Honoring Robert G. Cole—A Hero who Died for my Freedom

One of the men I owe my freedom is—LT Colonel Robert G. Cole. I do understand people will argue and say, “You were born a free man—long after World War II.” However, because of the sacrifice of men like Robert G. Cole, I was born a free man.

Cole was born at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas, to Colonel Clarence F. Cole, an Army doctor, and Clara H. Cole on 19 March 1915. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio in 1933 and joined the United States Army on 1 July 1934. On 26 June 1935, he was honourably discharged to accept an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was sent to Fort Lewis, where he was appointed to the 15th Infantry Division as a second lieutenant. He served in the 15 infantry division with Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would later become the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Western Europe. Robert Cole and Dwight Eisenhower became good friends at that time in the division. Robert Cole worked as an officer in the 15th Infantry Division until he joined the paratroops in 1941. He was assigned to the 501 Parachute Infantry Battalion to earn his jump wings.

In the early 1940s, the American army changed its command structure. The parachute battalions were divided into regiments. Robert Cole transferred to the 3rd Battalion of the 502 Parachute Infantry Regiment (3-502 PIR) to take command. Ranking up in the army from a Second-Lieutenant to a Lieutenant-Colonel.

A few days after D-Day, on the afternoon of 10 June, Cole led his 400 battalion men in a single-file line down a long, exposed causeway with marshes on both sides. A hedgerow behind a large farmhouse on the right was occupied by well-dug-in German troops. The last four bridges over the Douve River floodplain were at the far end of the causeway. Beyond was Carentan, which the 101st had been ordered to seize to facilitate a linkup with the 29th Infantry Division coming off Omaha Beach.

As Cole’s Battalion advanced, they were subjected to continuous fire from artillery, machine guns and mortars, and soldiers moved slowly by crawling or crouching, taking many casualties. The survivors huddled against the bank on the far side of the causeway. An obstacle known as a Belgian gate blocked nearly the entire roadway over the last bridge, allowing the passage of only one man at a time. Attempts to force this bottleneck were futile, and the Battalion strategically set up defensive positions for the night.

During the night, Cole’s men were shelled by German mortars and strafed and bombed by two aircraft, causing further casualties and knocking Company I out of the fight. Eventually, the fire from the farm slackened, and the remaining 265 men moved through the obstacle and took up positions for an assault.

With the Germans still resisting any attempt to move beyond the bridges, and after artillery failed to suppress their fire, Cole called for smoke on the dug-in Germans and ordered a bayonet charge, a rarity in World War II. He charged toward the hedgerow, leaving a small portion of his unit. But the remainder of the Battalion soon joined as Cole led the paratroopers into the hedgerows, engaging at close range and with bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. The German survivors retreated, taking more casualties as they withdrew.

The assault, which came to be known as “Cole’s Charge,” proved costly; 130 of Cole’s 265 men became casualties. With his Battalion exhausted, Cole called on the 1st Battalion to pass through his lines to continue the attack. However, they were also severely depleted by mortar fire crossing bridge #4—and took positions with the 3rd Battalion—rather than proceeding. During the morning and afternoon at the edge of Carentan, they were subjected to a strong counterattack by the German 6th Parachute Regiment. At the height of the attack, at about 1900, Cole’s artillery observer managed to break through radio jamming and called down fire by the entire Corps artillery that broke up the attacks for good.

At 0200 on 12 June, the 506th PIR passed through their line and captured Hill 30 South of Carentan. From there, led by Company E, the 2nd Battalion of the 506th PIR (Band of Brothers) attacked North into Carentan in daylight as part of a 3-battalion assault. The German 6th Parachute Regiment was virtually out of ammunition and abandoned the town during the night, leaving only a small rear guard. By 0730 on 12 June, Carentan was captured.

