Assault Boats On The Waal: The 307th Engineer Battalion During Operation Market Garden

This work is a snapshot of the U.S. 307th Engineer Battalion during the nine days of Operation Market Garden. It is a story that crescendos with the crossing of the Waal River, which many have referred to as the second Omaha Beach. Yet, that was not their only tough situation. Like their British counterparts at Arnhem, the U.S. engineers also had to fight as infantry, sometimes cut-off and surrounded from the rest of the division, sometimes surrounding the enemy themselves. Regardless of the task given to them, they performed to the best of their ability and all three parachute companies in the battalion were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for their service in The Netherlands. In addition, the battalion was awarded the Military Order Of William for their work at Nijmegen.