Operation Market Garden (The trucks thread)

[airborne medic]

Chester Wilmot in his 1952 book The Struggle for Europe stated that just before Op Market Garden 1400 British 3-ton trucks were off the road due to faulty pistons which led to supply problems for OMG. This comment is repeated in Ryan -A Bridge Too Far and Horne - Montgomery The Lonely Leader. Someone I know wrote to Horne questioning this and got a reply stating that he wasn't sure where this piece of information came from! I personally wouldn't be happy putting a fact in a book without being 100% happy with it.
Does anyone on the forum know if this figure of 1,400 is true or is it another one of these mythical facts that's been serially repeated by authors who fail to carry out proper research like the 'fact' that all the Recce Squadron jeeps failed to get to Arnhem- when in fact 28 out of 32 did......

[Gotthard Heinrici]

I dont know if its a myth but I'm sure someone here will be able to shed some light on it and its a good start for a thread!

[sapper]

IT is absolute rubbish about the three tonners.. they were a completly reliable truck, ours never broke down and they travelled from Sword to Bremen.

Wonderful how these authors quote from each others sources. The three tonner was great wagon, we took all ours from Normandy and the Market Garden offensive, Not one broke down, Not even when they drivers were driving from Normandy to Holland in shifts driving almost nonstop with petrol and arms supplies on the RED BAll route.

Where in heavens name do these stories come from? 1400 trucks broke down, In your dreams mate! its just another anti British fairy tale.
Sapper

[plant-pilot]

And there speaks one who should know

[sapper]

I do know Friend, The three tonner passenger seat has a round opening over head, where the Bren gunner stands with the gun ready for firing. I travelled for miles like that. And bloody uncomfortable it is. or was!
Sapper Seriously, I thought the story about 1400 trucks breaking down, was so ridiculous that it is laughable.
believe me. But time after time all sorts of weird and wonderful stories arise.Most of them utter and complete rubbish...Dreamed up by someone that wants to sell a book.
Sapper

[Aber]

Originally Posted by Gotthard Heinrici

I dont know if its a myth but I'm sure someone here will be able to shed some light on it and its a good start for a thread!

Wilmot's source is quoted as:

'The Administrative History of the Operations of the 21st Army Group p47'

if anyone wants to look it up

[plant-pilot]

The questions to ask are:-

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 due to normal breakdowns?

4. If not, does the 1400 include vehicles destryed or damaged by ememy action?

Now I don't know the answers to these questions, but I would say that if the figure does not represent a viable percentage of vehicles off the road due to breakdown, taking into account Sappers testimony to the vehicle's reliability, and the figure doesn't include vehicles damaged by action, then we can conclude that the fact may have beed grabbed from nowhere in order to make an 'interesting read'. Other possibilities include that the 'fact' has been misunderstood and may have included all trucks, but as it's just as bad to include incorrect information in a factual reference book as to make something up, I'll ignore it here.

[airborne medic]

As i started this thread I would like to point out in repsonse to this comment:

'Where in heavens name do these stories come from? 1400 trucks broke down, In your dreams mate! its just another anti British fairy tale.
Sapper'

It is not my dreams it's there in black and white in at least three books written by Wilmot, Ryan and Horne...

[airborne medic]

I would like to thank plant-pilot for the sensible reply to my thread. If it helps it is said that OMG from the Dutch border to Arnhem would have involved around 20,000 vehicles. I must check out how many vehicles were in the 1st AB Divs seaborne tail.....I think about 1,000.

[plant-pilot]

Originally Posted by airborne medic

As i started this thread I would like to point out in repsonse to this comment:

'Where in heavens name do these stories come from? 1400 trucks broke down, In your dreams mate! its just another anti British fairy tale.
Sapper'

It is not my dreams it's there in black and white in at least three books written by Wilmot, Ryan and Horne...

It is understood that it is there in black & white, but we have testimony from Sapper who was there, that the trucks were very reliable. There are three references to the same figure. That could either mean that it is correct and there were a huge amount of trucks or the figure is wrong and was included in one book and repeated by other authors who took the figure from the book or source which was in error.

It's not a reflection on you, as with the information you had you asked a very valid question.