For this he received a Medal of Honor, with the citation:
“For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty on 11 June 1944, in France. Lt. Col. Cole was personally leading his battalion in forcing the last four bridges on the road to Carentan when his entire unit was suddenly pinned down to the ground by intense and withering enemy rifle, machine-gun, mortar, and artillery fire placed upon them from well-prepared and heavily fortified positions within 150 yards of the foremost elements. After the devastating and unceasing enemy fire had for over one hour prevented any move and inflicted numerous casualties, Lt. Col. Cole, observing this almost hopeless situation, courageously issued orders to assault the enemy positions with fixed bayonets. With utter disregard for his own safety and completely ignoring the enemy fire, he rose to his feet in front of his battalion and with drawn pistol shouted to his men to follow him in the assault. Catching up a fallen man’s rifle and bayonet, he charged on and led the remnants of his battalion across the bullet-swept open ground and into the enemy position. His heroic and valiant action in so inspiring his men resulted in the complete establishment of our bridgehead across the Douve River. The cool fearlessness, personal bravery, and outstanding leadership displayed by Lt. Col. Cole reflect great credit upon himself and are worthy of the highest praise in the military service.”

On 18 September 1944, during Operation Market Garden, now-Colonel Cole, commanding the 3rd Battalion of the 502d PIR in Best, Netherlands, broadcasted over the radio. A pilot asked him to put some orange identification panels in the front of his position. Cole decided to do it himself. For a moment, Cole raised his head, shielding his eyes to see the plane. A German sniper in a farmhouse only 300 yards (270 m) away shot Cole, killing him instantly.

Two weeks later, Cole was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bayonet charge near Carentan on 11 June. As his widow and two-year-old son looked on, Cole’s mother accepted his posthumous award on the Fort Sam Houston parade ground where Cole had played as a child.

He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Netherlands.

The story of the American paratroopers serving during World War II became world-famous for the book and the TV series (of the same name) Band of Brothers. Although Robert Cole did not belong to the same regiment, his story is identical—as a paratrooper, he jumped during D-Day and a few months later during Operation Market Garden.

Robert Cole and the men of Band of Brothers were paratroopers—infantry soldiers trained to start their battle as paratroopers. Their training was almost inhumane and challenging. The American paratroopers were the cream of the crop—the elite troops.

LTC Cole is one of the true-to-life characters in the 2005 Gearbox Software games Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood and the 2008 game Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

After General Eisenhower heard that Robert Cole had died, he sent Cole’s widow, Allie Mae (dated 8 March 1945), a personal letter of condolence:

Sources

https://www.margratenmemorial.nl/dossier/robert-cole/overview.html

https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/robert-g-cole

https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=1338

https://www.ww2marketgarden.com/ltcolrobertgcole.html

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Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was a failed operation by the Allied forces, which would have dire consequences for the Netherlands in the following winter.

Irish journalist and author Cornelius Ryan wrote the book A Bridge Too Far about the operation.

Market Garden was divided into two parts.
Market: Airborne forces (of Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton’s First Allied Airborne Army ) were to seize bridges and other terrain under tactical command of I Airborne Corps under Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning.
Garden: Ground forces of the Second Army to move North spearheaded by XXX Corps under Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks.

Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery persuaded the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to approve a two-part airborne armour assault and to divert supplies to support it. Operation Market landed three airborne divisions at separate locations to seize road bridges along a route through the Dutch towns of Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem behind German lines. These bridges were to be held open for the British Second Army advance led by XXX Corps (Operation Garden).

Operation Market was the largest airborne operation in the history of warfare. If successful, the plan would liberate the Netherlands. However, the primary objective was to outflank Germany’s formidable frontier defences, the Siegfried Line, and make possible an armoured drive into the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland, and thus end the war sooner.
The airborne divisions landed on the 17th of September. Eventually, all the bridges were captured.

The plan largely failed because of the 30 Corps’ inability to reach the furthest bridge at Arnhem before German forces overwhelmed the British defenders. Allied intelligence had failed to detect the presence of German tanks, including elements of two SS Panzer divisions.

German soldiers at Arnhem

“We have had a very heavy shelling this morning, September 23rd, and now the situation is serious. The shelling is hellish. We have been holding out for a week now. The men are tired and weary and food is becoming scarce, and to make matters worse, we are having heavy rain. If we are not relieved soon, then the men will just drop from sheer exhaustion.”
—Sergeant Dennis Smith, Army Film and Photographic Unit, 23 September 1944.

