Operation Market Garden is one of the best-known Allied failures of World War II. A daring, but hastily assembled and extremely risky plan, it was intended to liberate the Netherlands, enter Germany without having to fight through the Siegfried defensive line and bring the war to an end by the Christmas of 1944, all in one fell swoop. The plan, however, was just as badly ridden with problems as it was ambitious: equipment failure, a poor use of airborne troops, bad intelligence, a lack of aggressive spirit by some units and just having too many moving parts that could go wrong all conspired to ultimate defeat.
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> The plan, however, was just as badly ridden with problems as it was ambitious: ...a lack of aggressive spirit by some units ...
ReplyDeleteFunny that the story would point out that Montgomery was a tea sipping, weak kneed, POS that turned a high risk venture into a failure from the get-go by his lack of resolve. "Monty" killed thousands of American troops through his predictable inaction.
OK, the story didn't actually say that, but it should have.
bernard montgomery was a fool. he was only in the war to placate the british into thinking that they had any say in the outcome. after market garden he was relegated to where he belonged, in the rear with the gear. the british held him up as the savior of north africa when in actuality he was losing badly until Patton and the US troops came in and saved his ass. it's solid history, look it up.
Delete...and still to this day the British uphold the notion that Montgomery was one of the greatest generals of WWII, when in actuality he was an incompetent, ego maniacal fool who got several divisions of his own and other allied troops killed because of his ineptitude.
DeleteChurchill was just as bad leaving Monty in charge when he should have shit canned him during the N. Africa battle. How is it that you roll across 2/3 of N. Africa, routing Germans at every turn, then lose all of that territory back to the Germans in less than six months when the Germans counter attacked. Yah, I know the supply lines were long for both parties. However, competent generals plan for that because without sufficient beans, bullets and band aids you can't win nor hold conquered territory.
The movie Patton painted "Monty" in his true light. One of the best scenes with him was when "Monty" marched into Palermo assuming he had liberated it only to find Patton there waiting for him in the town square. I LMAO every time I watch that.
Nemo
2 good WW-II glider books: 1- Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin by: Scott McGaugh. 2- Silent Wings at War by: John L. Lowden (a WW-II glider pilot)
ReplyDeleteEisenhower didn't have the balls to tell Monty to piss off. If the same resources had gone to Patton, war would have been over 6 months sooner.
ReplyDeleteCome on, from what I remember it wasn't a failure. They just tried to go a bridge too far.
ReplyDelete(come on, see what I did there?)
It obviously failed because it wasn't diverse, inclusive and equitable.
ReplyDeleteJust now reading a book about McArthur's campaign in the Philippines where logistics bottlenecks, poor intelligence, hyper egos among leadership, and assorted other screw-ups made the casualty list larger than it should have been. Interestingly, the Japs entrenched in the hills all up and down the coast had many of the same problems, including lack of spirit and failure to follow orders by some of the battlefield commanders.
ReplyDeleteWars should only be fought when the sons of politicians are forced to be the first to be conscripted into infantry units.
I knew a great tool guy, who was an E-8 with the 82nd. He passed on about 5 years ago at 102. He made 3 or 4 glider landings, and when I mentioned St. Mere Eglise - 'you know, where the guy's chute got caught in the church steeple and he had to play dead' - he off handedly said,, "Yeah, I walked by that church the next morning." And now we have milley - ms. levine's prep school football teammate in charge... dr. spock & his 'don't spank them' ought to burn in hell. Sensitivity my butt. Excuse the rant.
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