Hope it came out better this time

[Ralph Jones]

Paratroopers from 7 countries commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTRb6wWd8NY

[Dave Siciliano]

I’ll have to enlarge at the office. Looks like some came out in twos which would be out the tail gate. Nice to see them put chutes back in a kit bag in the same manner we did back in jungle fatigue Army. Saw a 25th division patch.

[A. Niemyer]

1) They'll jump during the day 2)I'm guessing the drop zones are going to pretty tight and very well marked and even put into GPS's (For the tourists and press) 3) No one's going to be shooting at them. Looking forward to the videos, though!

[Dave Siciliano]

Yep, in the vid above, looks like they're tail gating the 130s. Of course, no turbines back then. Most of the chutes look steerable, although, some aren't. From what I've read, the chutes are a bit larger and descend slower than the originals. Of course, in a combat jump, one doesn't want to linger in the air hanging from a chute. And, not close ups of Ryan O'Neal, Sean Connery and others before and after their jump :-). And, they may even have communication with ground folks.

[Ralph Jones]

And, they may even have communication with ground folks.

Interesting article on the comm problems: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...43042000344777

[Dave Siciliano]

Thanks for posting this. I read it quickly, but intend to review in more depth. What drove me nuts about what happened there was lack of commo between ground forces and resupply ships. A LOT of supplies were dropped in areas the enemy had taken. There should have been some verification system between air and ground before those supplies were released. That didn't have to be by radio. There should have been alternate verification methods in place. From what I read, ground elements repeatedly tried to mark areas for the air assets to see where they were and the air asset folks had been told to ignore signals from the ground fearing they were from the enemy. Poor planning in that regard.
Of course, German elements had been withdrawing over large areas and planners thought they would be quickly advancing. The Dutch war gamed that routing and knew it was almost impossible to go up that single line of advance. They had alternative plans to also take secondary roads, but the planners of Market Garden brushed that aside. Intelligence also reported German armor elements which was also brushed aside. The British weren't confident in Dutch intelligence having been burned in other operations by other intelligence sources before this. Of course, 50/50 hindsight. There wouldn't have been criticism had it worked. Where they placed the drop zone for the First at Arnheim was inexcusable.

[Dave Siciliano]

From A Bridge Too Far, page 46: “ I was told to move my Corps headquarters north into Holland.” With all possible speed Brittrich was directed to “supervise the refitting and rehabilitation of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions”. The battered units, Model told him, were to “slowly disengage from the battle and immediately head north.”
The almost unknown Bittrich could hardly foresee the critical role his 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions would play within the next two weeks. The site Model chose for Brittrich was in a quiet zone, at this point some seventy-five miles behind the front. By a historic fluke, the area included the city of Arnhem.

[Dave Siciliano]

Those orders were verbally given on September 4. Bittrich began withdrawing on the 5th and 6th.

[Dave Siciliano]

What a spectacle it must have been to watch the planes fly into Holland. 4,700 aircraft were involved on Sep 17; the greatest number ever used on a single airborne operation. C-47s carrying paratroopers flew in long 45-plane formations. Other C-47s and British bombers-Halifaxes, Sterlings and Albemarles pulled 478 gliders. On p.188 Ibid.

[Dave Siciliano]

Above and on the flanks were almost 1,500 Allied fighters and fighter bombers: Spitfires, Typhoons, Tempests, Mosquitoes, Thunderbolts, Lightnings, Mustangs, and low level dive bombers.

[Ralph Jones]

Fun fact: The movie had a shot of a glider takeoff from the glider pilot's viewpoint...it was actually shot from one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LET_L-13_Blan%C3%ADk

There were numerous replica gliders that could be towed around on the ground, but weren't airworthy.