Operation Deadstick 1944, but was delayed and then cancelled. The plans were adapted, and became Operation Market Garden. This operation would involve three airborne divisions, however the "coup-de-main" assault plans were not carried out. Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, of the Royal Air Force, praised the pilots involved saying the operation included the "most outstanding flying achievements of the war". Of the 181 men (139 infantry, 30 engineers and 12 pilots) of 'D' Company involved in the capture of the bridges, two were killed and an additional fourteen wounded. The 7th Battalion's losses during the defence of the bridges amounted to 18
First Allied Airborne Army to secure several bridges over the River Rhine to aid the Allied advance into the North German Plain. The divisional headquarters for the 1st Airborne Division, along the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land at Nijmegen, 1st Parachute Brigade was to land at Arnhem, and 4th Parachute Brigade was to land at Grave. The driving force behind the creation of Comet was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who disagreed with the 'broad front' strategy favoured by Eisenhower, in which all Allied armies in North-West Europe advanced simultaneously. Montgomery, however, believed that a single thrust