British Battalions TRAPPED in Market Garden's Deadliest Battle | With Al Murray & James Holland

World War II historians Al Murray and James Murray are in Arnhem walking in the footsteps of the British parachute battalions whose brave but badly coordinated attempt to reach John Frost at the Rhine bridge (the infamous “Bridge too Far”) ended in devastating failure in September 1944 as part of the ill-fated Operation Market Garden. ✅SUBSCRIBE / @ww2walkingtheground "James and Al discuss how the Germans managed to reinforce their positions in Arnhem so rapidly and why a “bottleneck” of converging roads on the edge of the town created an insoluble problem for the British troops -- a bad situation made worse by the disappearance of their general at the height of the battle.
#almurray #ww2walkingtheground #jamesholland #arnhem #operationmarketgarden #battleofarnhem #johnfrost #abridgetoofar #ww2

[@devonbikefilms]

I love this format of two informed mates discussing this key battle in history. Excellent.

[@brettcurtis5710]

James and Al have nailed this series - look forward to more Walking The Ground at other major battlefields! Oh, and a nudge to the US History Underground Chap, another outstanding from the foxhole series!!

[@saardewolf]

You’re walking through my street!!! Alexanderstraat in Arnhem 😊

[@Jeroen_K]

I live in Renkum and it's quite fun to get a WWII history tour through our area this way!

[@saardewolf]

@@Jeroen_K ja bijzonder om te zien!

[@crazy1230000]

Anything that involves james and al is always going to be great to watch and learn from.

[@grahamhill2267]

This is an excellent series. The Operation/battle is far more complex than the film A Bridge Too Far would have us believe! Mind blowing!

[@ronswanson8155]

For me these videos are the most informative way of learning about a battle. The WHW pod, readable and listenable books are great, but walking the ground like this brings it to life so much more.

[@D0csavage1]

These uploads of Market Garden, has me wanting to dig out the Microsoft Close Combat A Bridge Too Far game!.👍

[@gandalfthegay420]

That was a brilliant game!

[@Antmann71]

Oh memories

[@TheKogafan]

By far the clearest explanation of what went wrong with the attack into Arnhem. When you see how narrow the bottleneck is you realise getting even a company sized force through would be next to impossible. Imagine a whole brigade with support troops trying to get through? Is it any wonder that the best part of 4 battalions were wiped out. Initially I thought the criticism of brigadier Hicks was unfair, but continuing to feed battalions into the “meat grinder” when it was obvious the route to the bridge blocked solid, was unforgivable.

[@davidmitchell471]

A really straightforward look at how desperate and confused the situation at the bottleneck was. It became a concentrated killing ground decimating 4 battalions. Al’s description of these events in “Black Tuesday” is harrowing. Keep it up lads.

[@daviduprcihard718]

Best video yet. Just finished Al's book and the bottle neck issue has become really clear. Looking forward to the next one

[@michaelbaker2552]

I'm really enjoying this series. It seems to me that only if the 30th Corps had reached Arnhem on D+2, as was the plan, the Allies would have had a chance to win. I'm with Al Murray on this, protecting a drop zone in the opposite direction from Arnhem was a mistake. If, on D-Day, everyone had raced for and secured their objectives with alacrity, there might have been a chance. Part of 1st Airborne did reach Arnhem and the entire division certainly could have done the same thing. The Allies wasted time and thereby lost the battle.

[@wills681]

Yep, literally everything depended on surprise and avoiding delay. Ruthless Teutonic logistic capability being another significant factor.

[@paddy864]

30 Corps WOULD have reached Arnhem on D+2 (19th Sept) in good time but for the failure of Jim Gavin to have his division (82nd Airborne) seize the Nijmegen road-bridge as soon as he landed, when it was virtually unguarded. Instead, he delayed for seven hours until late on the evening of 17th Sept. by which time it had been heavily reinforced and could not be taken. The spearhead of 30 Corps, the Guards Armoured Division, arrived at Nijmegen on time on the morning of 19th Sept. to find it still in German hands. They then spent the rest of that day assisting the 82nd in beating off continual attacks from increasing number of enemy troops in the town and in eventually forcing a crossing using pontoon boats from the Guard's engineer regiment. this was achieved late on the evening of that day (19th) by which time the Guards were scattered in small detachments all over Nijmegen and intermingled with the paratroops of the 82nd. All that could be assembled to cross the bridge were five tanks from the Grenadier Guards armoured battalion which were sent across to link up with the small force of airborne men on the other bank and assist them in protecting the bridgehead against counter-attack. This whole episode is covered in detail in another episode of this series, well worth watching!

