Operation Varsity

Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it is the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location. Varsity was part of Operation Plunder, the Anglo-American-Canadian effort, led by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, to cross the northern Rhine River and from there enter Northern Germany. To help British ground forces secure a foothold across the Issel and Rhine rivers in western Germany, Varsity landed two airborne divisions on the Rhine's eastern bank near the village of Hamminkeln and the town of Wesel. Varsity called for dropping a British and an American paratroop division, both of U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, under Major General Matthew B. Ridgway, behind enemy lines in order to capture key territory and generally disrupt German defenses to aid an advance of Allied ground forces. The British 6th Airborne Division was to capture the villages of Schnappenberg and Hamminkeln, clear part of the Diersfordter Wald (Diersfordt Forest) of German forces, and secure three bridges over the River Issel. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division was to capture the village of Diersfordt and clear the rest of the Diersfordter Wald of German forces. The paratroop divisions were to hold the territory they captured until relieved by advancing units of 21st Army Group, and then join in a subsequent general advance into northern Germany. The operation suffered from several mistakes. Due to pilot error, paratroopers of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a regiment of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division, missed their drop zone and landed on a British drop zone instead. Still, the operation was a success: the paratroopers captured Rhine bridges and secured towns that could have been used by German...