Battleplan 02. Assault From The Air (9 of 19)

Battleplan

Other units, like those which will man the east and west sides of the horseshoe, only do so with a deception smokescreen in place.
Those from the south will only move up after D-Day itself.
So when the 503rd jump, they won't know what will be waiting for them.
In terms of intelligence for the immediate drop, the Junction City battleplanners may not have met the requirement.
But they believe that the speed and surprise of their well-equipped forces will more than compensate for their lack of information.
But what about the intelligence for Operation Market Garden?
After D-Day and the break-out from Normandy, the Allies expect that German opposition to Market Garden will be confused and weak.

lf the paratroops can seize their targets, then 30 Corps should push through light opposition and reach them quickly.
At one stage, they might have been correct, but Allied indecision about where and how to advance gives the Germans time to regroup and reinforce.
By an extraordinary coincidence, one of the commanders of German troops in southern Holland is Kurt Student, the architect of assault from the air.
Market Garden is scheduled for September 17th.
Between September 12th and the 17th, German combat strength in the area is doubled.
Two Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions with their tanks move into the Arnhem area after their retreat from Normandy.
Although weakened and under strength, they are still a formidable fighting force, especially against lightly armed airborne troops.
Even today, there is debate over whether the Allied planners knew they were there.
There are huge myths that hang around this operation in 1944.
One of them is that the British, in particular, didn't know that there were SS Panzer Divisions in the area.