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    A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of Market Garden, The Arnhem Operation, September 1944
    Unavailable
    A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of Market Garden, The Arnhem Operation, September 1944
    Unavailable
    A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of Market Garden, The Arnhem Operation, September 1944
    Ebook421 pages7 hours

    A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of Market Garden, The Arnhem Operation, September 1944

    By David Bennett

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    After Normandy, the most spectacular Allied offensive of World War II was Operation Market Garden, which saw three divisions of paratroopers dropped behind German lines, to be joined by massive armored columns breaking through the front. The ultimate object was to seize a crossing over t the Rhine to outflank the heartland of the Third Reich and force a quick end to the war.

    The Operation utterly failed, of course, as the 1st British Airborne was practically wiped out, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions became tied down in vicious combat for months, and the vaunted armored columns were foiled at every turn by improvisational German defenses. In many circles the battle has become known as “Hitler’s last victory.”

    In this work, many years in the making, Professor Bennett puts forward a complete, balanced and comprehensive account of the British, American, Polish, Canadian and German actions, as well as the strategic background of the Operation in a way not yet done. He shows, for example, that rather than a bridgehead over the Rhine, Montgomery’s ultimate aim was to flank the Ruhr industrial area from the north. The book also deals as never before with the key role of all three Corps of British Second Army, not just Horrocks’ central XXX Corps. For the first time, we learn the dramatic, untold story of how a single company of Canadian engineers achieved the evacuation of 1st Airborne’s survivors back across the Rhine when all other efforts had failed.

    Also revealed is the scandal of how Polish General Sosabowski was humiliated, insulted and dismissed by the mendacious hostility of the British military authorities. And the book shows, too, how the Operation would have failed at the outset but for the brilliant soldiery of the two American airborne divisions who overcame a variety of odds to achieve their objectives.

    Respectfully nodding to “A Bridge Too Far” and other excellent works on Market Garden, the author has interviewed survivors, walked the ground, and performed prodigious archival research to increase our understanding of the battle. From the actions of the lowliest soldier to the highest commander, Allied and German, the Operation develops in highly readable style, with the author’s expert analysis unveiling new insights at every step.
    www.magnificentdisaster.com
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCasemate
    Release dateJul 8, 2008
    ISBN9781935149972
    Unavailable
    A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of Market Garden, The Arnhem Operation, September 1944
    Author

    David Bennett

    David Bennett is from Sydney, Australia and is pursuing a DPhil (PhD) in theology at the University of Oxford. A founding member of the Church of England’s Archbishops’ college of evangelists, he holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Oxford and a master’s degree in theology from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.  

    Read more from David Bennett

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    Reviews for A Magnificent Disaster

    3.5/5

    11 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Interesting new perspective on the Market Garden battle.
    • 4/5
      Interesting new perspective on the Market Garden battle.
    • 2/5
      So many small errors in this book, I gave up after reading 1/3rd.
    • 4/5
      Even with the best of plans, things sometimes go wrong. Witness this! Hundreds of young meant killed in hopes of victory. Fascinating slice (albeit small ) of how wars are won and lost.
    • 2/5
      A Magnificent Disasterby David Bennett"No body of men could have fought more courageously and tenaciously than the officers and men of the 1st Parachute Brigade at Arnhem Bridge." Maj.Gen John D. Frost CB., DSO., MC"The British 1st Airborne Division (that) landed in Arnhem was an elite unit. It's performance, especially at the road bridge was, in the last analysis, acknowledged as really heroic." Waffen-SS-Standartenfuher Walther HarzerThose are the words of two senior military men from opposing sides who were there. David Bennett was neither there or a military man, but in this first attempt at authorship, he goes to great length to rubbish those who were.'A Magnificent Disaster' refers to operation Market Garden, which was an attempt by the Allies to secure a crossings of the Rhine and then head for the Ruhr, thereby shortening the second world war. It did not work - it almost did, but in war, almost doesn't cut it. Bennett's work explains in the greatest of detail why it was ill advised to attempt it, and why it went wrong. It will be to our eternal regret that Mr. Bennett was not there to give the general's the benefit of his sage advice.It failed: that is a fact. But there were a number of very experienced people who thought it was worth a try; Churchill and Eisenhower among them. Even Carl von Clausewitz said "If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles." But then von Clausewitz did not have the benefit of Mr. Bennett's advice either. In 260 pages we are reminded of every little thing that went wrong. The opinions of disgruntled officers like Gen Hackett, and Gen Sosabowski are given excessive weight. Hackett has always been unhappy that he was not given more prominence in the multiplicity of books that have been written about Mkt-Gdn. Gen.Sosabowski always had his oar in the water, and negative to everything. He left the army in disgrace and was a failure in everything he did in civilian life. It is small wonder that his opinion enjoyed little respect among allied generals.Notwithstanding the above, this book fails because Bennett could not hide his animosity for the British. I don't know if they kept him in after school when he was educated in England, but he really hates the Brits. Every good thing they did was bad, and every bad thing was worse. Fortunately everyone else was great. They did not "...retreat in disorder.' (p112), or shoot their friends (p113), and their hastiness of retreat wasn't "...perilous and unprofessional." (113). If that was not bad enough, "...the fact remains that the German's outfought the British." (p193), and "...the British Army was incapable of carrying out the Arnhem operation". (p194).If all that is true, I wonder why Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich said, "In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." And he knew a thing or two about fighting as he fought in both WWI and WWII. Dare I say perhaps a little more than Mr. 'Labor Leader' Bennett?On a technical note it is difficult to follow the action without maps. I do not know what the publisher was thinking to release a book about a military operation without maps. If you are an Anglophobe, and enjoy reading about how dreadful the British Army was in WWII, then you will enjoy this volume. If, on the other hand you really want to learn about a battalion that fought with the utmost gallantry, in inconceivably difficult conditions, and denied the use of a vital Bridge to the enemy for 80 hours, then find another author. 643 words

      1 person found this helpful