MONTGOMERY’S MARKET GARDEN GAMBLE FAILS

TODAY

Berlin, Germany • September 26, 1944

On this date in 1944 the German news agency announced the surrender of 600 British troops in a small village west of Arn­hem in the Nether­lands. For days the lightly armed men of the British 1st Air­borne “Red Devil” Divi­sion had held the north­ern end of a key bridge that crossed the Dutch Lower Rhine River (Neder Rhine; Dutch, Neder­rijn), but British armored rein­force­ments were not able to secure the south bank of the river. Forced to retreat under withering German assaults along the narrow and exposed 30‑mile/­48‑km‑long Eind­hoven-Nijmegen high­way corri­dor (“Hell’s High­way”), the British left behind 7,000 dead, wounded, missing, or captured.

The Battle of Arnhem was part of Opera­tion Mar­ket Garden (Septem­ber 17–26, 1944), an auda­cious and complex Anglo-Amer­ican land-airborne opera­tion hur­riedly devised by British Field Marshal (since Septem­ber 1, 1944) Bernard Law Mont­gomery. In con­cert with the Dutch resis­tance net­work, “Monty’s” plan was to out­flank German forces defending the forti­fied West Wall (or Sieg­fried Line) by crossing over 5 strategic Lower Rhine and canal bridges and thrusting into the heart­land of the Third Reich—the indus­trial Ruhr—which was Supreme Com­mander of Allied Forces in Europe Gen. Dwight D. Eisen­hower’s opera­tional objec­tive for the destruc­tion of enemy forces in the West before the onset of winter.

Montgomery’s British Second Army, fresh from having taken the vital resupply port of Ant­werp in Bel­gium on Septem­ber 4, hugely mis­cal­culated Allied pro­wess and late-war German dogged­ness, due partly to Monty’s most con­spicu­ous attri­butes, namely his un­shake­able self-con­fi­dence and arro­gance. The German demo­li­tion of a bridge over the Dutch Wilhel­mina Canal, an extremely over­stretched British supply line, and stiffer German resis­tance than anti­ci­pated at the bridge at Arn­hem, 64 miles/­102 km behind German lines—all these things con­spired against Mont­gomery deli­vering a fighting force suf­ficient to cross the Lower Rhine River and strike into Germany. Indeed, prac­ti­cally the entire Rhine, stretching 766 miles/­1,232 km from its source in the Swiss Alps to the North Sea, remained a bar­rier to advances by the West­ern Allies into Germany until March 1945, when U.S., British, and Cana­dian armies kicked off a series of offen­sives on the Middle Rhine at Rema­gen under Maj. Gen. John Wil­liam Leo­nard, at Oppen­heim under Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., and at Rees and Wesel under Montgomery.

Market Garden blemished Montgomery’s standing within the head­quarters of SHAEF (Supreme Head­quarters Allied Expe­di­tion­ary Forces) at least from that time on. Market Garden shat­tered the opti­mism among the Western Allies that the war in Europe was nearing an end, and it ushered in a period of stale­mate on the Western Front that occa­sion­ally would inflict much pain; for example, the Battle of the Bulge (mid-Decem­ber 1944 to mid-Janu­ary 1945) during which, just among Amer­i­can forces, 81,000 were killed, wounded, and taken pri­soner. The Battle of the Bulge, Germany’s Ardennes Offen­sive, was the largest and dead­liest battle fought by U.S. forces in World War II. Not until late Janu­ary 1945 were the West­ern Allies again in a posi­tion to engage the enemy in a strong, coor­di­nated offen­sive along their front lines. And it was not until the end of April that Soviet armed forces, in mortal com­bat on the East­ern Front, were able to drive their armored lance into the pros­trate body of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich in the Euro­pean War’s last combat gasp, the Battle of Berlin.