[@kevinhendon]

Unbelievable knowledge you both have, I just can't get enough of these. Thank you Gentlemen 🤜🤜🤜🤜

[@eldesso]

Keep them coming lads, you can tell this is a real passion project. Great stuff.

[@LFC4LIFEJEDI]

A huge thanks for making this series. Reading accounts is one thing, to actually be able to see where the battles were, the terrain they had to deal with etc really brings a new depth of understanding.

[@mikkoveijalainen7430]

I just love these on site battlefield tours of yours. Very well made and you guys present the history to us so clearly.

[@pinchus34]

This is essentially the best alternative to actually walking the ground. Simply amazing.

[@spencersanderson1894]

A bit off topic but those little gardens in front of the houses bring so much life and colour to the area, should take a leaf out their book here in English cities and towns! Great episode btw, I have been loving this series, it gives us the best views and I feel like I’m there with you most of the time, fantastic! Keep it up!

[@peterholmesgavleman]

I love your attempts to pronounce the Dutch & German place names, the German unit names & the German ranks & officer’s names. However, it’s great that you have the details on hand in your notebook! Keep up the good work.

[@NigelDeForrest-Pearce-cv6ek]

Brilliant Episode!!!

[@juliangreenwood528]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. I now have to delve into my Christmas presents - Arnhem Black Tuesday and Normandy '44, D Day and the Battle for France by these 2 chaps. I look forward to their next outing.

[@petesexton8068]

Loved every minute of this Explanation of every move from both sides perfect Well done lads

[@Top_Rivers]

Amazing, lads. Thank you.

[@WW2WalkingTheGround]

Our pleasure! Thank you for watching

[@peterbrown1208]

Wow. This was great! Too short by half but, it has cleared up alot of the confusion I had about why this failed so badly. Paul Woodage did a live stream from here a few months ago, but I couldn't get a feel for topography and direction. Now I can visualize it much better. Don't you wish cameras could give you a better feel for distance, though? Very nicely done professors. I could listen to you guys all day.

[@bradyelich2745]

In the 1990's, I caught an interview on Canada AM with 3 Canadian vets from Arnhem. They were trapped in the top story of a house. They fired their Lee Enfields so much, the guns got so hot they had to kick the bolts open. Lee Enfield actions are butter smooth.

[@Arjen_1979]

Great reconnaissance again. Got your both books (Black Tuesday and Casino 44) from Dutch Santa, eager to start reading, also as former Arnhem inhabitant. Keep up the good pods and walking the grounds!

[@jamielm8561]

Class as ever chaps ✌️ keep them coming

[@StuBinns-g6r]

James - can you please let Al complete a sentence. This is Al's area of expertise and it would be nice to have him in full flow. He let you have the lead in Normandy so....

[@paulzweers784]

Stug Brigade 280. On 17 September the brigade was loaded onto two trains in Varde, for transport to Aachen. However, when the trains were near Hamburg that night, the order was given to change the route to Bocholt: intervention was necessary because of the Allied airborne landings at Arnhem. On 19 September a battery with 7x StuG III and 3x StuH42 arrived there and intervened successfully in the following week, in the fighting against the paratroopers of the British 1st Airborne Division. Arnhem was done, Brits could not get to the bridge via Utrechtseweg and Onderlangs. Rest is history.

[@militaryhistorygeek2273]

Great video as always.

[@timselbie3419]

Excellent as always.

[@donkeykong7777]

Al, don't become the last casualty by standing in the cycle lane, those Dutch bikers don't take any prisoners 😁

[@mikeainsworth4504]

I rode down that cycle path a couple of months ago. We rode from 1 Parachute Brigade’s Headquarters in Syston Lincolnshire to their DZ and LZ then onto the bridge to roughly the location of the Brigade Headquarters near the bridge over three days.

[@callumgordon1668]

Absolutely brilliantly described.

[@philipshaw5715]

Great vids from the both of you.

