Nijmegen bridge in the Netherlands

Two soldiers watch as 'Cromwell' tanks of the Guards Armored Division of the 2nd Armored Recon Battalion the Welsh Guards cross Nijmegen bridge in the Netherlands, Thursday, the 21st of September 1944.This bridge was located approximately ten miles from Arnhem and was described by General Eisenhower as a ‘valuable prize’.

It marked the entry point to the flat piece of land that divided the River Waal from the Lower Rhine, which was called ‘the Island’. The exposed single road north often proved to be a bottleneck as vehicles were vulnerable to enemy fire.