What was the codename for the Allied airborne operation to capture the Arnhem bridge in 1944?

The codename for the Allied operation that included the airborne assault on Arnhem was Operation Market Garden. Fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944, it combined a large airborne attack with a British ground advance.

“Market” referred to the airborne element. American, British, and Polish troops were dropped to seize bridges at Eindhoven, Grave, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. “Garden” was the ground operation, led mainly by the British XXX Corps, which was expected to advance along the captured bridge route and relieve the airborne forces.

At Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division was assigned to capture and hold the road bridge over the Lower Rhine. Lieutenant Colonel John Frost’s battalion reached the northern end and held it for several days, but the rest of the division could not break through strong German resistance. The ground forces were delayed, and the Allies eventually withdrew from the area.

Operation Market Garden captured important crossings and liberated Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but it failed to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine. Operation Comet was an earlier, smaller proposal for an airborne assault centered on Arnhem; Market Garden was the expanded operation actually launched.