[@dolgorwel]

Damn that's an amazing cliff hanger. You guys are learning as you walk. You'll be Hollywood directors by the time you finish back at the Hartenstein. Amazing work. Will you be doing the basement of the museum with the walk through the battle. It's an amazing experience.

[@seanbradley2134]

Fantastic recounting of the battle gents, really enjoyed it as usual. Can’t wait for the explanation of why two members of the top brass exposed themselves to such serious danger of capture by hiding in an attic. Were we cursed with incompetent leadership on reflection? Can’t decide whether the command vacuum was a blessing or a curse

[@simonjohnson1585]

Thank yo Al and James for keeping me hooked on this amazing series. Really informative and horribly real! Sat on edge of seat waiting for the next upload. Hope you all have a great Christmas and very merry new year, all the best from Somerset 💯✨🍺🍺👍🏻

[@garrybrough72]

Another brilliant and informative film, Thanks guys.!

[@Norrie-jj2ve]

Amazing video guys, explained simply by experts...for folks like me...Love it...:)

[@nickcummins3084]

Watching these vids and simultaneously listening to Black Tuesday, it all makes so much more sense. Thanks for doing these

[@Timmettie]

Not sure of the veracity of this anecdote, but remembered it when telefonists got brought up. During all the communication problems for the Paratroopers, the Dutch telephone system was still running and people could just call by phone from Arnhem to liberated Eindhoven.

[@davemac1197]

There are a number of such stories - the bridging requirements at Son were communicated by civilian telephone line between Aalst and Son thanks to an unsupervised Dutch switchboard operator making a call on her own initiative established the link. A message from Arnhem was passed to a telephone in the 505th's area at Groesbeek that let Corps HQ know things were not going well at Arnhem. And for months after the battle the Germans still had not discovered the internal phone system used by the PGEM power company, an advanced system using the transmission lines. Most incredibly, the German Sicherheits Dienst or SD (the SS security service) occupied a building in Arnhem on the main Utrechsstraat that contained the switch gear for the internal telephone system. The resistance, who had members working for PGEM, were allowed access to the building for routine mainentnance of 'essential equipment' and were making phone calls to other cells literally under the SD's noses.

[@allanburt5250]

Simply fantastic guys

[@cameronsimpson-ld8nk]

Hey Al, I just picked up your latest book at the Book Cow in Canberra, Australia. Absolutely loving it.

[@WilliamBos]

Great to follow along on Street View.

[@MMGMM-q4r]

I had exactly the same sense of things as Al when I first visited the bottleneck 30 years ago.

[@DaveClark-m5k]

Great series... fascinating insight into a fascinating battle. Love Al's book... lots of surprises in there. (Had no idea Geoffrey Powell of 156 Para did not in fact escape as written in his own book)

[@PaulDouglasDouglas97]

Really enjoyed the video mate can't wait for the next one hope you have lovely Christmas mate

[@hamsteronthepaintingtable6465]

Another great episode, the brickworks were deadly

[@dankorolyk5917]

Great job as always guys,fantastic perspective.

[@simonclark9367]

Having watched these videos I know completely understand why James has made such a thing of the importance of walking the ground. Everything makes so much sense as to why things happened as they did

[@MrSpamba]

4:19 Alarmeinheiten: Alarm units. The term alarm unit was used in several contexts. The most common were ad hoc units assembled by rear area support units and training units to respond to local emergencies such as airborne landings, amphibious assaults, local uprisings, and partisan activities.

[@albertperks3476]

I grew up in the 70s and 80s living on the Dutch/German border so some familiarity of the area. My grandfather set up a field hospital in the that area and at that time - I don't know where (I need to find out). Sterling work chaps!

[@johnlladron735]

Thanks for another brilliant video, really comes to life and allows us to see what was going on. It also reminds me to visit Arnhem town hall with a road paint contractor because those roads are covered in the stuff and will need touching up soon.

[@mikekitterhing1618]

Terrific stuff lads! Don’t think I’ve ever heard the battle described so clearly. Like you, every time I hear or read about it I hope the Brits win this time (btw, has Janes had a couple of cold drinks? He seems to be channeling the Pub Landlord)

[@rolandkremer1903]

I'm hooked to this serie! ❤

[@A.J.K87]

What's funny is that the two roads that fork after the bottleneck are literally called ''onderlangs'' and ''bovenlangs'', which roughly translate to ''along below'' and ''along above''.

