The bridgehead was established by retreating German forces who were reinforced with troops arriving from nearby Germany by crossing the Meuse in Venlo.

The western edge of this bridgehead ran through the Peel, a region with bogs and several canals blocking an Allied advance.

Here they were attached to the British Second Army, and ordered to make demonstration attacks to the east to divert enemy forces from the Overloon and Venlo areas.

The advance on Venray resulted in more casualties, especially around the Loobeek creek, which was swollen due to the autumn rains and was flooded and mined by the Germans.

Operation Pheasant was conducted on 20 October to expand the Market Garden salient westwards to the province of North Brabant.

[citation needed] The tanks and other armoured vehicles which were left on the battlefield have been preserved and in Overloon a museum, which opened in 1946, was erected to commemorate the battle.

Vele jonge levens ontkomen aan de slagvelden van Nettuno en Normandië vonden onder deze bomen hun einde.

English translation: "TAKE PAUSE FOR A MOMENT visitor, and consider that the ground you are now on was once one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the Overloon battlefield.