DAVID TRUESDALE OFFERS A SHARP REBUTTAL TO CLAIMS THAT ARNHEM WAS LOST – OR COULD HAVE BEEN WON – IF NOT FOR THE ACTIONS OF ONE CAPTAIN. THE MAN IN QUESTION WAS LORD CARRINGTON.
Failure at Arnhem. A tricky phrase. When it appears in the historiography, it often demonstrates the author’s inability to fully understand Market Garden – or how it progressed – in its intricate entirety. The complicated, multi-faceted operation required British 1st Airborne Division, in concert with the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group, to capture a number of bridges in the Arnhem area and secure a bridgehead on the north bank of the river. Asked to hold for 24 to 48 hours, they held for nine days. There was no ‘failure’ at Arnhem.
The same cannot be said for the operation as a whole and overall failure cannot be disputed. Market Garden became an extremely costly venture. Market Garden was a British Second Army operation, spearheaded by XXX Corps, flanked by VIII and XII Corps and involving the First Allied Airborne Army, consisting of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and the aforementioned British and Polish airborne formations.
The lack of success is blamed on many factors. To begin with there were s…