With help from Sir Bernard Law Montgomery’s son David, The Lonely Leader: Monty by Alistair Horne focuses on the British Army’s performance under Field Marshal Montgomery during the final war years, 1944–1945. Horne’s account is distin­guished by the inclu­sion of letters and enclo­sures Mont­gomery sent to his son. One gets a strong sense of Monty’s ego and vanity when he wrote David on one occasion and enclosed a “photo portrait, painted of me for the nation.” Besides his much docu­mented vanity, the letters add a touch of pater­nal sensi­tivity to Mont­gomery’s character that could be easily over­looked. Horne shows us how Monty warned his son against “playing the fool” in school, imploring him to “culti­vate a sense of respon­si­bility.” On another occasion Mont­gomery praised his son for being top of his class in a school report, writing that “I want you to know that I am simply delighted.” Thus, Horne’s book gives an ele­ment of humanity to the reader’s impres­sion of Mont­gomery, who, though cer­tainly con­ceited, was not beyond human com­pas­sion. None­the­less, Horne is apt to slight Mont­gomery’s clearest failings. For example, the disas­trous Arn­hem landings of Septem­ber 1944, which saw an entire British air­borne divi­sion destroyed, is reduced to four pages, and Horne uncon­vincingly deflects blame for the operation onto Monty’s American superiors.—John Merrington

Operation Market Garden: The Battle of Arnhem, September 17–26, 1944

Operation Market Garden: Arnhem, Holland, bridge over Lower RhineOperation Market Garden: British glider-borne battalion en route to Arnhem, September 18, 1944

Left: Aerial view of the massive 2,000 ft (610 m) concrete-and-steel bridge over the Neder­rijn (Dutch, “Lower Rhine” or “Nether Rhine”) at Arn­hem—the “bridge too far”—one of a num­ber of enemy-held choke points over water obstacles leading into Germany. British troops and destroyed German armored vehicles are visible at the north end of the bridge. Had Field Marshal Ber­nard Mont­gomery’s ambi­tious scheme for seizing the road, rail, and pon­toon bridges over the Lower Rhine suc­ceeded, the war in Europe might have been shortened by months. How­ever, back­up forces were un­able to come up quickly enough to enable the advance air­borne troops to hold the strategically vital bridge at Arnhem.

Right: The Battle of Arnhem was fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arn­hem, Ooster­beek, Wolf­heze, Driel, and the sur­rounding country­side. In this photo, men of the British 2nd Bat­talion South Stafford­shire Regi­ment are shown towing a 6‑pounder anti­tank gun as they enter Ooster­beek en route to Arn­hem, Septem­ber 18, 1944. The 2nd Bat­talion started the opera­tion 867 men strong but only 139 returned to British lines.

Operation Market Garden: Arnhem bridge after battle to hold it for the AlliesOperation Market Garden: Captured Arnhem bridge fighters

Left: Arnhem Bridge after the British 2nd Para­chute Bat­talion (745 lightly armed men) had been over­run and driven back. The bat­talion had run out of ammu­ni­tion for their Bren light machine guns and PIAT hand-held anti­tank wea­pons following 4 days of some of the fierc­est fighting seen by either side. Many men were killed, wounded, or captured. Those still living were driven out of town. Bridge after the British 2nd Para­chute Bat­talion (745 lightly armed men) had been over­run and driven back. The bat­talion had run out of ammu­ni­tion for their Bren light machine guns and PIAT hand-held anti­tank wea­pons following 4 days of some of the fierc­est fighting seen by either side. Many men were killed, wounded, or captured. Those still living were driven out of town.

Right: British prisoners at Arnhem Bridge, Septem­ber 1944. The British 1st Air­borne Divi­sion, sup­ported by men of the Glider Pilot Regi­ment, and the Polish 1st Inde­pen­dent Para­chute Bri­gade lost approx­i­mately 1,984 killed and 6,854 cap­tured. After 9 days of fighting, the remains of the air­borne forces were with­drawn. With no secure road or rail bridges over the Neder­rijn, the Allies were un­able to advance further and the front line stabi­lized south of Arnhem. The British 1st Air­borne Divi­sion lost nearly three-quarters of its strength and never saw combat again.

Interesting Rare British Footage of Operation Market Garden (Music, No Dialog)