Nijmegen--critical or not OP MG

[harmonica]

...first off, Operation Market Garden 17 Sep 1944 was a LONG SHOT gamble
1. one MSR = easily cut/defended by even half trained-minimal forces-defense easier than offense
2. airborne forces landed far away from objectives/landed in piecemeal
3. gamble was against a well trained/disciplined/etc enemy
--less of a gamble against shitheads
ok--the critical point of the plan was to lay a ''carpet'' of airborne so the tanks/etc good roll over the carpet
...but Gen. Gavin wanted to secure the Groesbeek Heights BEFORE a ''major attack on the Nijmegen Bridge = causing THE critical delay.................????!!!!

it was the critical delay, but was only part of many errors
bad plan executed poorly against a well trained/etc foe = failure
was this critical? --my opinion is no....
as stated:
1. 1 MSR
2. dedicated/well trained enemy
3. forces not landed en masse
4. radios didn't work
5. 1st Airborne commander unable to communicate/separated from his unit!!!
etc etc

Divisional plan to allow a single battalion to proceed towards the Bridge immediately after landing.

they waited for seven hours before leaving the Heights. By this time the resistance ahead of them had considerably stiffened and no headway could be made.

By contrast, Nijmegen Bridge was the only way across the 400-yard wide River Waal to Arnhem, and without its capture the 1st Airborne Division would be cut-off behind two very large rivers and thirteen miles of hostile territory.

Reasons for the Failure

 

[whitehall]

Apparently the plan was strategically sound but it's another case in a long line of intelligence failures that underestimated the capability of the German war machine. The Allies were hoping to be home for Christmas 1944 but another more critical intelligence failure (the Ardennes Offensive aka the Bulge) would ruin their Christmas.

 

[harmonica]

Apparently the plan was strategically sound but it's another case in a long line of intelligence failures that underestimated the capability of the German war machine. The Allies were hoping to be home for Christmas 1944 but another more critical intelligence failure (the Ardennes Offensive aka the Bulge) would ruin their Christmas.

strategically--sure.......but full of errors/etc
they thought the Germans would be snowmen and just let them go through
sounds like a civilian thought of it