks and two complete regiments of artillery during their assault.^[36] During its attempts to secure its objectives, the regiment also gained a third Medal of Honor for the division when Private First Class Stuart S. Stryker posthumously received the award after leading a charge against a German machine–gun nest, creating a distraction to allow the rest of his platoon to capture the fortified position the machine–gun was situated in.^[37]

The third component of the 17th Airborne Division to take part in the operation was the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel James Pierce.^[25] The Regiment landed accurately in Landing–Zone S, but their gliders and the aircraft that pulled them took heavy casualties; twelve C-47 transports were lost due to antiaircraft fire, and a further one hundred and forty were damaged by the same fire.^[25] The Regiment landed in the midst of a number of German artillery batteries that were engaging Allied ground forces crossing the Rhine, and as such many of the Gliders were engaged by German artillery pieces which had their barrels lowered for direct–fire.^[25] However, these artillery batteries and their crews were defeated by the glider–borne troops, and the Regiment was soon able to report that its objectives had been secured, having destroyed forty–two artillery pieces, ten tanks, two mobile–flak wagons and five self–propelled guns.^[25]

[edit] Aftermath

An Achilles tank destroyer on the east bank of the Rhine moves up to link with airborne forces whose abandoned gliders can be seen in the background.

Operation Varsity was a successful large–scale airborne operation. All of the objectives that the airborne troops had been tasked with had been captured and held, usually within only a few hours of the operation beginning. The bridges over the Ijssel had been successfully captured, although one later had to be destroyed to prevent its capture by counter-attacking German forces.^[38] The Diersfordter Forest had been cleared of enemy troops, and the roads through which the Germans might have routed reinforcements against the advance had been cut by airborne troops. Finally, Hamminkeln, the town that dominated the area and through which any advance would be made, had been secured by air-lifted units. By nightfall of the 24th 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division had joined up with elements of 6th Airborne, and by midnight the first light bridge was across the Rhine. By the 27th twelve bridges suitable for heavy armour had been installed over the Rhine and the Allies had fourteen divisions on the east bank of the river which had penetrated up to ten miles.^[39] According to Major-General Fiebig, commanding officer of one of the defending German formations, 84 Infantry Division, the German forces defending the area had been greatly surprised by the speed with which the two airborne divisions had landed their troops, explaining that their sudden appearance had had a 'shattering effect' on the greatly outnumbered defenders.^[40] He revealed during his interrogation that his division had been badly depleted and could muster barely 4,000 soldiers.^[40] The 17th Airborne Division also gained its fourth Medal of Honor in the days following the operation, when Technical Sergeant Clinton M. Hedrick of the 184th Glider Infantry Regiment received the award posthumously after aiding in the capture of Lembeck Castle, which had been turned into a fortified position by the Germans.^[41]

[edit] Casualties

The casualties taken by both airborne formations were quite heavy although lighter then what had been expected.^[4] By nightfall of the 24th, 6th Airborne Division had suffered around 1,400 personnel killed, wounded or missing in action out of the 7,220 personnel who were landed in the operation. The division also claimed to secure around 1,500 Prisoners of War.^[4] The 17th Airborne Division suffered a similar casualty rate, reporting around 1,300 casualties out of 9,650 personnel who took part in the operation, whilst the division claimed to have taken 2,000 POWs, a similar number to those taken by 6th Airborne.^[4] This made a total of around 3,500 POWs taken by both airborne formations during the operation. Between 24th March and 29th March, 17th Airborne had taken a total of 1, 346 casualties.^[42] The airforces involved in the operation also suffered casualties; fifty-six aircraft in total were lost during the 24th ^[43], 21 out of the 144 transport aircraft transporting the 17th Airborne were shot down and 59 were damaged by antiaircraft fire, and 16 bombers from the Eighth Air Force were also shot down during supply drops.^[4]

[edit] Post-War Praise

Contemporary observers and historians generally agreed that Operation Varsity was successful. Many observers and participants of the operation argued that it was a success; General Eisenhower called it “the most successful airborne operation carried out to date”, and an observer later wrote that the operation showed “the highest state of development attained by troop-carrier and airborne units.”^[44] In the official summary of the operation, Major-General Ridgway wrote that the operation had been flawless, and that the two airborne divisions involved had destroyed enemy defences that might otherwise have taken days to reduce, ensuring the operation was successful.^[45]

Several modern historians have also praised the operation and the improvements that were made for Varsity. G.G Norton argued that the operation benefited from the lessons learnt from previous operations,^[46] and Brian Jewell supports this; he argues that the lessons of Market-Garden had been learnt, as the airborne forces were concentrated and quickly dropped, thus giving the defenders little time to recover.^[12] Norton also argues that improvements were made for supporting the airborne troops; he notes that a large number of artillery pieces were available to cover the landings and that observers were dropped with the airborne forces, thus augmenting the fire-power and flexibility of the airborne troops. He also highlights a new technique developed that allowed entire brigades to be landed in tactical groups, giving them greater flexibility.^[47] Dropping the airborne forces after the ground forces had breached the Rhine also ensured that the airborne troops would not have to fight for long before being relieved, a major improvement on the manner in which the previous large-scale airborne operation, Operation Market-Garden, had been conducted.^[48]

[edit] Post-War Criticism

However, despite a great deal of official accolade and praise over the success of the operation, a number of criticisms have be made of the operation and the errors that were made. Several military historians have been critical of the need for the operation, with one historian, Barry Gregory, arguing that ‘Operation “Varsity” was not entirely necessary...’^[49] Another historian, James A. Huston, argues that ‘...had the same resources been employed on the ground, it is conceivable that the advance to the east might have been even more rapid than it was.’^[44]

[edit] Aircraft Shortages

One specific failure in the operation was the critical lack of transport aircraft for the operation, an unsolved flaw that had dogged every large-scale airborne operation the Allies had conducted. In the original planning for Varsity, an extra airborne division, the 13th, had been included; however, a lack of transport aircraft to drop this division led to it being excluded from the final plan.^[9] Thus, the unsolved problem of a shortage of transport aircraft meant that a third of the planned troops to be used were discarded, weakening the fighting power of the airborne formation.^[50]

Curtiss C-46 "Commando" in flight

Fortunately the airborne troops that remained were sufficient to overwhelm the defenders, but the presence of the US 13th Airborne Division might well have been crucial if there had been a greater number of defenders present. Some historians have commented on this failure; one argues that because of this lack of aircraft, the remaining two divisions were forced to shoulder the operation by themselves.^[48] The lack of aircraft was not the only flaw concerning the transport for the airborne troops; many of the transports used were both unreliable and unstable. As Peter Harclerode points out, the C-46 Commando transport aircraft, which were new to the theatre, had wings that were poorly positioned, meaning that if hit, they would leak fuel down the plane and set it alight.^[51] The results of this flawed design were disastrous; of the 72 C-46 aircraft carrying the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, fifty-seven were hit, and nineteen burnt.^[51] As such, the lack of transport aircraft was a serious flaw in the planning and execution of the operation, as was the unreliable nature of the new aircraft in operation.

[edit] High Casualty Rates

Another flaw present in Operation Varsity, one which historians and contemporary observers commented on, was the high casualty rate the airborne troops suffered during the operation. The cause of this high casualty rate can likely be traced to the fact that the operation was launched in full daylight, rather than a night-assault. The airborne landings were conducted during the day primarily because the planners believed that a daytime operation had a better chance of success than at night, the troops being less scattered.^[48] However, landing paratroopers, and especially gliders, without the cover of darkness left them exceedingly vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.^[52] The official history of the British Airborne Divisions highlights the cost of this trade-off, stating that of the 416 gliders that landed, only 88 remained undamaged by enemy fire, and that between 20-30 percent of the glider pilots were casualties.^[53] Another historian argues that the gliders landing in daylight was a calamity, with the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment having two-thirds of their gliders hit by ground fire and suffering heavy casualties as they landed.^[52] The casualty rates were worsened by the slow rates of release and descent of the gliders themselves, and the fact that each aircraft towed two gliders, slowing them even further; as the time to release a glider unit was 3-4 times longer than a parachute unit, the gliders were vulnerable to flak.^[52]

A British Hadrian Glider

Lieutenant-Colonel Otway, who wrote an official history of the British airborne forces during the Second World War, stated in the history that Operation Varsity highlighted the vulnerability of glider-borne units. Whilst they arrived in complete sub-units and were able to move off more quickly than airborne troops dropped by parachute, the gliders were easy targets for anti-aircraft fire and short-range small-arms fire once landed; Otway concluded that in any future operations troops dropped by parachute should secure landing-zones prior to the arrival of glider-borne units.^[54] Thus, by having the landings conducted during daylight to ensure greater accuracy, the Allied planners incurred a far greater casualty rate, particularly amongst the glider-borne elements. Finally, another criticism of Varsity that can be made was the presence of another long-term flaw, one that had not been solved despite its central role in airborne warfare – poor piloting. Although the piloting was of a better quality than in the Sicilian and Normandy operations, there were still significant failures on the part of the pilots, especially when it is considered that the drop was conducted in daylight.^[55] A significant error occurred when the pilots of the transports carrying 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment dropped much of the regiment several miles from their designated drop-zones, with the mis-dropped units actually landing in the British drop-zones.^[55]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hagerman, Bart. Operation Varsity: Allied Airborne Assault Over The Rhine. World War II Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
• Ministry of Defense. Operation Varsity - The Rhine Crossing. British Army/The Parachute Regiment. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
• Murray, Williamson. Airborne Operations During World War II. World War II Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
• Pogue, Forrest C.. CHAPTER XXI - The Battle for the Rhineland. HyperWar. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
• Seelinger, Matthew J.. Operation Varsity: The Last Airborne Deployment of World War II. Army Historical Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.