http://www.britainatwar.com^35RIGHT
A British infantry
section rides on
the engine deck
of a Sherman
tank, September
24, 1944. One
of the men (just
visible, behind the
centre rifleman)
is armed with a
captured MP40.THE ORIGINAL THUNDER RUN|ARNHEM
gain ground than other corps. Its
commander, Lieutenant-General
Gerard Bucknall, was replaced in
early August 1944 by Horrocks.
Horrocks was returning to service
having recovered from a serious
wound sustained 14 months
earlier during an air raid, but the
change in command seemed to
have an immediate effect. XXX
Corps advanced quickly out of
Falaise and swiftly moved to take
Antwerp and Brussels. The latter
was seized following an impressive
100-mile dash by Major-General
Allan Adair’s Guards Armoured
Division, the 2nd Welsh, reaching
the Belgian capital in just one day.
Once elements of Adair’s command,
namely the Irish Guards, reached
the Maas-Schelde Canal, XXX
Corps was on the Dutch border.
There it waited.
A bold plan to capture key bridges
and push XXX Corps around the
Siegfried Line and into the Ruhr
presented the corps, the Guards
Armoured Division, Lt Gorman
and his compatriots in the Irish
Guards with an opportunity, it was
claimed, to shorten the war.THE HARD ROAD
TO NIJMEGEN
Operation Garden required a large
advance along a single route and
speed was of the essence. The tanksand accompanying infantry of the
Irish Group formed the vanguard
of Guards Armoured Division,
itself spearheading XXX Corps.
For the corps, the task – supported
by 2nd Tactical Air Force – was
to punch a hole in the German
defences and advance rapidly 34-41 THUNDER_RUN_ARNHEM BAW SEPT2019.indd 35 8/14/2019 5:14:05 PM