De allierede ved Son under Operation Market Garden den 17. til 20. september 1944

Rasmus Thorsø Friborg

This paper will examine the actions of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and Engineer units in the area of Son, Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden in World War II in the days of 17th – 20th September 1944. Furthermore, the organisation of the Engineer units will be analysed through these principles of war. The action will be analysed using three chosen principles of war found in the Danish Field Manual. The three chosen principles are the principle of the objective, security and cooperation. The literature has been decisive in the selection of these principles.This paper has found that there is a considerable presence of the principles chosen for this analysis in the actions of the allied forces in the area of Son. It is found that the principle of the objective is vital for the disposition of both the paratroopers and the engineers in the area of Son during Operation Market Garden. Moreover, it is found that the principle of security is present since it is proven that the 506th PIR relies on it in combat situations. Also, the 506th PIRs’ main mission is to secure the corridor from Son through Eindhoven and the engineers’ construction of the Bailey bridge at Son. In addition, the principle of security is also proven in two German counterattacks on Son. Additionally, it is found that the principle of cooperation is vital for both the 506th PIR and the engineers’ ability to carry out their assigned tasks since there are mutually dependent. It seems that there is a link between the selected principles of war and the allied forces ability to successfully capture Son and the surrounding area, which secured the British XXX Corp’s access to their objective(s) north towards Arnhem by building a Bailey bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal. However, it is not determined in this paper whether the actions of the paratroopers or the engineers caused Operation Market Garden as a whole to fail.

De allierede ved Son under Operation Market Garden den 17. til 20. september 1944

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