A Bridge Too Far.

That wouldn't be Mr. Burriss by any chance, D?. Wild shot in the dark and all that...

 

It had been anticipated that XXX Corps would reach Arnhem in two to three days, however as dusk fell on Wednesday 20th September, the 1st Airborne Division could detect no signs of their approach to the south. The ground forces had been having problems of their own. There was only a single road leading to Arnhem, and XXX Corps was faced with the logistical nightmare of passing twenty thousand vehicles along its narrow, sixty-four mile length in just three days. Even with minimal opposition, frequent blockages and delays were expected. To make matters worse the road was only wide enough, at best, to allow two vehicles to drive side by side, and the terrain from top to bottom was ideal for rearguard and delaying actions by even a small enemy force.
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/depth_xxxcorps1.htm

 

Splendid reading everyone and I'm not finished yet! Much appreciated and I thank you all for the information. My American Army Intelligence son is very much interested in my Father's history with the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. A great legacy and heritage for him. He is stationed in Virginia and will be getting my Dad's war medals next time I see him. My oldest son is leaving the navy (submarines) at the end of this year, Chief Petty Officer, 24 years served. I wish my Dad had lived to see the military tradition carried on.

My sister-in-law, who lives in England, and I went to Normandy in early January of 2013. We were at the Arnhem Bridge and visited the Arnhem Cemetery. Also visited the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Bayeux and Overloon Commonwealth Cemeteries. There are still remnants of the Mulberry Harbours off the Omaha Beach. The Liberty Park Museum at Overloon in Holland is a must see for all those who like to look at military equipment. Before I forget, for a really good book, try reading "the forgotten battle, Overloon and the Maas Salient 1944-45."

I just wish we had thought about the Pegasus Bridge when we were over there.

 

"Between 16-21 September 1944 the Guards Armored Division lost 130 men all ranks."

This is the only reference I can find to casualties for the period but it seems to be a very low figure. Can anyone confirm the Market Garden losses for the Guards or XXX Corps.?

 

Any one remember that other classic Bridge Film....... no not the One on the River Kwai...... This One.....................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t20U0ZYO3B8

 

I am not sure which US veteran you are referring to, but Sir John Hackett revisited Nijmegen years later and he was still furious over what he regarded as Guards' Amoured's pusillanimity in failing to push on immediately after the Nijmegen bridge was taken. So, criticism of Guards Armoured (whether fair or unfair) was not confined to the US 82nd. I, for one, am less critical. The airborne of both nations seem to have known little of armored warfare and to have had little conception of the real nature of the obstacles facing the Guards.

 

Assuming that you are referring to Capt. T Moffatt Burriss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oIlDTExMLo

 

Transcript Burriss:
...
and went on and captured the north end of the bridge, four British tanks came across.
The lead tank was knocked out and the other three backed up to the bridge.
And I went up to the commander of that task force which was Captain Carrington.
And said "Why are you stopping".
And he said "I can't get up there, that gun will knock out the rest of my tanks".
...

Remarks:
1) By the time Burriss was at the northern end of the bridge, three British tanks were already at the railway underpass and had contacted US troops
2) The lead tank was not knocked out
3) The other three tanks did not back up to the bridge

In all the American after action reports, I could not find any reference to a gun holding up the advance. And Carrington (who was at the concrete chekpoint, not at the underpass) had 8 M10 tank destroyers with him, that evening.

Sergeant C.W. Pacey, 1951:
"Sergeant Robinson, acting troop leader, for we had no officer, was in the leading tank, followed by myself and then came two other tanks. Sergeant Robinson led the way until we reached the superstructure. We then came under fire from anti tank guns. The troop drew back to avoid this fire during which time I was able to locate the position of an anti tank gun on the far bank. I immediately took up a "hull down" position with my tank and opened fire on the gun. A few seconds later I saw small figures racing away from the anti tank gun so I assumed our fire to be accurate. I realised that in the failing light it was now the most opportune moment to rush the bridge. Just then my squadron leader called on the No. 19 set and I saw Sergeant Robinson was having trouble with his radio. I shouted to Sergeant Robinson that we had been ordered to cross the bridge at any cost and while he was changing tanks with another sergeant [Billingham] I took the lead across the bridge. The Americans had been machine gunning the bridge and as I approached the superstructure I saw German soldiers hiding behind the girders and came under small arms fire. We had a machine gun in the front operated by the co-driver and another machine gun mounted co-axially with our 75 mm gun. We fired with these two machine guns and my wireless operator opened his observation post and fired with his revolver. I took up my Sten gun and fired from my turret at Germans high in the girders. By this time Sergeant Robinson had changed tanks and was coming up behind me firing as he came with the other two tanks [Sergeants Knight and Billingham] bringing up the rear. I then saw the tubing (or piping) and made a detour to avoid it. We reached the road block [concrete check point] on the far side of the road and I came under fire from a hidden self propelled gun.

