Planning Market Garden

‘Operation Market Garden’ was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. Its objective was to create a 64 mile (103km) corridor through Nazi-occupied Holland and into northern Germany. This would involve the capture of 9 key bridges over various canals and rivers by 3 Allied airborne divisions (2xAmericans and 1xBritish). At the same time, British land forces would move along this captured corridor and into the Third Reich itself. If successful, Montgomery believed, the war might be over by Christmas 1944. Orders were issued, plans were drawn up and the principal senior officers gathered to work out the precise details and duties of everyone involved. This unique 4-man set brings together four of the senior officers tasked with the British objective... the Dutch town of Arnhem located on the banks of the River Rhine. Gathered around the large map board showing the objectives of all three airborne divisions and the DZ’s and LZ’s around Arnhem itself. Lieut. Gen. ‘Boy’ Browning, commander of the 1 Airborne Corps and deputy commander of the 1st Allied Airborne Army during Operation Market Garden. During the planning of the operation he memorably said, “I think we might be going a bridge too far!” A former Guards officer and a little bit of a military ‘dandy’ Browning designed his own special uniform and created the British paras famous red beret and winged Pegasus badge. Lieut. Gen. Brian Horrocks, commander of the British XXX Corps tasked with leading the ground assault of the ‘Market Garden’ operation. Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart, General Officer Commanding the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Urquhart’s division fought for nine days unsupported against the 2nd SS Panzer Corps in the ill-fated attempt to capture the famous bridge over the Rhine and lost three quarters of its strength (killed, wounded and captured) during the battle. Maj. Gen. Stanislaw Sosabowski, commanded the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade during the Arnhem battle... Even at the planning stage Sosabowski expressed serious concerns about the poorly conceived glider landing zones and parachute dropping areas believing, correctly, that they were too distant from their objectives. All four of these ‘Market Garden’ senior officers with their map board come together in this special 75th Anniversary Set to tell an important part of the Arnhem ’44 story.