[@RobJones262]

Just Brilliant! Thank you Guys ;)

[@adamedwards1937]

Brilliant explanation. Walked this ground last year and this helps illustrate things further. I had a thought on your next project - a campaign even more forgotten than Slim in Burma - the Cyclades campaigns 1943-45. I suspect forgotten due to the catalogue of fuck ups and losses in the British, commonwealth, Greek and Italian forces involved.

[@brendanthornton1634]

Brilliant stuff

[@Thombie123]

Great series gents

[@TimVS1]

Mind that bike! Brilliant as ever guys

[@Brian_is_unconnected]

love this so much thanks gents

[@JimmiesChoices]

Excellent

[@Pseudonym-aka-alias]

Excellent!👍💪

[@lenny0170]

I was lucky enough to have met a lady called Ann Buchanan (nee Shackleton, a relative of Ernest) who was related to Alan Buchanan, a chaplin with the Sth Staffs. She had talked with him over the years of the carnage that the boys mentioned in Arnhem and then his time prison camp XIB along with many of the others. Apparently he got pretty friendly with an officer (possibly commandant?) at the camp so that when the liberation of the camp came, that individual surrendered to Alan and gave him his Luger pistol. At some stage (possibly near the end of his life) Alan gave this pistol to Ann before she was heading to Ireland (by ferry). On arriving into Dun Laoghaire harbour she said she panicked (for obvious reasons carrying a hand-gun!!) and threw it overboard into the sea!!

[@adrianbay1496]

Marvellous as usual . :)

[@ledwin5595]

Love that James is using a note pad, not a bloody phone 😍

[@lauriepocock3066]

Seen the film, read the books, but it was always too confusing for me to understand. Your simple chat gives me a far better idea of the horrific situation these poor chaps found themselves in.

[@lfcloyal8284]

Great video lads what's the heaviest weapons the Parachute Regiment had....PIAT's ?did no armour arrive 😢

[@davemac1197]

Heaviest weapons the Parachute Battalions (approx. 600 men) had, based on the 28 February 1944 war establishment: 30 x Bren .303 LMG (+9 in pool reserve) 10 x PIAT (+9 in pool reserve) most in the Battalion 'Assault Platoon' aka Anti-Tank Platoon 8 x 3-inch mortar (organised into 2 Mortar Platoons - some Battalions took 3 tubes plus more ammo) 4 x Vickers .303 MMG (as alternative to 4 mortar tubes in 2nd Mortar Platoon - some took only 3 guns) 28 x 2-inch mortar (airborne) 300 Sten guns were available as a pool for 'raiding' operations, but most men armed with .303 Rifles No.4 Mk 1, 35 of which were equipped with sniper scopes on a scale of 1 per Rifle Section (9 per Rifle Company) plus 8 in the HQ Company Intelligence Section, which was also a reconnaissance section. Each Parachute and Airlanding Battalion had 2 Universal Carriers (carried in one Hamilcar glider) allocated for carrying ammunition resupply - the only armoured vehicles taken to Arnhem - 18 in total for the 9 Battalions. 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron CO Freddie Gough asked for a Troop of Tetrarch light tanks as used by 6th Airborne Reconnaissance in Normandy, but was refused. He then asked for .50 cal MGs on the Jeeps, then twin Vickers .303 'K' guns, both refused on ammunition grounds and had to settle for a single Vickers 'K' gun per Jeep. He compensated by issuing a Bren gun to each Jeep, bringing each Section of 10 men in two Jeeps up to 2 x Vickers and 2 x Brens - four times the firepower of a normal Parachute Platoon Rifle Section. Squadron also has a Support Troop with 2 x 3-inch Mortars and 2 x 20mm Polsten Cannon (Polish development of the Swedish 20mm Oerlikon). Both Parachute Brigades were supported by an Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery (1st and 2nd): 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery supporting 1st Parachute Brigade at Arnhem: A Troop - 4 x 6-pounder anti-tank guns (supporting 1st Parachute Battalion) B Troop - 4 x 6-pounder anti-tank guns (supporting 2nd Parachute Battalion) - all 4 guns at Arnhem bridge C Troop - 4 x 6-pounder anti-tank guns (supporting 3rd Parachute Battalion) - 1 gun at Arnhem bridge D Troop - 4 x 17-pounder anti-tank guns (supporting 1st Parachute Brigade) - 2 guns with 1st Battalion 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery Troops supporting Division HQ: P Troop - 4 x 17-pounder anti-tank guns (2 replaced D Troop guns lost in glider accidents) Z Troop - 4 x 6-pounder anti-tank guns (arrived second lift, but Troop commander and HQ Jeep landed in first lift short of LZ at Zetten on 'the island' and crossed Nijmegen bridge unchallenged! The Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade had their own Anti-Tank Squadron with 4 Squads of 4 guns, intended to support 4 Parachute Battalions, but only 3 Battalions were raised, so for Arnhem the Squadron was re-organised into 3 Squads of 5 guns. The spare gun may have been taken with the 'seaborne tail', but I have no confirmation if this was done. The 3 Airlanding Battalions (approx. 800 men) of 1st Airlanding Brigade had their own integral Anti-Tank Platoons (2 Platoons with 4 x 6-pounder guns each) in their Support Companies. Each of the three Brigades were also supported by a Battery (8 x 75mm US M1 Pack Howitzers organised into 2 Troops) of the Light Regiment Royal Artillery. The Arnhem bridge was within range of the Light Regiment at Oosterbeek and in communication by radio with forward observers. The Polish Brigade also had a Light Artillery Battery with 8 x 75mm Pack Howitzers, but they were not taken by air. 1st Airborne and the Poles had more anti-tank guns (84) than the Germans had tanks at Arnhem (in fact Model had exactly 84 operational in his September returns for the whole of Army Group B), which is why the Germans did not overrun them with armour and switched tactics to blasting the British out of their positions with artillery instead. The Division withdrew running out of small arms and PIAT ammunition due to lack of resupply getting to them, but AT rounds for the guns were left behind including at the bridge, and some guns barely got to fire a single shot during the entire battle.

