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 Within the hour, the First Battalion retrieved its equipment bundles and was moving toward its first objectives.
After seizing its objectives, the battalion was ordered to enter Nijmegen and secure the highway bridge over the Waal River. Hq1 Assembling on the Drop
Company C was held in reserve while Company A and B with the Hq1 81mm mortar platoon and a section of machineguns entered the city. The move into the city was uneventful until the leading forces reached a traffic circle near the bridge. Thereafter, heavy fighting continued all night as several unsuccessful attempts were made to capture the strongly defended bridge.
Early on September 18, the battalion was ordered to countermarch to the drop zone area. It was ordered to clear the area of German Infantry with antiaircraft guns waiting to destroy the gliders carrying the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery battalions and engineer equipment scheduled to land in the area at 1300.
Led by four brave Company C men, the First Battalion supported by Hq1 81mm mortars and machine guns, launched the assault at 1245.
As the first of the arriving gliders were released over the drop zone, the battalion was destroying the antiaircraft guns, and killing or capturing the remaining Germans. Fifty Germans were killed and 149 captured. Fourteen of the 15 antiaircraft guns were destroyed. The 508th PIR lost ten men. | 
