[Kiwiwriter]

I agree with Middlebrook's reasons. If 2nd SS Panzer Corps had not been there, I think 1st Airborne would not have been annihilated, but it still would have hard a hard time, and still likely not have held Arnhem Bridge. The big problem for 30 Corps was trying to shove three divisions and 40,000 men up one road. I also blame absentee leadership for Market-Garden's failings. Normally, Montgomery was a hands-on general. After launching Market-Garden, he was not. Horrocks was down with the flu. And Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey, who commanded 2nd Army, only showed up to order 1st Airborne to withdraw. If either of these three generals had been more forceful, things would have been different. Another factor was the failure of 30 Corps and 11th Armoured Division to cut off the Scheldt Estuary. That gave the German forces in the Scheldt an escape hatch. Many of these outfits fought at Oosterbeek in the ad hoc kampfgruppes that gave the attack so much trouble. There are aspects of the planning for and execution of Market-Garden that remind me of Lee at Gettysburg, who did not plan or execute that battle well, either.