Signal from Major-General Roy Urquhart to Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, 24 September 1944

The plan proved overly ambitious, which accounts for the title (of the book and movie), A Bridge Too Far. From the start, things went wrong for the Allies. Although the paratroopers seized one side of the bridge, they were pinned down by the Germans, who reacted (with swiftness) to the Allied assault. To make matters worse, XXX Corps, far to the South, was making slow progress and unable to reach the beleaguered British forces in and around Arnhem. Running out of food, water, and ammunition, they were heavily outnumbered., Frost’s paratroopers held the bridge for four days but were eventually forced to surrender.

The battle was a severe defeat for the Allies. However, the valiant British defence of Arnhem won the respect of friend and foe alike. Dutch civilians did much to aid the Allies during and after the battle, helping many men to reach their own lines.

On 24-25 September, about 2,100 troops from the 1st Airborne Division were ferried back across the Rhine. Another 7,500 were either dead or made prisoners of war.

The crossing of the Rhine and the capture of Germany’s industrial heartland were delayed for six months. Now, the Allies would have to fight their way into the Reich on a broad front. There would be no quick victory.

A costly failure, Operation Market Garden remains a remarkable feat of arms. This is not because of its strategic ambition but because of the determination and courage shown by Allied airborne troops and the units that tried to reach them.

Although it led to the liberation of a large part of the South of the Netherlands, the Northern part would not be liberated until May 1945. During the winter of 1944-45, approximately 20,000 Dutch died in the famine, called the Hungerwinter.

The consequences of that famine were still felt decades later. In 2013, according to research by L.H. Lumey, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, he and his colleagues reviewed the death records of hundreds of thousands of Dutch people born in the mid-1940s.

They found that the people who had been in utero during the famine—known as the Dutch Hunger Winter cohort—died at a higher rate than people born before or afterwards. “We found a 10 per cent increase in mortality after 68 years,” said Dr Lumey.

The patterns Dr. Lumey and his colleagues documented are not disputed—but the scientists still struggle to understand how they come about.

“How on Earth can your body remember the environment it was exposed to in the womb—and remember that decades later?,” wondered Bas Heijmans, a geneticist at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Dr. Heijmans, Dr. Lumey and their colleagues published a possible answer, or part of one, on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Their study suggests that the Dutch Hunger Winter silenced specific genes in unborn children—and that they’ve stayed quiet ever since.

Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn barely survived the famine. She developed acute anæmia, respiratory problems and œdema due to malnutrition. This would affect her for the remainder of her life.

Aside from the famine, the failure of Market Garden prolonged the war by six months, according to some estimates. If the concentration camps could have been liberated 6 months earlier, imagine the lives that could have been saved.

Finishing up with some impressions of Operation Market Garden.

Sources

https://www.liberationroute.com/stories/184/operation-market-garden

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/market-garden

https://www.britannica.com/event/Operation-Market-Garden

https://www.instyle.com/news/audrey-hepburn-diet-figure#:~:text=She%20Experienced%20Severe%20Starvation%20During,She%20had%20jaundice%20and%20edema.%22

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?q=market%20garden&mode=gallery&view=horizontal

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Hongerwinter—Hungerwinter

++++++++ Warning: Contains Graphic Images+++++++++

One could be forgiven to think that the photos in this blog are photos of a famine in a 3rd world country, as we have seen so often before. However, these photos are from one of the richest countries in the world, the Netherlands.

Towards the end of World War II, food supplies became increasingly scarce in the Netherlands. After the landing of the Allied Forces on D-Day, conditions became increasingly worse in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The Allies were able to liberate the southern part of the country but ceased their advance into the Netherlands when Operation Market Garden, the attempt to seize a bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem, failed.

The obvious and literal cause of the famine was a German blockade enacted in retaliation to a Dutch railway strike that aimed to help the Allied invasion of the country. The German army blocked water and road routes into the Netherlands and only lifted the water blockade when temperatures had already fallen too low to allow boats to operate in the icy water.

Most of the south of the country had been liberated by the end of September 1944.

The Allied campaign failed, and the Nazis punished the Netherlands by blocking food supplies, plunging the Northern half of the country, above the great rivers, into famine. By the time all of the Netherlands was liberated in May 1945, more than 20,000 people had died of starvation.

The starvation was particularly intense in cities — after all, in the countryside, most people lived around farms. That didn’t mean that they didn’t experience food shortages, but the survival rates were much higher outside of urban areas. For the Netherlands’ mostly city-living population, times were hard.

