Customer Reviews

Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a brief but vivid and concise account of "Market Garden," better known as "A Bridge Too Far" or better perhaps "Too Far From The Bridge." A good primer for larger studies. The graphics are a highlight: detailed topological maps in color of the Arnhem Bridge area, Oosterbeek and Nijmegen including troop dispositions to the level of streets and houses; detailed colored sketches of uniformed Allied paratroopers and of German and Allied tanks involved in the battle.

This might be "heresy" but the point of history is to learn something; this book does something that all the many other books on Arnhem fail to do; it arrives at the truth. Most other books bitterly complain about how the British 3-D Airborne forces were dropped too far from the bridge, or how if provided better transportation means like light armored fighting vehicles (my view) and folding bikes, or if the 2-D forces had been more vigorous they could have linked up, gotten to the Rhine River bridge and the battle would have been "won". But this book sets the record straight.

When a portion of the British Airborne marched towards Arnhem, they could have taken the ferry but did not (not in their orders)and went past the railroad bridge that was blown up. Had they had better "situational awareness" they could have taken and kept the ferry. But this book goes a step further---so what?

The point of penetrating into Arnhem was to get across the Rhine river and run wild in the German industrial regions and smash war machinery and deprive the enemy with the means to continue fighting. But to do a "Sherman march" like this, these areas had to be undefended. That opportunity simply was not there. The Germans had compressed their lines of supply/communication and were defending in depth. So if we had kept the bridge or the ferry across the Rhine, we would have only been stopped on the other side by the Germans. THAT----is what is not understood by most people especially after seeing the superb but not quite accurate film, "A Bridge too Far" by Cornelius Ryan. Those that label Operation Market-Garden as a "failure" fail themselves to realize that what it sought--a collapse of the enemy from the inside---was not possible against a nation on a desperate total war footing, so such negative labeling is unjustified.

I'm all in favor of Airborne units receiving light AFVs in order to effect off-set DZ insertions, if there was a "time machine" I'd go back and have Hamilcar gliders deliver Bren gun APCs and Locust M22/Tetrarch light tanks that existed at the time. I'd have some of Gavin's 82d Airborne drop directly onto the south of Arnhem bridge to support the British 1st Airborne driving across from the north in the Bren gun carriers/Locust/Tetrarch light tanks. I'd had Patton temporarily in charge of the 2-D dash up to Arnhem bridge. He'd have better, medium-sived tanks and aPCs that could swim themselves across and not need bridges in the first place. But at the end of the day, we'd be stopped on the far side of the bridge or the river bank by the Germans, a 50 mile penetration, definately worth doing, but a STRATEGIC AIM of driving unhindered into Germany to collapse their infrastructure was not possible at that time. This book explains this like no other work, and places it in a must-read category--if you don't read it you simply will not understand the battle and will be subject to the cliches' and labeling. When you understand this, you will remove your disappointment in the leaders at that time for not pursuing further. The truth is XXX Corps could have punched its way through to Arnhem bridge but the Commanders knew that there was no strategic vaccum behind it to exploit that would justify the human costs. A lot of hard fighting stood ahead of the Allies at this point.

Airborne!

I used this book and the movie A Bridge Too Far to prepare for a staff ride (military field trip) on very short notice. Our guide a retired Colonel, military writer, and WWII expert actually asked the Brigade Commander why a lowly Specialist knew more about this battle than any of his staff officers.

This book give you the nuts and bolts of the planning and execution of Operation Market Garden. It is an excellent companion to the movie A Bridge Too Far which does an astounding job of portraying the operation on screen.

Operation Market Garden was Montey's grand assault into Arnhem, Holland (The Netherlands). It was a grand Ground and Airborne campaign that was only trumped by its massive failure. After reading this book and studying a little bit about the overall operation you will come to understand how ineffective airborne troops are as a main offensive weapon.

Another lesson to be learned from this assault by both military leaders and business leaders is that all the planning in the world can not make a bad idea work.

