The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery by Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Author:Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781844683574
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2006-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

There were many reasons why we did not gain complete success at Arnhem. The following in my view were the main ones.

First. The operation was not regarded at Supreme Headquarters as the spearhead of a major Allied movement on the northern flank designed to isolate, and finally to occupy, the Ruhr—the one objective in the West which the Germans could not afford to lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower always wanted to give priority to the northern thrust and to scale down the southern one. He ordered this to be done, and he thought that it was being done. It was not being done. We now know from Bradley’s book (A Soldier’s Story), page 412, that in the middle of September, there was parity of logistic resources between the First and Third American Armies in 12 Army Group.

Eisenhower is a thoroughly genuine person; he is the very incarnation of sincerity and he trusts others to do as he asks. But in this instance his intentions were not carried out. The following quotation from page 531 of The Struggle for Europe by Chester Wilmot is of interest:

“If he [Eisenhower] had kept Patton halted on the Meuse, and had given full logistic support to Hodges and Dempsey after the capture of Brussels, the operations in Holland could have been an overwhelming triumph, for First U.S. Army could have mounted a formidable diversion, if not a successful offensive, at Aachen, and Second British Army could have attacked sooner, on a wider front and in much greater strength.”

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