Rations decreased in calorie content over the long winter. In big cities like Amsterdam, adults had to contend with only 1000 calories of food by the end of November 1944 — but that dropped to 580 calories a day by February 1945. Even the black market was empty of food.

People walked long distances to farms to trade anything they had for extra calories. As the winter wore on, tens of thousands of children were sent from cities to the countryside so that they, at least, would get some food. When it came to heating, people desperately burned furniture and dismantled whole houses to get fuel for their fires.

The Dutch Hunger Winter has proved unique in unexpected ways. Because it started and ended so abruptly, it has served as an unplanned experiment in human health. Pregnant women, it turns out, were uniquely vulnerable, and the children they gave birth to have been influenced by famine throughout their lives.

The effects of the 1944/45 famine are still felt to this day.

When they became adults, they ended up a few pounds heavier than average. In middle age, they had higher levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. They also experienced higher rates of such conditions as obesity, diabetes and schizophrenia.

By the time they reached old age, those risks had taken a measurable toll, according to the research of L.H. Lumey, an epidemiologist at Columbia University. In 2013, he and his colleagues reviewed the death records of hundreds of thousands of Dutch people born in the mid-1940s.

They found that the people who had been in utero during the famine — known as the Dutch Hunger Winter cohort — died at a higher rate than people born before or afterwards. “We found a 10 per cent increase in mortality after 68 years,” said Dr Lumey.

sources

The Hunger Winter: the Dutch famine of 1944-45

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1012911107

Manna From Heaven—Ending the Dutch Famine

(Originally published 29 April 2022)

The title of this blog does not refer to the verse in the bible in the book of Exodus chapter 16 verse 15, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”

But I do think it must have been the inspiration for the allied forces in April 1945.

In September 1944, trains in the Netherlands ground to a halt. Dutch railway workers were hoping that a strike could stop the transport of Nazi troops, helping the advancing Allied forces.

But the Allied campaign named ‘Market Garden’ had failed, and the Nazis punished the Netherlands by blocking food supplies, plunging the northern part of the country into famine. By the time the Netherlands was liberated in May 1945, more than 20,000 people had died of starvation.

77 years ago, on April 29.1945, one of the first major humanitarian operations carried out by air forces took place over the Netherlands. Following the failed attempt to secure the vital bridge over the River Rhine at Arnhem in September 1944, the portion of the Netherlands north of the river remained firmly in German hands. With resources stripped by the occupying forces and one of the harshest winters on record, Dutch civilians faced starvation as 1945 dawned. The Dutch Government in exile pleaded with the Allies to help and by April 1945, a plan was in place.

Air Commodore Andrew Geddes, whose job was Operations and Plans at 2nd Tactical Air Force, was summoned to Eisenhower’s Headquarters on 17th April to be told that he must plan for feeding 3,500,000 Dutch souls from the air, commencing in 10 days’ time. There were no parachutes available for dropping supplies, therefore Geddes should plan for low-level free drops and assume that the German troops on the ground would grant safe conduct for the flights. The operation was to be called ‘Operation Manna’

The RAF carried out over 3,000 sorties, dropping the supplies at low levels without parachutes. The Americans carried out around 2,000. In all around 11,000 tonnes of food were dropped by the Allies over Holland, for the loss of three aircraft (two in a collision, one with engine trouble). While some German soldiers fired on them, fortunately, none were shot down.

The first of the two RAF Avro Lancasters chosen for the test flight, the morning of 29 April 1945, was nicknamed Bad Penny, as in the expression: “a bad penny always turns up”. This bomber, with a crew of seven young men (five from Ontario, Canada, including pilot Robert Upcott of Windsor, Ontario), took off in bad weather despite the fact that the Germans had not yet agreed to a ceasefire. (Seyss-Inquart would do so the next day.) Bad Penny had to fly low, down to 50 feet (15 m), over German guns but succeeded in dropping her cargo and returning to her airfield.

Pathfinder Lancaster pilot Richard Bolt later recalled in an interview:

“Like other pathfinders, I led a heap of Lancasters into Holland to drop food in Operation ‘Manna’. The Dutch were starving and the war hadn’t quite finished. The Germans weren’t fussed about us feeding the Dutch so there was no opposition. I had a simple task – I just had to put a big red marker in the middle of Valkenburg airfield outside The Hague and 100 Lancasters came in and dropped potatoes and food of all kinds to the starving Dutch. So that was satisfying. There were lots of us doing the same thing.”

