would open up the
possibility of thrusting north over the
Rhine and then into Germany, bypassing the feared
Siegfried line.
Pvt. Hughes
landed with 2nd Battalion, 508th PIR on 17
September 1944 near Nijmegen and participated in
the heavy fighting for the bridges over the Waal
river in Nijmegen. After the landings and
conquering the bridge, British troops would come
from the Belgian/Dutch border and thrust north,
over the bridges captured by the 101st and 82nd
Airborne Divisions towards Arnhem, where the
British 1st Airborne Division was tasked with
the capture of the bridge over the Rhine.
Unfortunately, the British did not manage to
capture the Arnhem bridge and after a week
of heroic fighting, about 2000 of the 10000 that
landed were withdrawn over the Rhine.
The Allies now
had a corridor deep in German territory that
needed defending, as this would be the launching
pad for the next operation, which would be the
definite Rhine crossing. In order to reduce this
threat, the Germans amassed a large number of
forces on both sides of the corridor and along
period of continued attacks against the Allied
lines began.
The troops of
the 508th were used to fill in the line and were
used as ordinary infantry. They held a line near
Nijmegen. Pvt Hughes's unit held positions long
the Wylerbaan. On 2/3 October 1944 the Germans
launched a massive counter attack. Panzer
Grenadiers, supported by armored cars attacked
the American lines with fierce determination. At
some points the lines were broken and Germans
infiltrated the lines. The 508th managed to
close ranks and throw back the Germans after
hours of fighting. The Germans retaliated with
the most intense artillery barrage that the
paratroopers had experienced. The next days a
number of German dead, wounded and prisoners
were found behind the American lines. The 508th
had suffered 9 killed in this night's battle.
newspaper clipping
that appeared in the
Fayetteville
Observer, November 9, 1944 (courtesy
of Paul Wilson)
Private
Garrett Hughes was killed during the German
counter attack. The exact circumstances of his
death are not known. He was buried at Molenhoek
Temporary Cemetery on 3 October 1944. Later he
was interred at Margraten and in the late 1940's
he was reinterred at Cross Creek Cemetery,
Fayetteville, North Carolina.
