did the British get defeated at Arnhem or was the whole operation a success but it failed at the British front?

Question

after watching the bridge too far it was a bit historically biased

Answer 1

Eisenhoweer Bradley and Monty calimed it an 80 % sucess it was a Bridge to Far as the Movie shows



but the Capture of the Nijmegen Bridge allowed us to Invade the Ruhr Valley

over the Merrs River and the smaller Bridges further south



Once the Bridge at Ramargen had fallen into the River there were No Bridges along the Danube Main and the Rhine we needed bridges



as a Result of the capture of the Nijmegen Bridge and the capture of the Port at Antwerp the allies Built up a stock pile of Fuel food and Equipment for the Big Push into Germany



the supply Run from Normandy was costing to much time



Built a 6 lane Highway from the Coast to Brussels and a Giant Airport in Holland and Belgium



I was posted to Germany after WW2 and My friend was Posted to RAF Indhoven the Longest Runway in europe all to get supplies to Holland and to be Driven across the Nijmegen Bridge



when you look at the Strategic location of these Bridges and realize without them we had No was across without Building Our own



Arnhem was a victory for the Germans albeit tempered by their losses further south and a major defeat for the British army.



The Allies withdrew from the southern bank of the Rhine and the front stabilised on "the island" between the Rhine and Waal rivers. Although the Germans counterattacked in October they were repulsed and subsequently the front line in the Netherlands would not move until after the winter. However, the bridgeheads across the Maas and Waal served as an important base for subsequent operations against the Germans on the Rhine and the strike into Germany.



It would have been easier with that Bridge But there it was a disaster with the Loss of 1,485 Killed and 6,525 captured



the Battle of the Bulge Proved that the Operation did Succeed when the Germans main aim was to split the allies cut off the Supplies and take Antwerp



Note what we did Not Know was there was Panzers In the Forest at Arnhem Bridge



when I was In Germany stationed at a place Called Weeze I got My Dutch friend to show me



where we were and where the Germans were even if Our Tanks had Moved towards Arnhem they would not have been able to do anything



By 21 September, the fifth day of the battle, German forces outnumbered the British by 3:1 and continued to increase with Tanks



In fact, SHAEF Eisenhower's HQ was aware that there were at least two Panzer divisions at Arnhem but with the operation looming chose to ignore them. Such information would have been gleaned from Ultra intercepts that the Allied Airborne Army was not privy to and therefore could not act upon themselves



so this blaming the wrong people for the Lack of Information to the People On the Ground was Eisenhower's Fault but we did Get the Main Bridge

Answer 2

The British were defeated because the Germans had captured and tortured a Dutch resistence fighter who knew many of the details.



Hence the Germans were lying in wait, and able to fortify the areas where the British landed, all this happened within 72 hours of the start of Market Garden.



Obviously even without this the whole thing could have failed, however it amazes me how many books on the operation do not mention this point, and put the whole failure down to bad planning?

Answer 3

It was too ambitious as the name Suggests it as A Bridge too Far.



After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river – where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles or XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, nor by the RAF's resupply flights. After nine days of fighting, the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn in Operation Berlin.



You can read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arnhem



H-man

Answer 4

The entire operation was a failure. Many lay this squarely at Montgomery's feet but things are never as easy as that... everything went wrong including the weather.

When the weather turned bad that ruled out aerial ground support and reinforcement and resupply from the air. The radio sets were not set properly and did work awesome in the desert but not so much in cities. Etc.



And yes the movie was biased, many make Montgomery etal to look like incompetents and bunglers.

Hardly.

Answer 5

It failed for many reasons. It was to ambitious, paratroops are far to few to accomplish much without firepower. Radio crystals were different, rendering them useless. Weather was bad causing many parachute drops far off the landing zone, this depleted further the forces needed to reach objectives.

German forces in the vicinity were well equipped to handle paratroops.

Answer 6

The entire operation was a failure.