Operation Market Garden – 504th PIR assault crossing of the Waal River
The Waal River barrier
September 2025, Nijmegen, Netherlands. I am standing at the site on the Waal River, where Major Julian Cook led the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504 PIR) of the US 82nd Airborne Division in a dramatic assault river crossing to seize the northern end of the Waal Road Bridge at Nijmegen.
“Hail Mary, full of grace…” – Robert Redford as Major Julian Cook, in the movie ‘A Bridge Too Far’, leading the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division on the assault river crossing of the Waal River, 20 September 1944. One of the greatest combat sequences ever filmed! The moment is well known from A Bridge Too Far, but the reality on the ground is even more striking.
82nd Airborne Division operations
Allied operations around Nijmegen were a combination of bold initiative, missed opportunities, and extraordinary courage. While the 101st Airborne Division secured the Eindhoven sector to the south, the 82nd Airborne Division was tasked with seizing the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen, and holding the Groesbeek Heights—the highest ground in the Netherlands and a likely axis for German counterattack.
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📚 Further Reading – Crossroads assault
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