When I was a young boy I can remember a movie coming
out entitled A Bridge Too Far. It had many big name
actors in it-none of whom I knew of-and it was set in
Europe during the Second World War. I didn’t’ know the
significance of the battle that it was portraying at
the time. I was young and only knew that it was a war
movie. So I wanted to see it and experience all the
noise, explosions and glory that went along with
battle-the glory thought of by a 7 year old. I’ve
watched that movie a few times since I’ve reached
adulthood. It has a much different meaning to me now
than it did some 30 years ago. I’ve lived through a
few less than fun events in my own life. Things that
many people go through-car accidents, being sick and
hospitalized and seeing family or friends die-these
events make what all the men and women who suffered
and fought for during the Second World War mean much
more to me.
I had the chance to view part of a PBS
documentary-currently being broadcast- that presented
the overall plans and effects of operation Market
Garden. This is the battle that was presented in the
movie A Bridge Too Far. The documentary was less
entertaining to watch, but presented much the same
information as the three hour movie. The Allied forces
wanted to capture six bridges on the north western
coast of Europe-in Belgium and the Netherlands. The
idea was to drop thousands of troops behind enemy
lines to take and secure the bridges. Then the ground
forces would come through the front line and support
and secure the troops that took the bridges.
In theory it sounds great even now. A problem was that
the Allied forces didn’t expect the Germans to offer
any resistance. They apparently didn’t listen to their
own underground reports from Belgium/Netherlands about
the strength of the German forces that were in the
towns that they were about to attack. It made for a
difficult operation as it took much longer for the
ground forces to reach the bridges-if they reached
them at all.
The over all thought was to gain control of the
territory north of the German’s defensive wall that
was built on the German border but stopped in the far
north-near Arnhem, Netherlands. Then the Allies could
turn east into Germany and take Berlin and stop the
war by Christmas of 1944. The battle was not 100%
successful and as most of us are aware the war lasted
until the following summer in Europe.
Operation Market Garden
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5222.htm
PBS documentary-The War
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0075784/
Political map of the Netherlands
http://www.sitesatlas.com/Maps/Maps/510.htm
Monday, November 05, 2007
