I forgot about the dig at 82ABN....they never had orders to seize the Nijmegen bridge on Day One, rather seize the bridge "if practicable." One of their primary tasks on Day One was to secure the bridges at Grave, the Maas-Waal canal and at Heumen, they also had the task of securing the key high ground at the Groesbeek Heights. Securing the heights was necessary as a blocking position to prevent a German counterattack from the nearby Reichwald as well as prevent the Germans from setting artillery FOs overlooking the key highway.
Nevertheless, General Gavin was sufficiently pleased with the initial progress that he was able to free a battalion of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment later on Day One.
The battalion was not able to approach the bridge until early evening and ran into elements of a SS Recon Battalion that stopped them cold. Elements of this SS unit later drove back to Arnhem and ran into Frost's 2nd Paras on the bridge.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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