[@jrd33]

@@davemac1197 Excellent summary. 1st Airborne had a huge amount of anti-tank guns, excellent for defence but unfortunately not very useful while the division is trying to attack against German armoured vehicles.

[@davemac1197]

@@jrd33 - very good point. Unfortunate that Browning's proposed dawn glider coup de main assaults on the three big bridges at Arnhem-Nijmegen-Grave were removed by Brereton's decision to fly the MARKET flights entirely in daylight hours. If the original concept had been preserved, the heavy weapons would have been in the reinforcements from the main landing zones and not the initial strike forces. The problem was that the air commanders did not understand the requirements of the airborne troops they were delivering and compromised those requirements to the point of failure.

[@shanemenken5729]

Liked subscribed and all that jazz. Oh, and did anyone in command actually think the war would be over by Christmas, or was that just a shibboleth of the officer corps to keep away the dark thoughts.

[@ivorglenn5309]

When the Tigers of the 503rd and 506th heavy panzer battalions were sent to the area it wasn't just a case of loading them on to flatcars.they would have had to be de-tracked and refitted with transport tracks for width reasons and the whole process repeated at their destination, an amazing amount of time and effort,

[@davemac1197]

It was the s.Pz.Abt.506 from Ohrdruf and Kompanie 'Hummel' from s.Pz.Abt.500 at Paderborn. James got his notes not quite right. s.Pz.Abt.503 were in refit until 19 September and then entrained for Budapest.

[@RogerEvans-j6w]

Excellent as ever but kudos to the many Dutch cyclists who are very patient to YOU, Mr Murray, intruding on their very visible cycle path 😮

[@rorygreen7797]

question that keeps sticking in my mind is - did market garden, loss though it was, help contribute to the ultimate victory? And why?

[@Viewfromtheturret]

Love the series, but it’s so stressful worrying about one of you getting hit by a passing car or cyclist!

[@jodu626]

love this

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

Morning, Both 9th and 10th were set up as mid/late war Panzerdivisions from the start. That means they had on paper the same strength as an average Wehrmacht PD. The earlier W-SS PDs were initially motorized infantry divisions, thus they had more infantry battalions. When they were converted to PDs in 1943/44, they usually kept that "extra" infantry strength. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th were "overstrength"; 9th, 10th and 12th were normal strength on paper.

