The morning of September 19, brought new activity to the 504. The Irish Guards, spearheading the 30th Corps of the British Second Army, were contacted early in the morning at bridge number Eleven (the Grave Bridge) and, all that day they rumbled through in tanks and trucks. Towards noon the roar of hundreds of aircraft engines reverberated over the countryside and presently 150 gleaming silver B-24 bombers thundered in at tree-top height to sprinkle the area with a thousand equipment bearing parachutes of various blazing colors. Later on in the afternoon of the same day the 1st and 3rd Battalions moved into an assembly area in the vicinity of Nijmegen, while the 2nd Battalion remained in the Grave sector in control of bridges Seven, Eight, and Eleven.

On the following day all three battalions, less E and F Companies of the 2nd Battalion, were In position on the south bank of the Waal River about 400 yards downstream from the Nijmegen railroad bridge waiting for orders to make an assault crossing of the river in the face of fanatical German defenders. The Nijmegen highway and railroad bridges formed the last remaining link with British airborne forces who had jumped at Arnhem, and were the factors upon which an advance to the North depended.

British tanks pulled up behind the river bank to give direct artillery support to the paratroopers who, under intense artillery and small arms fire from the far shore, felt that this would be their last attack; even high British officials had termed it " impossible ", but it had to be done.

The first wave of the 3rd Battalion, selected to make the initial assault, raced through a hail of lead across the open beach and loaded into 16-man canvas assault boats. Paratroopers from C Company, 307 Engineers, manned the craft and in an operation that correspondents termed "worse than Tarawa", began the bloody 400-yard assault crossing of the lower Rhine (the Waal).

Direct fire from German 88's, flak wagons, 20mm cannon, machine guns, and enemy riflemen splattered on all sides; fountains of water caused by exploding shells filled the air; men slumped in the boats; some were blown into the river, but those remaining, with rifles, helmets, and even with their hands, paddled furiously for the opposite shore. Many boats were sunk, while the occupants of those which safely reached the other side were so exhausted by the effort expended in the maneuvering of the craft in the river's swift current that some were nauseous to the point of vomiting.

Of the 26 boats that made up the initial wave, only 11 were in condition to return across the river for succeeding waves. As the engineers returned for the second wave, men of the 3rd Battalion charged up the opposite shore in the face of homicidal grazing fire. Bayoneting the enemy in their foxholes, knocking out machine gun nests with grenades, the men moved in from the river and, miraculously, established a firm bridgehead.

Shortly afterwards the 1st Battalion moved across and the two units swung around to the right in a large arc to flank the vital Nijmegen bridges on the road to Arnhem. The 1st Battalion assaulted and captured medieval Fort Lent, while the 3rd Battalion moved on around the Fort to cut off the northern approaches to the bridges.

Three hours later the 3rd Battalion was fighting on a perimeter 1000 yards north of the river. The 1st Battalion had captured Fort Lent and progressed beyond. Prisoners were streaming back to the rear by the hundreds; hundreds of other Germans lay dead and dying. On the railroad bridge alone, 267 enemy dead were found; many others fell into the raging river below. British tanks were now moving across the road bridge on their way to Arnhem in relief of the hardpressed British 1st Airborne Division. A British general, watching the crossing from the near side of the river epitomized the attack when he shook his head and said, "Unbelievable".

Though the casualties suffered by the 504 in this battle were heavier than in any previous operation, with the exception of the Sicilian jump, they were small in comparison to those of the enemy.

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