Britain at War - 09.2019

34 http://www.britainatwar.com

SPEARHEADED BY THE GUARDS ARMOURED DIVISION, THE ROLE OF XXX CORPS

IN MARKET GARDEN WAS VITAL. IF THE TANKS COULD NOT LINK UP WITH

AIRBORNE FORCES, THE ENTIRE OPERATION WOULD BE FOR NOUGHT.

RICHARD DOHERTY DETAILS WHAT TURNED OUT TO BE A VICIOUS ADVANCE.

ABOVE

Lt (later Capt) John

Gorman, MC, of

the Irish Guards.

VIA AUTHOR

RIGHT

Maj-Gen Sir Allan

Adair, GCVO,

DSO, MC & Bar,

long-serving

commander of

the Guards

Armoured Division.

VIA AUTHOR

OPPOSITE

Crowds line the

streets as the

Cromwells of

2 nd Welsh Guards

enter Eindhoven,

September 19,

1944.

I

"“In front of me

were 18 tanks, and

one, two, three... four,

five, six... seven,

eight... nine were

knocked out... [the]

Germans hit the first

nine with great speed

and accuracy.”"

THE ORIGINAL THUNDER RUN|ARNHEM

Market

Garden

THE

ORIGINAL

THUNDER RUN

n the film A Bridge Too Far Lieutenant-General Brian

Horrocks, XXX Corps commander, addresses the

officers of the Guards Armoured Division about their

role in Operation Garden – the ground element of

Market Garden. Ending his speech, he says that the Irish

Guards would lead the advance. On celluloid, Horrocks’

remark causes Lieutenant-Colonel ‘Joe’ Vandeleur

(Michael Caine) to quip: “Oh, my God, not again.”

In reality Lieutenant John Gorman MC made the comment

• and Horrocks later told him: “I heard you, young man.”
  Gorman, who had earned the Military Cross on his first day
  in action in Normandy, provided a powerful description of
  the beginning of the Irish Guards’ advance as Lieutenant
  Keith Heathcote’s troop of No.3 Squadron left the start
  line, on time, just after 2.30pm: “There was a huge artillery
  bombardment to get us out from the Escaut canal. In front
  of me were 18 tanks, and one, two, three... four, five, six...
  seven, eight... nine were knocked out and all these bodies
  tumbled out, many of them burning. The Germans hit the
  first nine with great speed and accuracy. This was the kind of
  effect that their anti-tank guns had. They
  were in turn knocked out by Typhoon
  rocket-firing planes. We advanced
  then to a place called Valkenswaard, to
  another bridge which was captured, and
  we were there by dusk that evening.”

FROM THE DESERT

TO THE DUTCH BORDER

For much of the war, XXX Corps had

been on the front line. It played a major

role in North Africa in the costly to-and-

fro campaigns of manoeuvre and

attrition that typified the fighting

in the Western Desert, eventually

spearheading at El Alamein. It

formed the British Eighth Army’s

left flank in Sicily and its component

units landed on Gold Beach on

D-Day. The corps bitterly fought

in Normandy but was slower to

34-41 THUNDER_RUN_ARNHEM BAW SEPT2019.indd 34 15/08/2019 15:32:12