[@davemac1197]

Sorry, but that's incorrect. The 9. 'Hohenstaufen' and 10. 'Frundsberg' Divisions were both formed in February 1943 France as Panzergrenadier Divisions and trained in the anti-airborne role as a reserve to meet the expected Allied invasion. In October 1943 Hitler ordered them to be converted to 1943-Type Panzer-Divisions and the StuG Abteilung was re-organised into 7. and 8.Kompanien of the new Panzer-Regiments, the II.Abteilung Staff and 5-6.Kompanien being equipped with Panzer IV. The Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg therefore also retained the three-Abteilungen structure of the Panzergrenadier Divisions in their Panzergrenadier-Regiments, although by the time they had been deployed in Ukraine to rescue 1.Panzerarmee and then rushed back west to Normandy after the expected invasion and involved in the Caen and Falaise battles, the Divisions had been reduced to a regimental battlegroup each with only a few tanks. The Hohenstaufen received its Panthers for the I.Abteilung of SS-Panzer-Regiment 9 in Normandy and lost all but the three they retained in Arnhem kept off the official returns, having handed over all of its remaining Panzer IVs to the Frundsberg before the Hohenstaufen was due to be refitted in Germany. The Frundsberg did not receive their Panther Abteilung until January 1945 for operation NORDWIND in the Alsace, and at Vorden (30 km NE of Arnhem) they had 16 Panzer IVs concentrated in the 5.Kompanie and 4 StuG IIIGs in the 7.Kompanie. During MARKET GARDEN, Model sent 20 new Panthers to Arnhem direct from the factory and they were crewed by the Hohenstaufen's 100-man 'alarm' Kompanie of Panther crewmen that were acting as infantry in SS-Panzer-Regiment 9, then transferred to the Frundsberg to reform the 8.Kompanie of SS-Panzer-Regiment 10. The Hohenstaufen received its Panzerjäger-Abteilung with 21 Jagpanzer IV/L48 vehicles in time to help cover the Division's withdrawal through Belgium and lost all but 2 vehicles in the process. The Frundsberg recieved their Panzerjäger-Abteilung soon afterwards and it was immediately detached to 7.Armee at Aachen and took no part in MARKET GARDEN, not joining the division after the battles around Overloon, despite many references claiming the unit was in the southern area of the corridor around Valkenswaard. They were actually near Valkenburg east of Maastricht.

[@jrd33]

@@davemac1197 Very impressive level of research. I've studies the operation at length and you still know a lot more about it that I do!

[@davemac1197]

@@jrd33 - thank you - I first read Cornelius Ryan in 1977 and have been collecting more books on the operation ever since, probably most in the last 20 years or so that has seen a boom in specialist publications with very deep research on specific units, and I still have a lot of unanswered questions! I think an important new book due for release in February is Einsatz Arnhem - German Armoured Units and their Opponents at Arnhem and Oosterbeek September 1944, by Dutch expert on German armour Marcel Zwarts. He has a website called Einsatz-Arnheim (note German spelling of 'Arnheim') with some preview pages on pdf downloads. Marcel had previously published a Concord book called German Armoured Units at Arnhem in 2001, and if you find his contributions to the armour forums online you may be aware that he freely recognised that book is now very out of date and contains some errors - such is the nature of historical research, the frontier is always moving forward. So I'm looking forward to see what he has come up with. I have also been corresponding with Australian author Scott Revell (Retake Arnhem Bridge on Kampfgruppe Knaust 2010, and Arnhem: A Few Vital Hours on Krafft's SS-Pz.Gren.A.u.E.Btl.16, 2013). Making him aware of Marcel's new book, he replied that not only was he already aware of it but had contributed "a heap of information", so it should be good! Scott is currently working on a book on Flak Kampfbrigade Svoboda and we are currently exchanging notes on the Flak units in the Arnhem area - always a difficult task because the Luftwaffe did too good a job of destroying their records at the end of the war, so it's a painstaking job of reconstruction from bits and pieces where we can find them! He also plans a more general book on Flak (I guess in the Arnhem area - he's not particularly interested in Nijmegen or Eindhoven), and a book on security units at Arnhem (Sicherungs-Regiment 26, and Sicherungs-Infanterie-Bataillon 908 aka Bataillon Junghans). So there's more interesting detail to come, hopefully in the near future.

