Worst generals

Perhaps. The delays in executing the operation had given the Germans time to redeploy their forces to contain the breakthrough, had one occured.

 

These two divisions were actually less of a threat than is often stated, I recently found out. Between them they had about 9000 men, therefore they were outnumbered by the British paras. They were exhausted from months of fighting, as they were forced to make a fighting retreat from Normandy all the way to Holland under almost continuous air attack. Most of their tanks were inoperable, damaged, out of fuel or ammunition.

This force was there, however, and as soon as von Rundstedt realized the threat he started sending in replacements in men and materiel, making the units formidably strong by september 20th.

 

They were still the Waffen SS, Roel. And even a few tanks were more than what the airborne troops had.

 

Yes, but the Paras were the Paras, and they had plenty of AT weapons such as PIATs and 6pdrs. According to the SS, the British Paratroopers were some of the fiercest soldiers they had ever fought; in skill and morale the two sides are at least comparable. But the Paras were fresh.

This quote is from a conversation which took place between a German field commander and a captured British major at Sept. 20th, as written down in A Bridge Too Far:
The German: "Congratulations on your fierce soldiers. You are obviously very skilled in street fighting."
The Brit: "Oh, this was our first mission. We'll do much better next time."

 

And as I have said what let them down was the weather, had they been re-supplied they could have held out until reinforcements could get there.

 

The weather was a huge factor for the Brits out on the tip of the corridor, but the rest of the operation also went wrong; in fact, almost nothing went right. This can't be blamed on the weather.

The plan was close to idiocy even if the Germans hadn't had 15th Army pouring in to counterattack the corridor; British secret services knew about the two SS panzer divisions, and supplying at least five divisions (three airborne, Guards and Wessex) over a single road is impossible. The Dutch country terrain was a nightmare to armour in motion, because of the wet lands and high roads. The Germans were far more organized and ready, because of their Kampfgruppe ad hoc units, to stop or at least slow down the attack where loss of time meant loss of everything. These are the real reasons for the failure of Market-Garden. The weather was just another factor.

 

This could also be turned the other way round, but capturing the bridges using a primarily infantry force, It would also be easier to defend (if sufficiently re-supplied) and hold. Gambles were the order of the day If you win you win big if you lose you lose hard, The initial thrust of the Nazi's into France although having air support, they had no or little infantry. had the Brits or French closed the Ardennes then the panzers would have be without fuel and ammunition and possibly failed in taking France

For a force to fight over a period of time without been re-supplied shows that the plan, although not brilliant was not that bad.

IMHO

 

Panzer divisions had their own units of infantry and supply, so surely they were in supply and supported by their own crack infantry all the time. Airborne divisions, however, were never used again after WW2 because their actions always resulted in extremely heavy losses. See Sicily, Normandy, Market-Garden and even Veritable.

 

All units have their own supply chain, however, this must ultimately be supplied from somewhere.

In the British military, every unit has a quartermaster department, who stores the supplies for that unit. When these stores are depleted the replenishment comes from a normal supply chain, so if this is cut then the local quartermaster will eventually run out. The Panzer divisions thrusting through the Ardennes were told to slow down as these chains were being stretched, this is where the panzers could have been stopped. My knowledge could be flawed here but I am certain that very little infantry followed the panzers, as at this time most of Germany's infantry wasn't mechanised.

 

The Panzer divisions had one Panzer regiment and two Panzer Grenadier regiments. Each Panzer Grenadier regiment had two (three in the SS divisions) infantry battlions. One of the four battalions was half-track mounted, the other three truck mounted (two of six half-track mounted in the SS). The Pioneer (Engineer) battalion was also half-track mounted infantry, and the Recconaissance battalion also had half-track mounted infantry. The Panzer Regiment had two battalions, one MkIV and one Panther, of about 50 tanks each at nominal strength (around 60 for the SS). Two companies of Panzer-Jagder were authorized (about 30) in the AT battalion and an assulat gun battalion (about 45) was frequently attached.

 

Bearing in mind that only 7 division invaded France initially (I believe). and the speed of the avadvancing was so rapid compered to WW1 battles, it was assumed that all the German army moved at that pace. Hence a reatively small force could have been cut off from it's supply chain had the Brits and Frence trusted each other. Maybe altering the course of WW2.

 

Canambridge seems to be thinking of the Ardennes offensive, but in France the Panzer division's outlook was very different. A Panzer division in the early war years had the same type of units but was entirely motorized. The two Panzergrenadier units were fully mechanized; following it were recon units, motorized support AT units, motorized supply, motorized HQ, motorized artillery (only in the Panzer divisions!) and some assault guns. The Panzer brigade was made up of MBTs and support tanks (PanzerIIIs and PanzerIVs, sometimes Pz38(t)s). Every Panzer division even had some 50 motorcycles on paper.

 

Yep, I was thinking of 1944 style Panzer divisions.
The ten 1940 Panzer divisons had a Panzer Brigade with two Panzer Regiments of two battalions each. In 1940 the Pz MkI and Pz MkII still predominated, with around 40 per battalion. There were only about 20 Pz MkIII/IV or 35t/38t per panzer battalion. The 1940 Panzer division had a Motorized Rifle Brigade with a Motorized Rifle Regiment of two battalions, and a Motrocycle Rifle Battalion. The Rifle brigade was around 3,000 strong, the Recon Bn about 750 and the Pioneer Bn about 800.
All ten 1940 Panzer divisions participated in the May 1940 offensive, seven (and three Motorized infantry divisions) in the main effort in the Ardennes, 3rd and 4th, with 20th Motorized Div, advanced into Belgium, and the 9th Panzer Div was involved in secondary operations in The Netherlands.

 

Hey hey! Give the LAH its honour, back when it was still a motorized regiment with assault guns attached it fought in Holland.

The OOB was as follows:
Army group B, 22 divisions, 3 armoured: Holland and Belgium
Army group A, 42 divisions, 7 armoured: Ardennes
Army group C, 17 divisions all infantry: France

 

The GD was also around as a regiment the wasn't it?

 

What GD? Göring Division? Guards Division? Götterdämmerung? Sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about...

 

The Grossdeustchland regiment. I think it was around as a motorized infantry regiment in France in 1940.

 

Roel and others,

I have had a chat with a friend over market garden, and yes my initial thoughts/understanding were not fully complete. After speaking to a member of the British Parachute Regiment, I am now in the posession of more info.

Although the plan fail to achive all objectives it wasn't that bad a plan. Big mistakes were made accidents happened and bad luck was abound. I will be posting something later and look forwards to comments.

8)

 

And I look forward to your post. IMHO the plan was horrible and this operation just had to go wrong, German opposition or not.