campaign, major, interwar and Second World War
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a campaign fought in 1945 at Wesel, in what is now Germany. It was part of World War II, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: Allied victory.
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Where it sits in World War II
Record
| Date | 1945 (year precision) | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Wesel, Germany 51.703N, 6.603E | |
| Kind | Campaign, interwar and Second World War | |
| Strength | 16,87017th Airborne landed 9,650 men, and 6th Airborne landed 7,220 men. | 8,000 (est.)Otway claims that Allied intelligence placed 7 Parachute Division and 84 Infantry Division at around 4,000 men each after having suffered heavy casualties in previous campaigns, these being the two German formations facing the Allied airborne forces. |
| Casualties and losses | 2,378–2,700 casualtiesEllis puts 6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom); 72 aircraftOver 1,700 aircraft were employed during the airlift of the airborne forces, of which 56 planes were lost. A further 240 planes flew a resupply mission following the glider landings; 16 planes were shot down. Of the 1,300 gliders employed during the operation, under 4% were destroyed. | Unknown total casualties; 3,500 captured |
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Nearest engagements
- Battle of Mehr 1758, 7.8 km NW
- Siege of Rees 1599, 16 km NW
- Battle of Rheinberg 1758, 17 km S
- Siege of Rheinberg 1586, 17 km S
- Siege of Rheinberg 1597, 17 km S
In the same war
Elsewhere in 1945
- atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan
- Battle of Iwo Jima Japan
- Battle of Okinawa Japan
- Soviet invasion of Manchuria China
- Soviet–Japanese War Russia
Operation Varsity is one of 4,429 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 668 in present-day Germany.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q1360624, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Operation Varsity, revision 1382958424, read 2026-11-15, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.