[@wardy116]

Does anyone know if James or Al plays Bolt Action or Chain of Command or anything similar? Because if not I think they would love it, and I would love to teach them and play with them!

[@MSS-g7f]

Determining, in a comprehensive study, a more objective perspective on German casualties during the engagement sounds like a challenge! Maybe a job for Bernhard Kast, better known online as Military History Visualized. Bernt, are you watching? On another matter what was the RAF and USAAF doing to support the Allied side?

[@asonofharoldgodwin]

Brilliant, but it would help if there was some kind of chronological order given to the episodes !!!

[@WW2WalkingTheGround]

We wrestled with this throughout planning and editing. The thing with Operation Market Garden, unlike say Normandy, is things are happening all at once over differing locations. So it’s clearer to follow actions rather than time.

[@BernardTheMandeville]

Hold on, I LIVE HERE, why didn’t I know that the pub landlord was in town?

[@iansinton3110]

At this point the Onderlangs and Utrectseweg become like the valley of death & charge of the light brigade

[@tobytaylor2154]

How Al got through that without close lining a cyclist is beyond me 😂

[@davidganning8699]

What a beautiful town Arnerm is today, I wonder did it suffer much during and after the battle

[@Paxal026]

yes it did suffer, the centre was completely destroyed. The rebuilding was quite ugly, but considering the timeperiod understandable. Only in recent years the centre had been redeveloped. Stil, the old parts (kwartieren, or quaters in English) are nice and we have the best city parks in the Netherlands.

[@Alfie1970Waterhouse]

Thanks gents. Am I seeing things but are all those push bikes unchained?

[@TheGixernutter]

So the truth is. Urquhart was in exactly the right place to make an appraisal and a plan to get the battalions through. He knew where to be, but just didn't get the chance to make the plan and organise the push through. So close. But I still feel that without effective comms it'd be an extremely difficult proposition at best. God bless.

[@charlespirate1]

Sounds like Urquhart had a shocker.

[@WW2WalkingTheGround]

@@charlespirate1 You’ll find out in the first episode of the new year which is ‘The Missing General’

[@grahamstrouse1165]

This is what I like about British comedians: They know stuff. They have outside interests. David Mitchell and Al Murray both published history books during the pandemic. American comics started OnlyFans accounts. And that that’s just the guys.

[@Jonathan-tz7ss]

Putting a comment just to help the algorithm MORE

[@SteveR-w1q]

Fantastic stuff, the Dutch it seems really like there Volvos

[@WW2WalkingTheGround]

@@SteveR-w1q They do! The Walking The Ground mobile for this very shoot was a rental XC90!

[@thefunksoulplumber22]

Isn't Friesland an English colony? I'm half Dutch and lived in Medemblik up north and the Friasians used to come down and when we were eating in the cabin they said they were eating a sandwich. First, a sentence which I could not make head or tail of, then "Sandwich". When I later looked into it that is where the Dambusters flew in over Friesland on their way to Germany. Have you seen WWI and WWII apocalypse? Thanks for sharing. It's funny how a small country like the Netherlands can control the globe through corporations

[@tagquasar8791]

Listening to this it doesnt look like the movie really depicts the problems the para's faced tactically

[@WW2WalkingTheGround]

In this era we'd say that Operation Market Garden would be a series of television rather than a film. The action of the British from landing to the bottleneck could be a (long) film on it's own right.

[@nickwoolmer5037]

What James is alluding to is the inherent ability of German staff work and command and control at the tactical level to align your available forces to block, separate and neutralise a threat in very short order. Unfortunately this leads us back to the question why were the Germans able to do this?...... As has been said before over confidence and no effective use of airpower to interdict. The senior COC air and land are fully to blame for this. This was largely sorted on the Rhine crossing but 6th Airbourne were a completely different animal from top to bottom.

