70 Years Ago This Week Operation Market Garden

[Eddie Teach]

I didn't know the Marne was the most decisive battle of WWI.

I didn't know there was one.

[grumbler]

I sometimes don't get the priorities for battle anniversaries on Languish 

Early this month it was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Marne, THE most decisive battle of WWI, with many armies and millions of participants, and yet seemed to have been totally forgotten here.

Yet, on the 70th anniversary of an operation that just involved some divisions, you have a thread. Honestly.

I think that the one poster on Languish who cared so much about the battle of the Marne was busy getting catfished by someone pretending to the the Russian ambassador.  Honestly.

[Razgovory]

I didn't know the Marne was the most decisive battle of WWI.

I didn't know there was one.

There were a few decisive battles.  The Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes was pretty decisive. Amiens and the the Hundred Days offensive did sort of win the war.

[Duque de Bragança]

Time to check if Close Combat 2 runs on XP on compatibility mode. Mac OS X has forsaken Classic for a while so it's only pre 10.7.

[Ed Anger]

Time to check if Close Combat 2 runs on XP on compatibility mode. Mac OS X has forsaken Classic for a while so it's only pre 10.7.

CC2.

Matrix keeps cranking those things back out. Christmas sale in December should knock their retard price down 30% or so.

[Razgovory]

Battlefront has a market Garden game, or rather a module.  They maintain similar retarded pricing as Matrix does.

[Admiral Yi]

I sometimes don't get the priorities for battle anniversaries on Languish 

Market-Garden has a fantastic narrative arc, with desperately outgunned paras clinging to a toehold while scanning the horizon for salvation as the clock ticks down and ammo runs out.  Individual acts of bravery, a colorful mish-mash of nationalities, a variety of unit types.

The Marne, in contrast, is not much more than a mathematical equation.

[Razgovory]

Really it's more of a body of water then anything else.

[11B4V]

Seventy years ago this week Operation Market Garden took place.

This anniversary seems to have gotten lost amongst the coverage of the Scottish independence referendum.

Early this month it was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Marne, THE most decisive battle of WWI, with many armies and millions of participants, and yet seemed to have been totally forgotten here.

Yawn

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, Market Garden had the better soundtrack.

[Warspite]

I sometimes don't get the priorities for battle anniversaries on Languish 

Market-Garden has a fantastic narrative arc, with desperately outgunned paras clinging to a toehold while scanning the horizon for salvation as the clock ticks down and ammo runs out.  Individual acts of bravery, a colorful mish-mash of nationalities, a variety of unit types.

The Marne, in contrast, is not much more than a mathematical equation.

Market Garden also had an absolutely fantastic cast - Dirk Bogarde, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Maximillian Schell, James Caan...

You'd never get all this first-rate talent into a modern battle.

[Eddie Teach]

Battle of New York? Chock full of A-listers.

[The Brain]

I liked the German movie from the 30s where Douaumont veterans played themselves.

[Martim Silva]

The Marne, in contrast, is not much more than a mathematical equation.

Er, no.

The First Battle of the Marne occurred during the time when armies were fully on the move, and it was one of the most fluid battles of WWI.

It was also full of acts of courage by units and whole armies; the tactics of attrition would not come to being until 1916.

One of the biggest symbols of the battle is be the message sent by the French general Ferdinand Foch, leading 9th Army, to the GHQ:

"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking."

It was the battle the stopped the Germans from conquering France and threw all the war plans into disarray. It was the battle that pretty much ultimately ensured Allied victory and made WWI into what it would become.

I liked the German movie from the 30s where Douaumont veterans played themselves.

Indeed, movies where the veterans are the actors are far more realistic.

Which is why I recommend the movie I linked above - all the protagonists are the real ones, and it was filmed on location. The rubble is still the one of the battle, which was yet to be fully cleared.

You can't get more faithful than that, and it is a much truer tale than seeing some actors doing scenes 'embellished' to be more attractive.

Want Market Garden? Then go see the REAL soldiers of Market Garden in the REAL streets of war-torn Arnhem, not some Hollywood posers in a set.

[grumbler]

Actually, the Marne simply decided where the trenches would be dug.  The myth that it saved France is easily disproven by the fact that the Germans had already swung short of Paris before the battle had begun.

I'd say the Paris taxi shuttle is a much bigger symbol of the battle than the nonsensical Foch quote that no one remembers.