Market Garden quotations

Hi everyone,

I am currently doing an Extended Project Qualification at sixth form in the UK on to what extent did market garden end in failure and would like to know if there are any good online sources of quotes from men in the 82nd airborne and XXX corps during the operation as I am lacking quotes in this area compared to other formations. Any responses would be welcome and please move the thread if it is posted in the wrong location.

 

There have been a couple of threads related to Market Garden. They tend to provoke a fair amount of passion even now but some good discussion as well as sources in them from what I recall. If you can't find them mention it and I'll see what I can find.

 

"A Bridge too Far" (book) while not an online source has lots of first hand accounts from veterans.

 

Thanks for the responses, I'm ordering A bridge too far right now

 

I don't doubt you already have it, but surely the best Arnhem quote:

"This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren... and mighty bored they'll be."
~Horrocks.

 

I didn't know that quote existed, I might use it as my starting quote to my summary paragraph

 

"A Bridge Too Far" is a great read on the subject. The Author interviewed some 1200 veterans involved (both sides) about half of which he actually met and sat down with. He only published stories etc that could be verified...as opposed to he said/she said type of stuff. The glossary at the end contains all of them, who they served with and, at the time of publication, what their occupations were...something you don't see these days.

You may have seen the movie, the same author also wrote 'The Longest Day' which was also turned into a movie.

EDIT: There's also a great quote (not the one from the movie) when the Germans asked the Brits to surrender as well. The preface of the book has the 'A bridge too Far' quote as well.

 

A key problem with my main sources such as the Osprey books on Market Garden is the lack of quotes so the 1200 Veterans part sounds very promising in increasing the quotes I have available

 

I always found this, from 'A Bridge Too Far', to be a little amusing:

Brigadier Walch is Arthur Gordon Walch (1906 – 1994), the Chief of Staff of Browning, who is Lt - General 'Boy' Browning.

Mark

 

Martin Middlebrook's 'Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle' consists of nothing but the personal accounts of veterans.

One of my favourite 'Arnhem' quotes comes right at the end, from Staff Sergeant Joe Kitchener, ex Glider Pilot Regiment : 'It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a gamble - some you win, some you lose.
We lost that one'.

 

Remember your extended project will be assessed by your methodology. Asking an internet forum does not provide much evidence of using the historical method.For extra points on you project try searching your own first hand primary sources.


Make the time to visit the following archives.

The National Archive Kew
The National Army Museum Archive
The Imperial War Museum.

As a bonefide student they will help you. The National Archive has orders, war diaries reports and maps. The other two have diaries and the IWM has an outstanding sound archive that you can access from home

Here is a link using Operation Market Garden as the search terms. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=operation%20market%20garden&items_per_page=10&f[0]=mediaType%3Aaudio
You will have to listen to these yourself and transcribe the sections you want, but you will be a real historian.

See if you can find some real veterans to interview. Try ww2talk the sister website to this one. There are several who take part including Swordsman a 3 Div Engineer and D Day veteran who was wounded in Op Market Garden .


Contact The Liberation Musuem at Grosbeek. Their historian is the lead academic for Liberation Route Europe and should give you sensible advice.
Try the Liberation Route
https://liberationroute.com/pages/contact

Wearing my own Liberation Route hat I would ask some questions about the scope of your history. Why are you only interested in the accounts of US and British Troops? Didn't the Germans have a say in the battle? What about the Dutch local population? As a historian you should be aware of the limitations of sources solely from one side! .

It is harder to find and use sources from other countries but not impossible. Start with the Liberation Route Europe. I can also put you in touch with some people who specialise in the German side of Op Market Garden.

If you do this you will be the person offering accurate historical information and the font of wisdom on Market Garden

 

Thanks for the resources you have sent me, the reason I was specifically asking for the 82nd Airborne and XXX corps was that I already had plenty of quotes for other forces involved in the operation but thanks again for the resources as I will make sure to use them in my project