Lord Carrington dies aged 99
 

As Cpt Peter Carrington, his was the lead tank at the north ramp of Nijmegen Bridge after it had been captured on 20th September 1944 , and he resisted strong encouragement from the American officer who had led the capture of the bridge, apparently at one point being threatened by him at gun point, to move on into Arnhem, 11 miles away. However, he was acting on Horrock's orders, even if the Bridge Too Far movie seemed to (unfairly?) pin most of the blame on him- he wasn't a Nelson, but did win the MC, so apparently no slouch when it came to active combat.

During the 18 hour delay that resulted, Frost's men were defeated. Apparently there were something like 100 tanks left in XXX corps by the time Nijmegan Bridge was captured which could have pressed on. The 'what if?" question has led to fierce debate ever since.

RIP Sir and thank you for your service.

Can't say it any better except to add, well done. :Kaleun_Salute:


Fair Winds.

No doubt in my mind he did the right thing. I'm currently reading Tim Saunders "Island: Nijmegen to Arnhem" and it didn't take long to find confirmation of how much of a tough advance XXX Corp still had ahead of it. The terrain was perfect for the defenders plus the excessively wet conditions along with the muted role allied airpower was reduced to. Advancing towards Arnhem at that point would have been a disaster. Plus their ammunition was low. Also worth remembering that some of XXX Corps were still occupied with securing Nijmegen cleaning up determined areas of German resistance.


Hard to believe what I was reading. That the Germans achieved air superiority on a Western front battlefield for the first time in quite awhile. I guess what it all boils down to is that Market-Garden was too dependent on thinking the Germans would roll over and put up only token resistance.