I decided to withdraw behind the road block until I could locate this gun and as I pulled back Sergeant Robinson passed me. The self propelled gun fired again and we saw it further along the road. Simultaneously three of our tanks fired at it and the gun was knocked out. Sergeant Robinson now kept the lead and we advanced towards the railway bridge firing at the houses as we went. There was small arms fire from the houses and at one point we were struck a glancing blow from a bazooka. The other two tanks in my troop were both fired by the enemy but Sergeant Robinson and I were lucky enough to reach the railway bridge where we linked up with the American paratroops. Later we were joined by another of our tanks whose driver [actually the tank commander, Sergeant Knight, who pretended to be dead] had managed to put out the fire on the back of his engine. The remainder of his crew and the crew of the fourth tank were taken prisoner."

Burriss' testimony made history.

 

Quite correct, Robert Redford Played Major Julian Cook of the 3rd Battalion the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504th PIR). (82nd Airborne)
On 17 September 1944 at 1231 hours, pathfinders of the 504th landed on the drop zone, followed thirty minutes later by the rest of the regiment and C Company, 307th Engineer Battalion, to become the first Allied troops to land in the Netherlands as part of Market Garden. Cook was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his and his units crossing of the Waal river under fire as potrayed in the film.

 

That may be but there is no denying there is an underlying current in many films that takes the form of 'here is how we pulled the Brits out of the mess they got themselves into' in many WW2 films. The casual throw-away put-down is de rigueur (SPR-Monty is overated)and it seem to resonate with the 'folks back home'.

 

I've loved watching this film over the years (and I've a relative who's a para that participated in the drops that were filmed!!!)

And it seems a lot of us have. It's a kind of pop-corn war film - with some of the world's greatest ever actors (most of these Brits! ha! ha!) - and not a documentary as such though.

I've never really felt that the film was anti-British as such but all of the German characters at least (and some of the American's) seemed to be The Dutch seemed quite pro-British overall - which was rather nice of them - because meanwhile their countryside and houses were getting a little bit wrecked. and all the while the posh British officers were apologising and almost offering to dust :P

From memory a few of the Brits had a few words to say about the American's too - this was partly because the Americans were more successful at getting British girlfriends than we thought they ought Something about nylons and chocolate and looking smart and well/better fed as I recall . It was all much of the same and par for the course at the time and indeed added in large part to the "sense of place" in the film after-all.

"the film was shunned by American critics and completely ignored at Oscar time for daring to expose the fatal inadequacies of the Allied campaign."

Tarantino has since decided killing Hitler "in Paris" !!! makes sense and really gone the whole hog in the opposite way (loved it) - a little bit anti-British too though. A little bit anti-everyone really, (except for the pair that ran the cinema - rightly) but that seemed okay as it was a filmic pulp-style the director had set out to produce.

Brits are often the bad guys in movies these days, our actors are rather good at their jobs and instead of over-reacting and flipping out we unlike many people calmly reach for a green bio, have a nice cup of calming tea and write a very long letter of complaint

Money talks, we Brits need to make some successful big money films (and I mean finance not just film Hollywood productions for big subsidies here). If those films made money and put bums on seats we'd have more of a "say" in what got made. A lot of the films of the future will be Indian and Chinese and the way they treat the British in them might seem to us a little bit harsher even compared. If such films didn't make money they wouldn't do it so it ought at least in theory to make sense.

"Zulu's" a great war-film and from memory a lot of that plays around the Welsh soldiers from my once Brecon home making fun of the English and English officers, and in essence it comes very soon after one of Britain's worst ever defeats. We can take it though 'cause we're Brits and built for it after-all, stiff upper lip and all that (though god knows what the heck that means, doesn't make a jot of sense.)

Names can't hurt you, John Wayne was called Marion after all and he got by...

Rm.

 

Two dimensional viewpoints is an excellent phrase I think...............it seems that someone seems always has to be portrayed as the Goodie and someone as the baddie and occasionally someone else as being responsible for what went wrong....Just returned from the Piccies.....went to watch the The Water Diviner, about Gallipoli......overall a very enjoyable and well made film......BUT the Greeks came out at the end looking like the bad guy's...................

 

hi,
I seem to remember Geneal Horrocks frounted a documentary programme on different battles of the 2nd WW, it was a must and no one could speak in our house while dad watched it.
Also I was at a kicking off ceremony at Lichfield for the Staffs regt. doing a run to Arnhem 2014, and the regimental bulldog with its handler were there, and the handler mentioned to Major R.Cain's daughter, and ourselves that if the end scene where German troop's were crossing that small bridge had run abit longer, you would have seen the SS shooting the doctor. I don't know if it was true, but he seemed positive about it.

The best scene for me was where General Horrocks was driving along the line of tanks
and said to one of the tank commanders whose tank had "Berlin or Bust" chalked on it " I'm glad someone know's where we are going".

regards,
dave...

 

Are we sure the doctor(Laurence Olivier) was real person? I say this as the woman whose house was used as a make shift hospital and who left with the doctor at the end of the film is Kate ter Horst who is known as the Angel of Arnhem, I believe she wrote a book after the war of her experiences and surely if the SS had shot the doctor it would be widely known as she would have witnessed it.