September 19, 1944: It’s Tuesday - today is D+105, marking 15 weeks since the D-Day Invasion at Normandy and the beginning of the liberation of Europe.
As Operation Market Garden continues, resupply and reinforcement airdrops also continue to be hindered by bad weather. The bridge at Son is completed during the night and tanks from Guard Armored Division start moving a dawn. The armor, along with the British XXX Corps, advances 20 miles, making contact with the 82nd Airborne at Grave, just outside Nijmegen, where German resistance is fierce and the bridge is not yet secured. At Arnhem, British paratroopers from the 1st Airborne Division are forced to abandon attempts to break into the city. Serious resistance and heavy losses forces them to withdraw to Oosterbeek.
Overnight, 78 German bombers take off and attack Eindhoven - the city center is destroyed, killing over 200 people in addition to hitting an ammunition convoy. Elements of the 101st, based in and around the city, escape loss. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment rushes into the burning city and rescues civilians throughout the night.
Elements of Canadian 1st Army attack south of Scheldt estuary and US 1st Army attacks Muensterbusch, Weissenberg Hill, Stolberg, Zweifall, and Huertgen. To the south, US 3rd Army remains heavily engaged at Metz and Luneville and US 7th Army moves into jumping off positions for attack toward Epinal. French Army B holding positions around Belfort.
Over northwestern Europe, US 9th Air Force supports ground troops up and down the front. RAF Bomber Command sends 646 aircraft to attack besieged fortress of Calais.
The Belgian Parliament meets for the first time since May 1940.
On the Eastern Front, the Soviet offensive in the Baltic continues. Forces of the 3rd Baltic Front capture Valga in Estonia.
In Italy, the British 8th Army continues to attack and German units withdraw from Rimini Line overnight. US 5th Army is fighting around Monte Prano, Pescia, Firenzuola, and Futa pass.
Pictured: The people of Eindhoven lined the streets of the town on September 19, 1944 to celebrate armored vehicles of British XXX Corps passing through - no one knew that the Germans would destroy much of the city later that evening; Eindhoven on September 20, 1944 - the morning after the German bombing; Four men of the 1st Paratroop Battalion, British 1st Airborne Division, take cover in a shell hole outside Arnhem, September 19, 1944.; Situation map from September 19, 1944
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