[@Shoikan]

Ehrmmm.. I think the biggest flaw and bottleneck of the Market Garden plan lies completely outside of Arnhem. Before WWII, the dutch military academy had various scenarios that their future officers had to work through. One of those was an advance from the south towards Nijmegen and Arnhem, pretty much exactly matching Montys intentions. If the hopeful officer candidates used the road that Monty chose, it was an immediate fail. The dutch military saw that as stupid since the road was narrow and way too easy to defend, the officer candidates should take a more circuitous route instead. So, if that route had already been wargamed to death, and knowing that the German defence would be fierce (getting close to lasr stand before home soil for them), that route north was suicidally stupid and whoever came up with it (Monty) willingly chose to ignore those well known facts, as well as solid intelligence from the Dutch resistance that there was a major force R&Ring near Arnhem. Sure, there will have been problems duting the battles at Arnhem, the landing fields were not ideal (but more or less the only available options), etc. However, the forces actually landing at Arnhem managed a truly magnificent feat and took and held the bridge for far longer than they could have reasonably been expected to. The relief forces… welllll.. thank your beloved Monty for that failure…

[@colinmartin2921]

Everything hinges on the fact that everybody in the Allied camp believed that the Germans were beaten and that morale had collapsed, not just Monty but all the Allied generals, but they were wrong. Thus Mony believed that as XXX Corps drove up the Club Road, the Germans would surrender, but he was wrong. Interestingly, Horrocks in his auto-biography, details how resistance was stiffening as XXX Corps was approaching the Dutch border. To be fair though, XXX Corps DID make it to Arnhem, but too late.......

[@kallekonttinen1738]

Why there is a Finnish army flak gun crew picture at 4:40? Japanese would be better because at least they were at Axis side during Market Garden.

[@NigelDeForrest-Pearce-cv6ek]

Did 21st Army Group Have Any Functioning/Competent Military Intelligence Establishment???

[@marcel-y8c]

Where i do mybshopping and where my parents in law live - just at the junction utrechtseweg - hulkesteinseweg

[@Theredsunrising]

notice my comment got hidden, my like allied incompetence

[@johnguest1919]

James used to be the master and Al the pupil. These roles have now been reversed. Well done Al, a rank amateur military historian.

[@chrisarnold4709]

Just finished reading Charles Whitings book A Bridge at Arnhem to complement this fantastic series. The contents which include the escapes after the battle are mond numbing in their heroics and desperation but also so sad and frustrating.....if only....and Monty the architect of this and the vanity portrayed in the book by him is absolutely horrendous I feel....

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@chrisarnold4709 Monty the architect? Try Browning and Brereton for a more accurate awnser.

[@chrisarnold4709]

@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- don't disagree at all - Browning doesn't come across well in the book either, especially at the end. But easy to look at history through our lens of today - if it had of come off what would be said then? Remember Normandy had been an absolute meat grinder for the Allies as well so the desire to finish the war at that stage, however slim a chance must have seemed worth it.

[@paddy864]

If that is what you conclude from that book then the Author clearly hasn't done enough research. Nothing that went wrong in Market Garden can be laid at the feet of Monty.

[@davidjackson721]

I love watching these videos, but the wat James wears his denison drives me crazy. Do your snaps up for crying out loud.😃

[@MegaRebel100]

good show again a piece is missing .. A the first day of the jump LTZ Wolters wqs landed in Anrhem to get the restitance help the 1 Para .. But 1 para did not justed him so , the restitance men ( KP Kruyff the best of our best ) vansihed .. ( i you don,r truths us we leave you _0 do to Monty do to Thee Englandspiel so the Engelish armmy shot it self 2 time in your own foot ( engliedspiel was a set up by the xx(lcs ) comite lead by Chruchill) Then Deeln fliegerhorst is on place where you stand 8 clicks away not much .. And the Radertroops on the Veluwe had guard troops there were also send in to Arnhem .. Emmerich ( wher ei live a look at there bridge ) is at most 20 km away from Arnhem .. And again Nijmger had Wesel and a reailaoad aginst it ( after market garden ) you have a battle of the Reichswald followed by a battle of the height around Xanten after that only then the 21 army group can move to the Rine ...right ..

[@oddballsok]

put it through the Google translation back and forth first..and see if it still makes sense...

[@andrewganley9016]

One of the biggest Allied blunders of the war badly planned(in one week!) resulting in a suicide mission and a death trap for the Paras one of my Uncles fought and was captured at Arnheim

[@paddy864]

It wasn't a "blunder", or a "suicide mission" or "death trap", and it very nearly succeeded in it's entirety.. You need to watch this series in full.

[@andrewganley9016]

So how did it 'nearly succeed? it was a total failure and an utter waste of human life