The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 927

c924 market garden

The airborne troops are very obvious, because Belgium has the Ardennes region, and the terrain of the Netherlands is like that. If you want to break through from here, you can only use airborne troops to control the bridges and roads in this area like Germany’s “Blitzkrieg” and key areas, so that it is possible for one’s own mechanized troops and armored forces to break through quickly.

Otherwise, it will be a situation where the two armies are using infantry in the mountains, mud, mountains and forests, and this is something the Allies never want to see.

“But this is impossible!” Rundstedt said: “Several of their airborne divisions have been defeated by us in Normandy, and I am afraid that less than a third of them can escape!”

The U.S. airborne troops are indeed an elite division. Under those circumstances, they knew they could not complete the mission, so they retreated to the next best option and chose to preserve their strength… The method was to escape to the jungle or stick to the countryside where the German army had fewer troops.

As for the German army, because the British and American troops were attacking with all their strength on the other side, they were unable to surround and suppress the American airborne troops, so they finally allowed some of them to escape.

“Their remaining soldiers are no longer enough to carry out an airborne landing on the Netherlands!” Rundstedt said: “Even if they still dare to carry out an airborne landing!”

What Rundstedt meant was that the U.S. airborne troops had suffered such huge losses that it was hard to believe that they would carry out another large-scale airborne landing.

Rundstedt was right that the Americans were unwilling, but Montgomery insisted.

At this time, the United States had a total of five airborne divisions, namely the 11th Division, the 13th Division, the 17th Division, the 82nd Division and the 101st Division.

The 82nd Division and the 101st Division suffered heavy losses in the airborne operations in Normandy and were indeed unable to participate in the battle.

The 13th Division was formed in the United States.

The 17th Division is in reserve in England.

But only one 17th Division was not enough, so after the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division suffered heavy losses, Eisenhower urgently transferred the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific Theater to the United Kingdom.

The 11th Airborne Division was originally used to deal with the Japanese, but it was almost impossible to use airborne troops in the landing battles on the small islands in the Pacific. The 11th Airborne Division was only prepared as a reserve in case there were no troops available when airborne landings were needed.

(Note: Historically, the 11th Airborne Division was eventually used as ordinary infantry in the Pacific battlefield)

This also gave Montgomery three more airborne divisions: the US 11th and 17th Airborne Divisions, and the British 1st Airborne Division.

As early as the large-scale German retreat, Montgomery had already begun to consider the issue of attacking the German defense lines.

He believed that the fastest and relatively easy way was to bypass Germany’s “Siegfeld” defense line through Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Lower Rhine region, and then sweep across northern Germany.

(Note: The “Siegfeld” line of defense was a line of defense built by Germany to counter the French “Maginot” line of defense. After the German army broke through the “Maginot” line of defense, the “Siegfeld” line of defense was considered to have lost its meaning. So the artillery and other artillery were dismantled to the “Atlantic Wall”)

According to Montgomery’s attack direction, the Allied forces would first need to capture several bridges and roads on the Maas, Waal and Lower Rhine rivers to open up pathways for the armored divisions to advance.

As a result, Montgomery formulated a battle plan called “Market Garden.”

According to Montgomery’s idea, the Allies would control key bridges in the Netherlands in a large-scale airborne battle. At the same time, the airborne troops and British armored forces would attack the German troops in the Ardennes region of Belgium. They would quickly break through and occupy the Netherlands through the roads and bridges guarded by the airborne troops. The whole territory, and then into the German mainland.

This is a very bold offensive plan, completely unlike Montgomery’s conservative and old-fashioned command style.

But if you think about it in more detail, it is normal for Montgomery to formulate such a plan…

The French army actually invaded Paris, and the 3rd Army led by Patton stole the show on the battlefield. For this reason, the British were forced to declare to the world that the American troops led by Patton were the first to liberate Paris.

So what did the British army do?

The British Empire, known as the “Empire on which the Sun Never Sets,” was actually held back by the Germans throughout the entire battle. This is not in any way consistent with its status as the “world’s most powerful country.”

Therefore, Montgomery needs to regain this face, or regain this face for Britain.

As for whether the airborne troops will be in danger… Two airborne divisions are American and only one airborne division is British. This level of risk is acceptable.

Once the “Market Garden” operation is successful, the British army will become the first force to invade the German mainland and even occupy the Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany, which will determine the outcome of the battle to a considerable extent.

This contribution is much greater than the liberation of Paris, especially since Britain can also grab advanced equipment and engineering talents from the Ruhr Industrial Area.

So Montgomery decided to do it without much thought.

“This will be the largest airborne operation in human history!” Montgomery said: “Our airborne troops have three divisions with a total strength of 34,600 people, of which 20,011 people performed parachute landings and 14,589 people performed glider landings. At the same time, The glider will also transport 1,736 vehicles of various types and 263 artillery pieces, and approximately 3,342 tons of ammunition and supplies will also be delivered to the theater by parachute and airdrop…”

“No, we can’t do this!” Eisenhower objected worriedly: “This is too risky. If the enemy deploys armored divisions in the Netherlands, our airborne division with only light weapons will suffer heavy casualties again!”

“We don’t need to worry about this, General!” Montgomery replied: “You know the terrain of the Netherlands, it is not suitable for armored units to fight. At the same time, our spies in the Netherlands also told us that there are no German armored units there, and their main forces have withdrawn to the ‘Siegfried’ line!”

Montgomery’s statement was not true.

“Super Intelligence” obtained intelligence that a German armored division had sent reinforcements to the Netherlands, but Montgomery turned a blind eye to this intelligence, not only that he also suppressed this intelligence.

On the other hand, Major Eart of the “Spitfire” 11 reconnaissance aircraft of the 16th Reconnaissance Squadron of the Royal Air Force also reported that German tank units were found in the Netherlands.

Montgomery ignored this intelligence again and ordered the British military doctor to give Major Eart sick leave, saying: “Major Eart was too tired and a little nervous!”

These were obviously a series of low-level mistakes.

Or Montgomery thought that these German tanks were not to be feared, and the British Army or the British and American airborne troops had the ability to kill them and eventually win.

Or maybe Montgomery was too eager to seize the fruits of victory by entering Germany, so he overlooked many things that he would not normally overlook.

“We should do this!” Montgomery said, “and quickly, otherwise the opportunity will slip away from us!”