Lest We Forget

[Airborne01]

Much media coverage today of Arnhem etc today, not going into politics but this afternoon a young scrote asked me 'What's that's all about ... ?
Steve

[Waspie]

Much media coverage today of Arnhem etc today, not going into politics but this afternoon a young scrote asked me 'What's that's all about ... ?
Steve

I watch a few quiz shows and am always astounded by the lack of knowledge of such events. Although I have stopped shouting at the tv now!! A huge failing in our education system. You almost feel educators are ashamed to teach the youth of such sacrifices.

[PaulTRose]

I still shout at the telly

I could have been a paras son......my mam once told me her first boyfriend was a para sargent who died at arnhem

Brave fellers

[Jim R]

Often the teachers themselves know little about WW2 and even if they did it isn't on the curriculum. Very sad indeed

[PaulTRose]

I remember in 2020 when it 70 years since BoB ...my granddaughter ... about 10 at the time.....told me they all had done a big project about it at school.....which surprised me.. . Also annoyed me cos if she had told me when she started id have made her a spitfife and me109 to earn her some extra point lol

[Lee W]

It's a shame really, kids should know what happened!
The school I work at, they teach about the wars but I think it's more of the politics rather than the battles that change things

[PaulTRose]

Not allowed to do anything with violence in case it upsets the little darlings

Even tho they go home and play violent (and unrealistic) video games

[Airborne01]

Alas, That's the way it is at the moment Gents

[Peter Gillson]

If you want an interesting and different account of Arnham read the biography Dutch Girl, which is the biography of Audrey Hepburn. It gives a civilan's view of the campaign. i really recommend it ( I have the book and an audio book version!

peter

[Airborne01]

Similarly, read 'In the shadow of Arnhem' a series of transcripts that is very sympathetic to the plight of the Dutch civilians caught up in the mayhem Highly recommended
Steve

[Lee W]

Arnhem Lift by Louis Hagen... read it as a kid, if I remember correctly, it was a good book

[Tim Marlow]

An interesting take from the other side of the hill is this one….

As to the battle, I’ve read a hell of a lot about it and witnessed talks given by veterans of the battle, and can say that though it killed at lot of brave soldiers and civilians, it did absolutely nothing to change the course of the war. It was basically a folly of Montgomery’s designed to take the spotlight back from Patton. In this he was aided and abetted by the para high command who had this airborne instrument and were afraid that if they didn’t use it somewhere then the units would be broken up to backfill infantry loses in the line regiments. It was a classic case of a poorly planned operation rushed through by an overconfident generalship against an army they thought was beaten so that they, the generals, could get some easy brownie points.
The ones that come out of it with the most credit are the Dutch civilians, who have made sure that every school child in the area is aware of the sacrifice made by the airborne army in their name. I believe they still carry out the ceremony whereby every child is allocated a war grave and on the anniversary of the battle they lay flowers on that grave and are expected to remember the name of the soldier it commemorates.

[Airborne01]

What you say is true Tim, however - if it had succeeded then the war may have been significantly shortened and thousands of lives saved. Hindsight is an easy way out sometimes I think... and yes. the children still lay flowers and pay respect.
Steve

[Tim Marlow]

What you say is true Tim, however - if it had succeeded then the war may have been significantly shortened and thousands of lives saved. Hindsight is an easy way out sometimes I think... and yes. the children still lay flowers and pay respect.
Steve

Trouble is, Steve, it was never going to work the way it was planned. The Brits were dropped too far away and were too weak to hold the initial objectives, and XXX corp were battle fatigued and unlikely to be able to push through as fast as the timetable required. We need to remember the lost with pride. However, we should also remember those that planned this operation should have been sacked afterwards for poor performance. Arrogance and overconfidence in commanding generals has probably killed more of their soldiers than the opposing armies.

[Waspie]

An interesting take from the other side of the hill is this one….

As to the battle, I’ve read a hell of a lot about it and witnessed talks given by veterans of the battle, and can say that though it killed at lot of brave soldiers and civilians, it did absolutely nothing to change the course of the war. It was basically a folly of Montgomery’s designed to take the spotlight back from Patton. In this he was aided and abetted by the para high command who had this airborne instrument and were afraid that if they didn’t use it somewhere then the units would be broken up to backfill infantry loses in the line regiments. It was a classic case of a poorly planned operation rushed through by an overconfident generalship against an army they thought was beaten so that they, the generals, could get some easy brownie points.
The ones that come out of it with the most credit are the Dutch civilians, who have made sure that every school child in the area is aware of the sacrifice made by the airborne army in their name. I believe they still carry out the ceremony whereby every child is allocated a war grave and on the anniversary of the battle they lay flowers on that grave and are expected to remember the name of the soldier it commemorates.

Sounds like little has changed. It seems underestimation of ones opponents is still about. Viet Nam and the Falklands. I believe the Americans didn't count on the 'farmers' of Viet Nam's resolve and the Argentinian hierarchy certainly threw snake eyes when they thought they could ride rough shod over the UK.