http://www.britainatwar.com^53ABOVE
Operation Market
Garden, Battle
of Nijmegen,
September 1944.
BY ANDY HAYRIGHT
Lord Carrington
in 1984.
TOPFOTOCARRINGTON – ONE MAN'S DECISION|ARNHEM
1st Divisions these were too far from
the objectives, and while those of the
US 101st were closer, the failure to
drop on both sides of the Wilhelmina
Canal afforded the Germans an
opportunity to blow up the Zon
Bridge, causing further delay to XXX
Corps. Add to this the understandably
cautious yet hard-fought advance by
ground forces, ever wary of landmines
on the road verges,
innumerable delays
due to traffic jams,
enemy action and
counter-attacks,
and the difficulty
of moving an
entire corps along
a single road,
the reasons for
outcome become
blatantly obvious.
However, one
proposed reason
for ‘failure at
Arnhem’ is
not only inaccurate but borderline
preposterous! The allegation
is, roughly, that one man, Lord
Carrington, refused to advance on
from crossing the Waal at Nijmegen,
and thus denied the besieged 1st
Airborne Division any chance of
relief. He is held up as a figurehead
to blame and has even been branded
a coward. But, fortunately, anaccurate appreciation of the difficult
circumstances that fed into Carrington’s
‘choice’ shows otherwise.A MAN OF CLEAR
QUALITY
Born Peter Carington (the surname
only has one ‘r’), he had attended Eton,
then Sandhurst
and inherited his
peerage as the 6th
Baron Carrington
on his father’s
death in 1938.
Like his father and
grandfather before
him, he joined the
Grenadier Guards
early the following
year, eventually
ending up in the
regiment’s 2nd
Battalion. He
saw a great deal
of action during the advance from
Normandy and was considered to be
an experienced tank commander. Later
he was decorated with the MC – the
fact this award was endorsed by his
immediate superiors Gwatkin, Adair,
Horrocks, and by figures such as
Dempsey and Montgomery, underlines
the spurious nature of what has been
subsequently claimed.Lord Carrington was much admired
for his statesman-like qualities,
personal honour and integrity. Best
known for resigning as Foreign
Secretary from the Thatcher
government following the Argentine
invasion of the Falkland Islands,
he had also held ministerial posts
under Winston Churchill, been High
Commissioner in Australia and“Lord Carrington
was much admired
for his statesman-like
qualities, personal
honour and integrity”52-57 CARRINGTON_ARNHEM BAW SEPT2019.indd 53 8/14/2019 5:34:41 PM