 On 10 March 1945, the rearguard of the 1st Parachute Army evacuated their bridgehead, destroying the bridge behind them.Schlemm was wounded in an air attack on his command post at Haltern eleven days later and on 20 March 1945, command passed to General Günther Blumentritt.Just before Operation Varsity, First Parachute Army had three corps stationed along the river; 
Of these formations, II Parachute Corps and LXXXVI Corps had a shared boundary which ran through the proposed landing-zones for the Allied airborne divisions, meaning that the leading formation of each corps would face the airborne assault — these being 7th Parachute Division and 84th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht).