World War 2 is known to be the most destructive war in the history of mankind. As technological improvement to war weapons, developed, the sheer destruction and annihilation grew to become extremely powerful. Along with this, the death toll of man also skyrocketed and all battles came to a bloody end. These harsh circumstances are exemplified in the movie, “A Bridge Too Far.” Operation Market Garden was the collaborative effort between the United States, Great Britain, and Poland to secure a bridge in Arnhem,  to create a path into Germany. Although the attack was planned out, it failed due to, in my opinion, overconfidence and poor organization.

There were four Airborne Commanders that played a key role in Operation Market Garden. They were Generals Taylor, Gavin, Urquhart and Sosabowski. I’m going to first judge the actions taken by General Urquhart played by my favorite James Bond- Sean Connery. Urquhart was a British Major General who, at the time of the invasion of Arnhem, was new to airborne command. He had never commanded an airborne battalion before and was also prone to air sickness. His inexperience showed in Arnhem. When dropped into Arnhem, Urquhart lost all strategic points and was held up by the German Army for nine days unsupported. By the time he was ordered to evacuate, he’d lost over 8,000 of his 10,000 troops. The major flaws in Urqahart’s leadership were that he was inexperienced, and that he held too much confidence in the plan. He saw Operation Market Square, a plan most people saw as unsuccessful, as a great plan with 100% probability of success. The fact that he boosted about ending the war before Christmas, didn’t help either. Also his poor organization of his troops administered his defeat. A major flaw in the battle was that the radios did not work properly due to the haste of attacking. As a result, communications were down and the battalions were in the dark.

General Gavin was an American General who was famous for his Airborne Command. He was an experienced airborne commander at the time of the invasion of Arnhem unlike General Ulquhart. He knew from the beginning that there wasn’t enough time to prepare for the attack. However despite the odds stacked against him he was still able to push through. He also showed a deeper care for his troops. I feel like he valued his soldiers more. He made sure that his troops were covered during the river cross. Also, it felt like he was a real soldier. While Ulquhart pulled his James Bonds stunts, General Gavin fought on the frontlines with his troops as exampled through his efforts on the bridge. He even parachuted with his troops and suffered a cracked spine. He was able to push with the help of Michael Caine (Alfred), to one mile away from their main objective.

General Sosabowski, was a Polish General who worked with the allies to fight off the Nazis. He was definitely the smartest of the four generals. Also you got to love his badass accent. This general initially had a problem when Operation Market Garden was presented to him. He knew that the Germans would want to secure the bridges into the Rhineland and did not want to send his troops into a potential massacre. However he also shows compassion and loyalty when he begs to be air dropped in order to aid the allies. Once dropped into the battle ground, he shows his military expertise when ordering his troops to cross the river. His military extinct helped him save many of his troops from a potential massacre. Another appealing factor is the fact that he is not in the war for the glory but for the sake of ending the fighting and liberating Europe.

General Taylor seems like a great Commander however he was absent for most of the attack so there isn’t much to say.