1944 August 25-27 :the 12th and 30th British corps cross the Seine
August 29 :the 30th corps begins its march on Belgium, but the opposition of the Germans limits its advance to 30 kilometers.
August 30 :the 30th corps is ordered to seize the bridges near Amiens.
August 31 :at 11 o'clock, all the bridges were taken. The 12th Corps leaves the Seine heading north
September 1 :the Guards Armored Division and the 11th Armored Division (30th Corps) reach Arras and Aubigny. The 12th corps crosses the Seine.
September 2 :the 30th corps receives the order to slow down while waiting for the paratroopers. September 3 :the parachute drop is cancelled. The 3 ? and 5th brigades of the Guards Armored Division begin to charge Brussels. It is the 3rd which arrives first. The 12th corps is immobilized in front of Béthune.
September 4 :the 1 1st Armored Division reaches Antwerp.
September 5 :50th Division (12th Corps) reaches Ghent.
September 6 :the 11th Armored Division and the Guards Armored Division respectively leave Antwerp and Brussels to resume their advance.
September 8 :50th Division crosses the Albert Canal at Geel.
September 10 :stopped for two days by the Germans at Hechtel, the armored division of the Guard then pushed on to De. Groot.
September 13 :the 15th division crosses the canal from the Meuse to the Scheldt near Relty.
September 17 :start of operation "Market Garden" The British of the 1st Airborne Division land near Arnhem and the Americans of the 82nd and 101st near Grave-Nimègue and Eindhoven-Veghel; the 30th British Corps arrives from the border The 82nd Division, which landed undamaged, seized the bridges over the Meuse and the Meuse-Waal canal, but encountered fairly strong resistance at Nijmegen. The 101st Division also seized its objectives, but the British paratroopers found the road to Arnhem blocked by large German forces, only one battalion managed to reach the bridge where it soon found itself isolated.
September 18 :A German counter-attack prevents the Americans from seizing the Nijmegen bridge. The Germans are preparing powerful attacks on the Arnhem landing zones to oppose the arrival of reinforcements’
September 19 :elements of the 30th corps join the paratroopers in Nijmegen. In Arnhem, all attempts to reinforce the troops holding the bridge fail'
20 September:the Nijmegen bridge is taken by the combined assault of the Americans of the 82nd Division 1893
and British 30th Corps.
September 21 :At Arnhem, the British are overwhelmed on the bridge. The survivors settled in a defensive redoubt west of Oosterbeek (north bank of the lower Rhine).
September 22 :the advance of the 30th corps is slowed down by the Germans. The Polish brigade begins to land south of the river.
September 23 :attempts by the Poles • and leading elements of the 30th corps to cross the river. They fail.
September 25 :The evacuation of the surviving paratroopers begins.
There were two ships of the same type, the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst, which, like the pocket battleships, posed some problems of classification, some considering them as battlecruisers, the others as battleships. Their protection was that of the classic battleships, but their high speed (32 knot