In late summer 1944, the Germans had to meet their greatest threat since D-Day - the assault on the river barriers in Holland that formed the only protection for the most vulnerable part of the Reich. The assault on Arnhem, one of three cities the Allies were forced to take to ensure control of the rivers of the Netherlands and moreover the borders of Cleve to the coast of Holland, was part of a three-pronged military operation in the European Theatre.

This unique vintage enlargement shows American paratroopers dashing through a field amid bursting German 88's on September 17th in the assault on Arnhem. As an important representation of the war effort, this image was selected by Edward Steichen, Captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve and chief of all naval combat photography, for reproduction in the Victory Issue of U.S. Camera. The editor labeled this issue the best U.S. Camera the two of us have ever produced, so I believe that his (Steichen's) part in it- which has always taken pre-eminence with me- is even greater in this year of victory. When the war volumes of U.S. Camera are gathered together, they will form a great pictorial and word history of the war.
cf.Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them, by John Faber, New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1960, preface and pp. 58-59.

This print hung in the U.S. Army Signal Corps office until the war's end.