Operation Market Garden (The trucks thread)

[sapper]

Stop and think about it friends! can you imagine for a second a narrow thrust up through Holland, littered with 1400 broken down three Tonners 60 miles...That is 23 broken down trucks evey mile, if that does not convince you? nothing will... Think about it , 23 every mile!

It is like so many others, utter Crap! as to the three books being the same? Sure, they quote each others books.

let us look at this in another light,if 1400 trucks broke down just on the Market garden operation, how many trucks broke down during the campaign?

It is so utterly stupid, and make one wonder what or where, these tales come from. 1400 three tonnesr yet we never lost one...Oddly enough we had some damaged by shell fire, but they were soon back in use.
Say the Mg lasted a month the the previous 5 months would have produced 7000 broken down trucks. Try to imagine a battle field littered with seven thouands trucks. You can? then how ever did we get fed?
Its not only tales like this that make me laugh out loud,there are a hundred and one others just as fanciful...And yet there are folk around that want to beleive it..........And do! poor misguided souls.

Sapper

[sapper]

If there is a genuine interest in WW2? then at least keep it within the bounds of reality. anyone know how many yards in a mile? OK then see how many yards you can go before coming across a broken down truck, 23 per mile!

Yet we never lost one, even on the continuous shift driving all the way across France, Belgium, and Holland. We did lose a couple of DRs they got lost, when in fact they were visiting old friends from the 1940s. But they turned up after "finding their way back"

sapper

[Aber]

As I posted above Wilmot's reference is to what looks like an official British Army publication, plus unlike many historians he was around at the time, so I don't think it is a fairy story.

Also the way I read it, the reference is NOT to 1400 broken down lorries, but to a production problem with a batch of engines installed in 1400 trucks. Given the reputation of the British car industry it is plausible - it is a little harder to do a product recall in wartime!

[plant-pilot]

Anyone able to post the exact quote from the book? Might make the problem a little clearer. Rather than us all commenting about hear say.

[sapper]

Amusing...has anyone yet worked out how many yards between each truck being there are 23 per mile. I wonder just what some people would be willing to beleive if it is written in a book. The word gullable comes to mind.
Sapper

[Aber]

Originally Posted by plant-pilot

Anyone able to post the exact quote from the book? Might make the problem a little clearer. Rather than us all commenting about hear say.

"By the start of September all the transport reserves of 21st Army Group were on the road. Imports were cut from 16000 tons a day to 7000 so that transport companies could be diverted from unloading ships to forward supply. This gain, however, was almost offset by the alarming discovery that the engines of 1400 British-built 3-tonners (and all the replacement engines for this particular model) had faulty pistons which rendered them useless. These trucks could have delivered to the Belgian border another 800 tons a day, sufficient to maintain 2 divisions."

Given that Wilmot was a BBC reporter who landed in Normandy on D-Day by glider and so knows what he is talking about, AND that he references this story to a British Army publication, it probably happened.

[Owen]

QUOTE"the engines of 1400 British-built 3-tonners (and all the replacement engines for this particular model) "

That is the point, that particular model.
sapper, your 3 tonners may have been a different model that was better made.
Also they weren't breaking down during OMG but the alledged fault was discovered before.

[plant-pilot]

1. How many 3 Ton Trucks did 21st Army Group have in total?

2. What percentage of that total is 1400 vehicles?

3. Would that be a viable percentage of vehicles to have VOR

So how many 3 ton trucks did 21 Army Group have? And what percentage of the transport was 1400 trucks? The way it's worded does make it apparent that these trucks were not broken down along the road but probably sat useless in a supply depot somewhere. It might even have been back in the UK but they just weren't available when they were needed.

[sapper]

Ok you should have a broken down three tonner every 76 yards along the highway.

[ComradeRomain]

mmm....to me it sounds more like the shipment arrived and then the fault was found. Probably a manufacturing error, it sounds plausible that way, but when you start saying they all broke down in the middle of fighting, it sounds rediculous of course.