75th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • Alamo

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Oct 4, 2010
    8,090
    113
    Texas
    I just realize today is it.

    Operation Market-Garden

    AIRBORNE!
    [video=youtube;f2M-onQwmaU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2M-onQwmaU[/video]
    When I was stationed at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen in Germany, right on the border with the Netherlands, I used to go to a British history club meeting across the border in Heerlen. One night there was a British major who gave a talk on Operation Market-Garden, and he was offering a bus tour of the planned OMG invasion route, which I signed up for immediately.

    The major has apparently made the study of the history of OMG his life's work, because he knew an incredible amount of detail on it. The bus tour followed the route that the British tanks were supposed to traverse, across all those canals and bridges to Arnhem. He stopped the bus at many points along the way to explain the disposition of German and Allied forces, pointing out the drop zones, individual battles -- he even knew where some of th e individual German machinegun nests had been placed.

    He also had interviewed just about everybody alive who remembered OMG, including a lot of the Dutch villagers along the route. He told one story where he had interviewed a paratrooper who came down close to a Dutch farm house, narrowly dodging it but hitting a little shed and knocking it over. Some time after that he was interviewing a Dutch woman, who as a little girl saw the paratroopers coming down...and mentioned that one of them had knocked over her family's shed! He was able to link them up for a reunion.

    The same major later gave a talk on the Falklands invasion, and has a British officer (junior officer at the time of the invasion) who led some of the Royal Marine forces that landed on the island.
    That was a pretty good tour.
     
    Last edited:

    T.Lex

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    15   0   0
    Mar 30, 2011
    25,859
    113
    That's awesome.

    Well. The OMG part is mostly sad.

    But that experience you described would be awesome. :)
     

    spec4

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jun 19, 2010
    3,775
    27
    NWI
    The movie is one of my favorites. It seems Montgomery was a little overambitious with a lot of lives at stake. Was he a glory seeker or did he just make a bad plan and talk Ike in it?
     

    actaeon277

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Nov 20, 2011
    92,860
    113
    Merrillville
    The movie is one of my favorites. It seems Montgomery was a little overambitious with a lot of lives at stake. Was he a glory seeker or did he just make a bad plan and talk Ike in it?


    Several people just saw what they wanted to see.
    I think it's called "confirmation bias", but I could be wrong.
     

    T.Lex

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    15   0   0
    Mar 30, 2011
    25,859
    113
    Yeah, it is actually a great case study in how leadership needs to include the opinion of critics when making big decisions. No one necessarily gets a veto, but as long as there's trust that everyone is working toward success, then the people who have information "bad" for the plan can help improve it.
     

    Thor

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Jan 18, 2014
    10,704
    113
    Could be anywhere
    Monty was all about Monty, if it wasn't his plan it was a bad plan according to him. OMG are currently appropriate initials for the operation. I agree with most of the previous comments.
     

    actaeon277

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Nov 20, 2011
    92,860
    113
    Merrillville
    SS Panzer Officer: My general says there is no point in continuing this fighting! He is willing to discuss a surrender![Short pause; the German waits for an answer, Frost thinks]
    Lt. Col. John Frost: Tell him to go to hell.
    Maj. Harry Carlyle: We haven't the proper facilities to take you all prisoner! Sorry!
    SS Panzer Officer: [confused] What?
    Maj. Harry Carlyle: We'd like to, but we can't accept your surrender! Was there anything else?[German officer walks off silently]
     

    Alamo

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Oct 4, 2010
    8,090
    113
    Texas
    75th-anniversary-of-Operation-Market-Garden-09-18-2019.jpg


    A reenactment of 82nd Airborne Div paratroopers jumping on Grosbeek, Netherlands, complete with WWII kit and C-47s, was held yesterday and this is a picture from the event.

    Plot twist: the jumpers were Dutch re-enactors. :)
    https://strategypage.com/military_photos/military_photos_20190918213232.aspx
     
    Top Bottom