Britain at War - 09.2019

Market

Garden

CARRINGTON – ONE MAN'S DECISION|ARNHEM

ABOVE

Members of a

Luftwaffe field

division dig in.

AIRBORNE ARCHIVE/

VIA AUTHOR

LEFT

James Lawler, 1st

Battalion, Irish

Guards keeping

watch on Nijmegen

bridge. MARY EVANS

PICTURE LIBRARY

“That was not

what Horrocks

told us the

orders would be, and so we were very

frustrated sitting there all night. We

know what it was like for paratroopers

to fight Tiger tanks and it is not a

comfortable feeling, so we had a great

deal of passion for the British troops

that were being mauled by the Tigers.

To send four tanks across when he had

an entire corps is beyond belief... there

should have been a full force of them

going across and heading for Arnhem.”

Burriss may have been speaking

hypothetically, as historically there

were no Tigers in action around

Nijmegen at this time. Regardless,

XXX Corps was already severely

delayed, and while airborne forces are

not a traditional counter to enemy

armour they had some means to deal

with the tanks. British 1st Airborne

dropped into Arnhem with weapons

including flamethrowers, mortars and

PIATs. Also encompassed within the

division were 32 6Pdr and 16 17Pdr

anti-tank guns, several batteries of

75mm Pack Howitzers and a small

number of 25Pdrs. American divisions

lacked the 17Pdr but had a similar array

of weapons available. Concentrated

armour was a real threat, but the

suggestion the airborne had little

counter is false.

The American has stated that he

threatened to shoot Carrington,

cocking and raising his gun. He later

reflected: “I may have been too hard

on Carrington if his orders were to

cross the bridge and hold it till further

orders.” It is worth considering too,

that in spite of his understandably

strong feelings, Burriss also did not

take his men on to Arnhem. Major

Julian Cook, another 504th officer,

had the same argument, and a

third, Colonel Reuben Tucker, was

equally eager to move XXX Corps

on. It is thought the famous but

likely groundless ‘stop and drink tea’

anecdote originated from him. Tucker

wanted to assemble a force from his

casualty-stricken regiment and press

on with Carrington’s tanks – although

he appreciated the bridge had to be

secured before they pressed on. Tucker

apparently considered pushing on

alone, but suspected General Gavin,

GOC 82nd Airborne, would not

condone the move.

Sergeant Robinson, who led the

tanks over the bridge and through a

56 http://www.britainatwar.com

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