Beevor's Arnhem

[z1812]

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/04/22/sir_antony_beevors_the_battle_of_arnhem_115222.html

[danfrodo]

I read that, and all of his other books.  He was scathing in his criticism of Monty in this one, saying Monty only did this to get all the resources back under his control.  Arnhem could've worked I suppose -- if they had another two or three weeks of planning instead of basically one week.  but they didn't have that time, so it ended up just not being well enough prepared or thought out.  Some say it couldn't have worked, others say it could have, but it was a plan where everything had to go right in a lot of different places -- the very definition of a risky plan.  Demolition of Arnhem or Nijmegan bridges, for example, would've doomed the whole operation in an instant.   Though certainly a damn fun one for us history buffs & wargamers!

 Just read James Holland's Normandy.  Waste of time unless you are new to the subject, I learned nothing new from it.   But Holland is more forgiving of Monty, at least in Normandy.