History of the Netherlands of Normandy ended in August 1944. German resistance collapsed in Western Europe and the allied armies advanced quickly towards the Dutch border. The First Canadian Army and the Second British Army conducted operations on Dutch soil from September onwards. On 17 September, a daring operation, Operation Market Garden; was executed with the goal of capturing bridges across three major rivers in the southern Netherlands. Despite desperate fighting by American, British and Polish forces, the bridge at Arnhem, across the Neder Rijn, could not be captured. Areas south of the Rhine river were liberated in the period September–December 1944, including the
The Airborne Symphony under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. Orson Welles was narrator; Charles Holland was tenor soloist and Walter Scheff was baritone soloist, with the male section of the Collegiate Chorale led by Robert Shaw. The work was officially dedicated to the Eighth Air Force. "The New York Times" reported that the audience received "The Airborne Symphony" with enthusiasm at its world premiere, and called the performance "remarkably sure, brilliant and dramatically eloquent." Since then, the work has been rarely performed, owing to its massive orchestral forces, topicality, and lack of standing with musicologists. "The Airborne Symphony" has passages of stunning musicality,