At 6 AM on March 24th, 1945, a total of 440 gliders towed by powered aircraft took off from airfields in Great Britain - on board were 3,383 soldiers as well as vehicles and artillery pieces of  British 6th Airborne Division. Soon after, 322 American transport planes carrying 3,837 British paratroopers departed from airbases in southern England. At 7.25 AM, a total of 298 American transport planes began taking off from airfields in the greater Paris area. They were to carry 4,890 paratroopers of the American 17th Airborne Division into battle. Also in France, 906 American gliders started taking off at 7.25 AM - they transported 4,810 soldiers as well as vehicles and artillery pieces of US 17th Airborne Division. On this Saturday morning, a total of 19,612 Allied soldiers (a number including the glider pilots) approached Germany and the Rhine. Their destination were several drop and landing zones in the area between Wesel, Hamminkeln and Mehrhoog. Codenamed "Operation Varsity", this attack envisaged landing around the Diersfordt Forest and behind German defensive positions, capturing and securing bridges over the Issel and seizing the transport hub of Hamminkeln. This large-scale airborne operation was to quickly deepen and stabilize the bridgeheads that British ground troops had already won at Wesel and Bislich. The Allied airborne troops were to face around 8,000 men of German 84th Infantry Division, who had orders to defend this sector of the front, as well as parts of German 7th Parachute Division which had taken up defensive positions in the area between Bergerfurth, Mehrhoog and Haldern.

At 9.50 AM, the paratroopers of US 507th Parachute Regiment jumped at Diersfordt and Flüren. Each designated drop zone (DZ) was identified by a letter - the one at Flüren was codenamed "W". However, some of the American units were mis-dropped at some distance from DZ „W“. After accidentally landing near Diersfordt they took up the fight from there. At 9.51 AM, the paratroopers of British 3rd Parachute Brigade landed on DZ „A" between Bergerfurth and Mehrhoog, followed by the jump of British 5th Parachute Brigade on LZ "B" between Mehrhoog and Hamminkeln. At 10.08 AM, the men of US 513th Parachute Regiment landed near Hamminkeln - they had missed their DZ "X" and found themselves on a landing zone which had been designated for British glider landings. Everywhere the German defenders answered with heavy defensive fire. At 10.11 AM, the first British gliders began their descent on landing zones "O", "R" and „U“, all situated in the immediate vicinity of the village of Hamminkeln. Along the river Issel near Hamminkeln, units of the British 6th Airborne Brigade were to take and secure several bridges in coup-de-main attacks. Soon after, British gliders with support troops, vehicles, guns and supplies landed on LZ "P", west of Hamminkeln. The gliders were received by heavy enemy fire on all landing zones. There were crashes, some caught fire, many were damaged or destroyed when landing. However, most managed to come down safe enough so that the troops they carried were immediately ready to go into battle. Simultaneously, from 10.36 AM, almost 600 American gliders had started landing on LZ "S", northeast of Wesel near Blumenkamp, Lackhausen and Obrighoven. They carried the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment and two Glider Field Artillery Battalions into battle - a total of 3,492 men and over 200 jeeps, as well as trailers and guns. Southwest of Hamminkeln - on a LZ codenamed „N“ - the landings of almost 300 US gliders continued until shortly before 1 PM. Over 1,300 men, 143 jeeps and trailers plus 20 guns came down in that area. Again, many gliders were damaged or destroyed by enemy fire or in crash landings. At 1 PM, after the airborne landings were completed, there was an impressive final act: 240 American B-24 "Liberator" bombers approached the landing zones at low altitude and dropped about 600 tons of supplies. 17 of these bombers were damaged so severely by German anti-aircraft fire that they crashed or were destroyed in emergency landings. Moreover, 50 powered transport aircraft had been so badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire that they crashed in the landing area; others managed to make emergency landings west of the Rhine.

German resistance on the landing zones began to crumble in the afternoon of March 24th but the defenders were able to hold the area east of the river Issel for the time being. The airborne troops soon established contact with the Allied ground troops. At 3.30 PM, British soldiers and tanks coming from Bislich encountered British and Canadian paratroopers who had landed further inland near the hamlet of Bergerfurth. Moreover, near the Rhine, between the villages of Bislich and Flüren, Scottish ground troops made contact with a patrol of American paratroopers. Later that afternoon and in the evening the Germans launched weak counterattacks on the edges of the landing zones but the Allied airborne troops successfully defended the areas they had taken. Meanwhile, the medical company of 17th US Airborne Division had set up a field hospital under canvas on LZ „N", in the Heiderott area southwest of Hamminkeln. On March 25th hundreds of glider pilots made their way to the Rhine at Bislich. They were no longer needed at the front. Their task now was to guard long columns of German prisoners of war on their march to the Rhine. These POW were to be taken to the Allied hinterland west of the river. British, Canadian and American airborne troops consolidated their positions in the area between Mehrhoog, Hamminkeln and Wesel, and the units organized their ranks. By March 26th, they had advanced to their staging areas for the breakout from the bridgehead. On this day, units of British 6th Airborne Division attacked in the direction of Brünen. On March 27th, the US 513th Parachute Regiment formed a mobile combat group near Wesel, teaming up with British “Churchill” tanks that had crossed the Rhine on newly built pontoon bridges. In the afternoon this force advanced along the „Reichsstrasse 58“ highway - their task was to advance to Münster via Schermbeck, Haltern and Dülmen over the next days.

The unique feature of "Operation Varsity“ was that all troops were dropped on one day within a span of three hours, making it the largest continuous airborne operation in history. The airborne assault was regarded as a success by Allied planners as it had achieved all of its tactical objectives. German 84th Infantry Division, which had been tasked with defending the Bislich, Hamminkeln and the Diersfordt Forest area, was annihilated by the airborne operation - those who were not killed were taken prisoner of war. However, the airborne forces paid a costly price for their success: A total of 1,513 Allied airborne soldiers were killed between March 24th and 26th. Of these, 691 were British - the figure includes the losses of 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and from the ranks of the glider pilots and pilots of the towplanes. A total of 822 American soldiers died in the airborne operation. The figure includes the 532 men of 17th US Airborne Division who lost their lives between March 24th and 26th or who later died of wounds received on those days. In addition, 79 US glider pilots were killed during the landings and the ensuing battle. The crews of the American transport and towplanes lost 98 men killed in crashes, while the crews of the bombers flying the low-level supply drop lost 113 men killed in crashes and emergency landings.