| Lots of British bias in that article, but the information is good. Yes it was a failed operation but the primary difference in the casualties for the whole thing appears to be the POW's taken by the Germans. Outside of that, neither side comes out as an overwhelming victor. Germany wins because the operation failed, but the numbers involved are a meer pinprick in the overall scheme of things. Both sides were effectively blinded and neither had the the initiative throughout. The operation COULD HAVE BEEN a much greater success if it hadn't been quite so thrown together and rushed. 1 Airborne got their wish in a bad way, they saw some serious action. More than they bargained for obviously.
As the brainchild of Montgomery, it's failure is yet another strike against him being a "great military leader". The author of the article throws out a lot of if only's and what if's. Irrelevant because the whole thing came together the way that it did because Monty was Monty. He wasn't that good at planning offensives. |