No Op MARKET GARDEN- what instead ?

WI Monty hadn't decided firmly to plan and launch MARKET GARDEN ? What could the Allies have embarked on instead in terms of alternative military ops to drive into Germany and end the war ? How likely could these alternative strategies have facilitated a quicker end to the war ?
 

Dunash

Banned
As Horrocks laments in his book "Corps Commander", if only he had advanced those 10 extra miles from Antwerp into Holland to Putte to cut off the German's holding the Scheldt Estuary along the Beveland Ismthmus, who would prove so useful 12 days later against the airborne landings, as well as delaying the use of the Scheldt to much needed Liberty ships for 3 months, & extracting a heavy toll in Canadian Commandos. As I pointed out in my "WI Less Effective Deutsche Wochenschau=Shorter WW2?" post, the effect of the SS PK footage of the "1e Englischer Luftlanderdivision Elitetruppen" being shot out of the sky at Arnhem galvanised the German nation no end to resist all the way to Berlin. Without Arnhem, the German September retreat might possibly have turned into a depressed rout.
 
Well, Montgomery's resignation and suicide might have been a good alternative to MG, but I suspect that is more ASB than anything else...

Diverting the resources to a continued push in the south by the Americans might have paid some dividends. The terrain was better, the commanders were better, and the US had the reserves to sustain pressure for far longer than the Brits could.
 
Patton or Monty?

My guess would be that the Market Garden resources would have allocated to Patton, who would then just drive on to Berlin... and then attack the Russians :)
 
Suit_N_Tie said:
My guess would be that the Market Garden resources would have allocated to Patton, who would then just drive on to Berlin... and then attack the Russians :)

I agree, with the resources going Patton's way I figure the following:

Patton breaks through the Sigfried Line.

101st, 82nd, 17th AB, & 1st UK AB Divs on a massed drop to secure bridges over the Rhine.

The Western Allies in a race with the USSR for Berlin.
 
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