Operation Market Garden, 82 yrs ago today.

Nitt1300 said:

We had a couple- they were for a war that we were actually in- with Japan

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LionJim said:

Not until August, 1945. And all we had was two.

Edit: the Trinity test was July 16th.

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Marshall2323 said:

England and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland. Then we allowed Poland and Eastern Europe to be subjected to an equally oppressive Soviet regime. Lot's of young men lost their lives for what? We could have liberated France and negotiated a truce in July 1944. One thing to remember, USSR had a massive army in the field but we had nuclear weapons. In history much like football, hind sight is 20-20.
The Ukraine War could easily be attributed to Russian fears of Western intensions. For that reason and the massive losses the USSR suffered in WW2, IMO Ukraine should not be given NATO membership.

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Nitt1300 said:

We had a couple- they were for a war that we were actually in- with Japan

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razpsu said:

So we weren’t in a war in Europe? Patton was a bad general? I’m confused.

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Chumboshifko1 said:

If anyone is nuts, it's 1300. Also factually challenged.

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PSU87 said:

Exactly. Britain and the US, in the fall of 1944 should have told the Germans "pull back to your pre-1940 borders in the West and we will not invade Germany."

The Germans could have concentrated their forces on the Eastern front, and while the Soviets still would have won, they would have bled each other dry. Tons of American and British lives saved, Germany defeated, the Soviets in no condition to turn Eastern Europe into a fiefdom....

20/20 hindsight.

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Roar More said:

So, sit it out while the death camps went ahead behind a secure western border?

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LionJim said:

Also, it wasn’t until the war was over that the United States and England were able to confirm that the Germans were way behind in developing an atomic bomb. That was one reason for the urgency of the Manhattan Project: beat the Germans to the bomb.

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Alsos Mission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Roar More said:

So, sit it out while the death camps went ahead behind a secure western border?

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razpsu said:

So we weren’t in a war in Europe? Patton was a bad general? I’m confused.

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nittanymoops said:

Great find! Thanks for posting!

I read “A Bridge Too Far” many times. The mistakes made were simple in the planning but catastrophic in their devastation.

The Brits at Arnhem were totally hosed, and the Poles who dropped with them several days later also suffered mightily. I was angered when I visited Arnhem when I learned just how much the limeys scapegoated the Poles for the failure of the final phase when Monty’s plan and the weather colluded.

One of the things that really was impressive to me was how narrow the Lower Rhine was at Arnhem and how amazingly wide the Waal/Rhine was at Nijmegen. The amphib assault there, the crossing led by Maj. Julian Cook (Redford on film), is really a feat of arms for the 82nd. The inability of the 82nd to capture the bridge at Nijmegen was a significant hindrance to the success of the operation. The heroism of those troopers that day is something that should be long-remembered. And to a man they believed that succeeding in their mission that day would enable the Brit armor to get to Arnhem to relieve their airborne brothers in arms. ‘Twas not to be.

I can talk all day about this stuff. For another great read, consider Antony Beevor’s “Battle of Arnhem.” It does not sugarcoat the failures by the Brits in planning.

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