"Annhem 1944, Operation Market-Garden (Campaign)", by Stephen Badsey deals with the Allied attempt to seize bridges across multiple rivers using airborne forces (Operation Market), along with an armored thrust to the bridges (Operation Garden) in September 1944. If successful, Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group would be across the Rhine River and theoretically poised to break into the industrial areas of Germany, potentially bringing the war to a quick conclusion. The book follows the typical Osprey Campaign format - typically about 96 pages long, consisting of analysis of the campaign, commanders, forces and styles of warfare, pictures, illustrations, and maps.

I'd estimate over half of the book is taken up with pictures, illustrations, and maps. The pictures are outstanding ... although the vast majority are from the allied perspective, some of the pictures of the bridges and pictures during combat helped show the intesity of the battle. The maps were very helpful, too, with some of them shown in 3D (ie, drawn showing elevation contours). The maps weren't quite perfect, though ... one map's legend had symbols for V1 and V2 rocket sites (which the text stated was a priority for the Allied forces to capture), but the symbols were nowhere to be found on the map itself. On a few other maps, forces and locations were identified, but they weren't mentioned in the text.

The author clearly knows his material and does a good job of laying out the allied side of the battle, although I feel he could have given more information on the German side. Part of this was undoubtedly due to page constraints, but even while allowing for the fact that the Osprey format is page-limited and meant as an overview more than a definitive telling, I feel that a few of the pictures and illustrations could have been sacrificed in the interest of better rounding out the story. Don't get me wrong, the book isn't deficient in any area, but it felt a little unbalanced toward the allied side.

On a side note, one two-page section was titled "Wargaming Arnhem". I thought this was a pretty good idea ... I'm a wargamer and computer wargamer from way back, so I was curious to see which games the author would list. But then I was surprised to see that all of the games/systems he mentioned were at least 20 years old, and included none of the more recent offerings on the battle. I checked and found the book was originally published in 1993, although I bought it "new" in 2011. This isn't a problem in any way ... most books go through multiple reprints, and when I looked, the book info clearly showed it was published in 1993 ... but I can now see why most books don't include good ideas like this one. It's too bad, though.

Overall, this provides a good overview of the battle, and a book that, due to the plentiful maps, can be used as a companion to other books about Operation Market-Garden.

This book is a fine suppliment to the Movie version of the operation. With the excellent maps, which are included, it clarifies the entire campaign. It should be reviewed in concert with the film. Many details are included which are available to the British author and which tend to explain the action and outcome. It is enjoyab;e reading and quite informative to someone who has not delved deeply into the details of the operation.

Recommended for all who have a perepheral interest in the subject, as well as one who is already quite knowlegeble of it.

Arnhem 1944: Operation 'Market Garden' (Campaign, No 24) by Stephen Badsey is a better than adequate description of the nuts and bolts of Operation Market Garden. The maps are informative and the prose do give one a better than basic knowledge of the military movements and counter movements. If one is simply looking for a narrative of troop movements then this is an excellent book.

Where the book fails is in the discussion of the multitude of errors that went into the planning and excution of the Operation. It was a campaign that was begun as much as a result of Montgomery's desire to be the one to win the war and not be bested by the Americans and Patton, as by military necessity. Once began, the British ignored the advise of the local resistance, utilized tactics that played into the strength of the Nazi resisters, and were too ambitious. This is not to mention the intelligence failures that convinced the Allies that they would be facing second rate worn out units.

All in all, Market Garden is a case study of what should not be done. Not only did it lead to the needless deaths, but it took vital resources away from the Patton's Third Army where they could have been put to better use and resulted in ending the war sooner.

Gen. Bernard Montgomery did one thing during World War II. He "defeated" Erwin Rommel at El Alemain, in North Africa. From that point on, he never succeeded in any battle that he fought. Winston Churchill regarded him as a brilliant tactician. But in reality, he couldn't shine George Patton's shoes.

What he cost the Allies during his Market Garden campaign were thousands of lives. His ego was so inflated that he regarded himself as "invincible". Montgomery was a clown that performed in Europe, nothing more.

The author was British. Need I say more?