Operation Market Garden

As regards the radios:

Apparently (K. Macksey: Military Errors of WW2) we (the British) had not developed a radio that could withstand properly the shock of being airdropped!
Plus, only one type (No 19 set - issued to armoured & infantry units) had a range greater than 5 miles in ideal conditions (which includes daylight...).

:roll:

 

Well, now, *that's* real useful...sheesh! :-?

 

Aargh Dutch language! Is polder not the same as marsh? In any case you're right Roel, that was the point. It was one of the reasons the Brits dropped miles away.

 

Not exactly. A polder is a piece of land below sea level, surrounded by dikes to keep the water out. Its most common form is endless flat grasslands criscrossed by small ditches filled with water. These ditches serve to drain the fields, to carry off water if there's too much, and to indicate the borders between different farmers' fields.

So the polder country is wet, but it's not marshy or swampy unless there's been much rain over the previous weeks (which wasn't the case for Market). But the piece of land south of the Arnhem bridge was definitely marsh.

If you consider that all roads leading through polder areas are on the dikes, and the land between those dikes looks like what I described above, you can see what a nightmare the flat Dutch countryside is to armoured warfare.

 

Roel, thanks!

 

Also great airborne operation was landing in Crete.

 

Which also came very, very close to failing. It was one of those engagements where victory didn't come from clever tactics to which side cracked first. Unifortuately in this case the British were the first to give way.

 

Of the around 11,000 Fallschirmjäger dropped on crete, more than 3,000 did not return. Crete became known among the German paratroopers as the Fallschirmjäger's grave... The British put up a courageous fight even though they were scattered all over the island, without communications with the central HQ and in very small number anyway.

 

post subject

The German Military Cemetery at Maleme, Crete, contains the bodies of
4,465 German personel including,Paratroopers, Gebirgsjager and sailors;
who were K.I.A. or died on Crete.

 

Yes, but they did put up a tremendous fight, more than what the Germans had expected, given that these men had just been unceremoniously bundled out of Greece courtesy of the Wehrmacht.

 

What's "gebirgsjäger" ?

 

Mountain trooper! Although many saw action just as front line infantry, just as German paratropers did.

 

post subject

Gebirgsjager(how do you do an "umlaut?") were an Elite Force.Had many Divisions,including SS, I include for you some pictures from my Favourite WW2 souvenier,a cartoon book liberated from the Gebirgsjager barracks in Innsbruck, it was printed 1941 and covers the journeys of recruit "Toni"
through Europa.I'm afraid it is a bit grubby after the years but show a German I believe few of you have seen. There are 30 pages in the book but if you wish I'll open a new subject and publish a few every day.
So, the Cover, 1st page and a sample picture of British Tommies.
(the colour picture is from my private files) Let me know your feelings.

 

gebirgersjager

pictures(I hope!)

 

Thanks to you guys .

 

Very very nice book tankpark! I'd very much enjoy and appreciate it if you made a topic of it and posted some pages every day.

 

Re: post subject

might have a computer with an umlaut, If you want tankpark by putting an e after the character with and umlaut is ok.

Gebirgsjaeger is the way ahead.

 

Re: gebirgersjager

Very interesting. Kinda reminds me of Bill Maudlin's work in the USA, especially his "Willie and Joe" cartoons.