Food packs included tinned items, dried food, tea and coffee and chocolate. After much testing of different packaging, hessian sacks were used, some of which were sourced from the US Army.

The ceasefire was signed on the 30th of April. Operation Chowhound, the US Army Air Forces aid drop, started on the 1st of May and delivered a further 4,000 tons of food. This was followed, on the 2nd of May, with a ground-based relief mission, Operation Faust. It is estimated that these drops saved nearly a million Dutch people from starvation.

Although it saved many from starvation, the Dutch famine had effects long after the war.

The Dutch Hunger Winter has proved unique in unexpected ways. Due to its sudden start and abrupt end, it became an unplanned experiment in human health. Pregnant women, it was discovered, were uniquely vulnerable, and the children they gave birth to have been influenced by famine throughout their lives.

When they became adults, they ended up a few pounds heavier than average. In middle age, they had higher levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. They also experienced higher rates of such conditions as obesity, diabetes and schizophrenia.

By the time they reached old age, those risks had taken a measurable toll, according to the research of L.H. Lumey, an epidemiologist at Columbia University. In 2013, he and his colleagues reviewed the death records of hundreds of thousands of Dutch people born in the mid-1940s.

They found that the people who had been in utero during the famine — known as the Dutch Hunger Winter cohort, died at a higher rate than people born before or afterwards.

sources

Operation Manna

Manna from heaven

https://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/blog/remembering-operation-manna-1945/

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The German actor who was ordered to shoot American soldiers, but refused.

September 17,1944 saw the start of “Operation Market Garden” a failed allied operation during WWII, which had dire consequences for the Dutch population.

However this blog is not about that but about the movie made about ‘Operation Market Garden@ a star studded movie made in 1977 directed by Richard Attenborough, with the title ‘A Bridge too Far’

More specifically about one of the actors in the movie.

Hardy Krüger played Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl Ludwig, the name of his character was fictitious. It was in fact based on Heinz Harmel, CO of the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg, but he did not want his name to be mentioned in the film.

Hardy Krüger was born Eberhard Krüger in Wedding in the borough of Berlin on April 12 1928. His parents were enthusiastic Nazis.

When he was age 13 Hardy enrolled in an Adolf Hitler School, which was a NSDAP boarding school and joined the Hitler Youth.

When he was  15, Hardy made his film début in a German picture, “The Young Eagles”.

His acting career was interrupted though, when he was conscripted into the German Wehrmacht in 1944 at age 16.

In March 1945, he was assigned to the 38th SS Division Nibelungen where he was drawn into heavy fighting. The 16-year-old Krüger was ordered to eliminate a group of American soldiers. When he refused, he was sentenced to death for cowardice, but another SS officer stopped the order. The incident opened his eyes to what Nazism really was.

Hardy related how he “hated the uniform.” During the filming of A Bridge Too Far , he wore a top-coat over his S.S. uniform between takes so as not to remind himself of his childhood in Germany during WWII.

In the TV mini series War and Remembrance televised in 1988/1989 he played Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

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Sources

German Wikipedia

IMDb

 

 

 

The effects of Operation Market Garden are still being felt today.

Operation Market Garden started on September 17 1944. It was supposed to end the war in the Netherlands.But the operation failed, as a result the war was prolonged for several months,compounded with one of the severest winters on record it resulted in a famine for the northern provinces.

But there was more,as a form of reprisal the Germans started stealing everything valuable they could find. although Market Garden failed the Germans knew the war was coming to an end and they would be on the losing side.

Dr J.H. Smidt van Gelder, the director of the children’s hospital in Arnhem, stored 6 works of art in a bank vault for safekeeping during the Second World War.

One of the pieces was a painting called The Oyster Meal by Jacob Ochtervelt The paintings were looted in January 1945, when the Nazis plundered the town.Although the instructions were given not to loot the banks a German officer called Temmler paid no attention to those instructions.

Even Himmler had warned about Temmler, he said he would bring disrespect to the Nazi party, killing millions was okay, but stealing art was disrespectful.

