The formation carrying the 3rd Parachute Brigade approached DZ-A in good order, albeit, at 09:51, nine minutes ahead of schedule. This proved fortunate, however, as the Germans manning the anti-aircraft batteries in the area had yet to recover from the shock of the 2nd Army's softening-up bombardment, and so the first troops of the Brigade were faced with only a loose scattering of flak as they jumped.

The 8th Parachute Battalion came first; their task was to secure the drop zone by capturing three areas of woodland to the south and east of it, whilst the remainder of the Brigade, arriving four minutes later, landed and attacked the main objectives. By 10:30, "A" Company had captured their assigned wood in the north-eastern corner of DZ-A, meeting little resistance and capturing a few prisoners. "C" Company, with Battalion Headquarters and the Mortar Platoon in tow, similarly encountered no problems in taking their objective in the south-east. Casualties were suffered, however, when the Brigade's gliders began to land at 11:00, one of which crashed into the wood, killing both pilots, two 8th Battalion sergeants, Lieutenant England, the Intelligence Officer, and injuring Lieutenant-Colonel Hewetson, who, in obvious discomfort and anger, emerged from beneath the wreckage, exclaiming, "How now you whoring bastard shite!"

"B" Company's objective was "Axe Handle Wood", so named for its hatchet-like appearance on the aerial photographs, situated in the centre of the southern-half of DZ-A and dominating it. The Company had become somewhat fragmented as a consequence of the drop, and the two platoons of German paratroopers dug-in around the wood, clearly determined to put up a fight, made a considerable nuisance of themselves as the men struggled to reach their rendezvous to form-up. Major Kippin, having assembled an ad-hoc platoon, led them into the wood from the south and up the "axe handle" towards the "hatchet", but, finding themselves quite outnumbered, were forced to pull back with several wounded and Major Kippin and Lieutenant Cox killed. This platoon nevertheless proceeded to give covering fire to another of "B" Company's platoons which then put in an attack on the "hatchet" from the north-east, quickly getting in amongst the enemy positions and clearing them with grenades and bayonets. At least half of the Germans defending this wood were killed or wounded and 27 were taken prisoner.

The 8th Battalion spent the remainder of the day as the Brigade reserve and doing the valuable work of scouring the drop zone for containers and equipment, despite some interference from mortar and shell fire. Later, whilst moving into their reserve position, the Battalion came under fire from a pair of 88mm guns, which inflicted some casualties when their shells exploded in the tree branches above their heads. An attack was swiftly put in on these and both were knocked-out. In the evening, the Battalion was ordered to protect the rear of Divisional Headquarters by moving to the Köpenhof farm area, plugging the gap between the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the remainder of the Division.

At 09:55, four minutes after the 8th Battalion had dropped, the first men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion followed in their wake. The flak gunners in the surrounding area had recovered by this time and their fire increased significantly; several aircraft were shot down and some sticks were scattered wide of their landing area. A number of men came down in the woods bordering the zone; the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Nicklin, had the great misfortune to land in a tree directly above a German machine-gun position and was killed as he hung helplessly. On the ground, the Canadians were considerably harassed by machine-gun and sniper fire, and this accounted for most of their casualties during the day.

"C" Company descended first, but were severely hampered by having lost contact with all of their officers on the drop; Major Hanson, the company commander, had broken his collar bone on landing, while his second, Captain Clancy, dropped wide of the zone and was taken prisoner (he escaped and returned three weeks later). In the temporary absence of any of their platoon commanders, Sergeants Saunders and Murray took charge of the Company and immediately carried out a bold frontal assault on their objective; a group of buildings around the crossroads on the western edge of the drop zone. The speed and violence of their attack utterly routed all opposition in this area and several gun emplacements were overrun. "C" Company, although under continual mortar and shell fire, held this area for the remainder of the day.

