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

J.L. Granatstein is a history professor at York University and author of
War and Peacekeeping and For Better or For Worse.

Market Garden, the Allied operation to seize the bridges over the River Rhine in September 1944, turned into a disaster. The British and American paratroops performed very well on the whole, but the British corps sent to link up with them was slow-moving and ponderous. The losses were terrible for relatively little gain, and the Germans, who had seemed to be beaten in the West, hung on until the next spring.

Bennett, a long-time Canadian public servant, has done good research in British, Polish, and Canadian archives but not, curiously enough, in the American ones. His book is detailed and rather technical, but what makes it interesting are his blunt judgments. Bernard Montgomery comes off badly as does Brian Horrocks, “Boy” Browning, and the British Army in general. The Americans do better, the U.S. 82nd and 101st Divisions being praised to the skies, justly enough, and General James Gavin in particular.

Bennett also pays particular attention to the role of the Polish airborne brigade and the wholly unworthy British attempt to paint it and its commander as fall guys for the debacle. He also gives full credit to the Royal Canadian Engineers who played a major role in evacuating British survivors from Arnhem.