On September 19 1944, the Americans wanted to advance and capture Nijmegen's two bridges. The 2nd Battalion of the 505th Regiment and the Grenadier Guards were to take the rail bridge, the road bridge and the post office. There were reports that the detonation equipment the Germans would use to blow up the Waal bridge was located in the post office. However, apart from the capture of the post office, the operation encountered difficulties.

The Waffen-SS General Wilhelm Bittrich had sent units of the 10th SS Panzer Division to Nijmegen to defend the Waal bridges there. The Americans attempted to capture the bridges at Nijmegen, and advanced to the southern Nijmegen bank of the river Waal. There they were halted. The bridges would have to be captured from the northern bank. If this did not happen, the Allied troops fighting in Arnhem could not be supported and would be lost. nbsp;