"A" Company landed almost intact on the eastern edge of DZ-A and made straight for their objective; a collection of buildings near the road junction to the south of the zone. "B" Company followed behind them but lost touch with a considerable amount of its men on the drop, although the majority of these reported in during the day. Their task was to protect the right flank of "A" Company as they attacked the road junction. To facilitate this, they quickly overran a group of nearby farm buildings, overcoming the defenders within half an hour and taking a number of them prisoner. Having firmly established themselves in this area, they beat-off various skirmishing attacks during the day, notably No.4 Platoon, who shot up a column of Germans on the road near the rendezvous point. Enemy resistance throughout the 6th Airborne Division's area proved to be mixed; some units fought with determination, others, such as those encountered by Sergeant Paige of "B" Company, were eager to surrender; having led a patrol of 6 men into the woods, he returned with no less than 98 prisoners.

"A" Company then attacked the buildings near the crossroads but these were so staunchly held by the enemy that their endeavour came close to stalling. CSM Green took the initiative, however, and, having arranged covering fire, led an assault into the first house and overcame the defenders after some vicious hand-to-hand fighting. The remaining buildings were subsequently captured in a similar fashion. The Germans made several counter-attacks against this position during the afternoon but all were beaten off. Most notable of these was when, at 14:30, a group of 75 Germans advancing from the west were badly caught by the Company's fire and 64 were taken prisoner.

Amongst the many distinguished actions carried out by the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion on this day, the work of one of their medics, Corporal Topham, has received the most fame. Despite having witnessed two medical orderlies killed by enemy fire as they attempted to reach a badly wounded man on the drop zone, he went out to him and proceeded to administer first aid. Whilst attending to him, a bullet glanced Topham's cheek and another went through his nose, but despite considerable bleeding and pain, he continued to work, amidst sustained enemy fire, before carrying the man to safety. Topham declined medical attention and continued to carry out his job until the drop zone had been cleared of all casualties. He received treatment once this work was finished, but he argued so fiercely against his proposed evacuation that he was allowed to return to duty. On his way back to his unit he came across a knocked-out Bren carrier which was burning fiercely with three men trapped inside. All the troops in the vicinity had taken cover as the vehicle could explode at any moment, but Topham immediately climbed onto the carrier and proceeded to lift each of the men out. As he stepped off it, the vehicle exploded harmlessly behind him. One of the men who had been trapped later died of his injuries, but the other two survived. Corporal George Topham was awarded the Victoria Cross for his extreme devotion to duty.

At 10:03, the 9th Battalion, the last of the 3rd Parachute Brigade to arrive, began their drop on DZ-A. By this time enemy interference on the zone and fire from the anti-aircraft batteries had reduced a little, and the Battalion, landing without much difficulty, had accounted for a handsome 85% of its strength by 11:00. Major Parry's "A" Company moved off at this time, and, within the hour, having met little opposition and taking 22 prisoners on the way, moved through the Canadian positions to the south of the zone and captured the northern end of the Schneppenberg feature, taking the remainder by 13:00. "B" Company encountered a battery of 76mm guns on the edge of the wood, which were firing in the direction of the 15th (Scottish) Division, and attacked and overcame these. "C" Company took its objective after a small action which resulted in 86 prisoners being taken. By mid-afternoon, the 9th Battalion was firmly in command of its position and had 293 prisoners in its cage.

With the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in occupation of two crossroad junctions and the 9th Battalion securely holding the two areas of high ground either side of the same Rees-Wesel road, the 3rd Parachute Brigade had successfully achieved its object of denying the road to the enemy as a means of counter-attacking into the flank of the Divisional area as well as that of the 15th (Scottish) Division, who were presently advancing up from the Rhine to relieve them.

Later in the day it was discovered that DZ-A, being one of the more obvious areas in the vicinity where parachutists could land, had been more heavily garrisoned in the days before the Brigade had landed. The Germans had expected an airborne assault to come in the first wave of any attempt to cross the Rhine, but as the Allied ground forces were already across the river and still no airborne operation had come, these troops, true to Montgomery's hopes, had been moved forward to contest the bridgehead. On average, each battalion of the 3rd Parachute Brigade had suffered something in the region of 20 men killed, 40 wounded and 40 missing during the day. Considering the nature of their tasks, the anti-aircraft defences in the area and the immediate opposition on the drop zone itself, these were not at all heavy losses, and so the Brigade was most fortunate not to have been confronted by the full strength of the planned defences.