The painting then made a bit of a mysterious journey. In 1971 was acquired by the property  Harold Samuel,  it had  painting reappeared on the Swiss art market ,a few decades after the war, where Harold Samuel bought it

Harold Samuel  bequeathed the painting to the City of London Corporation in 1987, on condition that they be shown permanently in Mansion House.

The Commission for Looted Art in Europe uncovered the history of the painting and discovered the rightful owners. Samuel’s daughters agreed to waive the condition so that The Oyster Meal could be returned to Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, the daughter of Dr van Gelder,she is now aged 97.

It was returned to her in November 2017.

The painting went  on auction at Sotheby’s in July 2018, and was sold for estimated value 1.6 Million Pounds Sterling.

 

 

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Sources

BBC

Sotheby’s

The Supply Chain Management Principles during Market Garden

 

This may seem a strange title for a WWII related subject but in fact it is probably more appropriate then you’d expect.

One of the definitions of Supply Chain Management  is “the management of the flow of goods and services,involves the movement and storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory, and of finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption”

Replace the word “consumption” with “action” or “combat” and you can apply the principle of Supply Chain management to Operation Market Garden or a great number of other operations during WWII.

 

The reason why I chose Market Garden is twofold. Firstly because it had a great effect on the country I was born in.Secondly It was the largest airborne operation up to that point and is one of the best recorded mistakes by the allied forces.

Planning is key to successful supply chain demand and the forecast demand needs to be as accurate as possible. Given the situation and the time this was always going to be a problem.

Among the controversial aspects of the plan was the necessity that all the main bridges be taken. The terrain was also ill-suited for the mission of XXX Corps.Brereton had ordered that the bridges along XXX Corps’ route should be captured with “thunderclap surprise“.It is therefore surprising in retrospect that the plans placed so little emphasis on capturing the important bridges immediately with forces dropped directly on them. In the case of Veghel and Grave where this was done, the bridges were captured with only a few shots being fired.

 

The decision to drop the 82nd Airborne Division on the Groesbeek Heights, several kilometres from the Nijmegen Bridge, has been questioned because it resulted in a long delay in its capture.

In Supply Chain management terms this is deemed to be a “bottleneck”The Bottleneck is the drum (schedule) that controls the throughput of the entire system.In this case the Nijmegen Bridge had become the bottleneck and the speed of the operation was going to be determined by the situation around the Nijmegen Bridge.

Browning and Gavin considered holding a defensive blocking position on the ridge a prerequisite for holding the highway corridor. Gavin generally favoured accepting the higher initial casualties involved in dropping as close to objectives as possible in the belief that distant drop zones would result in lower chances of success. With the 82nd responsible for holding the centre of the salient, he and Browning decided the ridge must take priority. Combined with the 1st Airborne Division’s delays within Arnhem, which left the Arnhem bridge open to traffic until 20:00, the Germans were given vital hours to reinforce their hold on the bridge.

As part of the planning you have to look at all options and pick the best option available to you,based on statistics and parameters available to ensure the best possible throughput.

Arnhem bridge was not the only Rhine crossing. Had the Market Garden planners realized that a ferry was available at Driel, the British might have secured that instead of the Arnhem bridge. Being a shorter distance away from their western drop and landing zones, the 1st Parachute Brigade could have concentrated to hold the Oosterbeek heights, instead of one battalion farther away at the road bridge; in this case, Arnhem was “one bridge too far”.

Allied Airborne Units

	Killed in action or died of wounds	Captured or missing	Safely withdrawn	Total
1st Airborne	1,174	5,903	1,892	8,969
Glider Pilot Regiment	219	511	532	1,262
Polish Brigade	92	111	1,486	1,689
Total	1,485	6,525	3,910

 

Other Allied losses

	Killed in action or died of wounds	Captured or missing
RAF	368	79
Royal Army Service Corps	79	44
IX Troop Carrier Command	27	6
XXX Corps	25	200
Total	499	329

 

 

It is amazing to think that a simple excersize in Supply Chain management could have turned Operation Market Garden into a success, of course the term Supply Chain management was only invented in the 1980’s but not withstanding that, proper planning and forecasting could have avoided the many losses and the famine that ensued afterwards.

I did not think I could link my field of studies ‘Supply Chain Management and Production Control’ with my interest for WWII.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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