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Recently I read Stephen E. Ambrose's brilliant book Pegasus Bridge. It is about the troops of D Company, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry who captured the two bridges on the Orne River on D-Day. After June 6th, D Company (a highly trained, specialist unit) was used as a regular infantry company and battered into nothing. At the end of the book, Ambrose theorises that if they had been withdrawn after the landings, D Company could've made a difference at Arnhem or Nijmegen.

So let's say they were withdrawn and Brigadier Kimberley, Brigadier Poett and Major General Gale convince Montgomery that a coup de main would be beneficial at Nijmegen and Arnhem.

Obviously, there is only one D Company so an American unit would probably be used at Nijmegen while D Company land at Arnhem. Let's talk about Arnhem first.

D Company would manage to take the road bridge and, if equipped with decent antitank guns, hold it for a while until reinforced. If Spindler's initially small battlegroup of 120 is overrun in the early chaos of the battle by 1 and 3 Para, then many problems are solved. 1 and 3 Para tie down the 9th Battalion in Arnhem while 2 Para reinforce the bridge. The 9th Recon don't cross the bridge but this doesn't change much. On Day 2, both sides get reinforcements and I can see a stalemate occurring in Arnhem, while the perimeter is expanded and perhaps some of the German units to the west of Arnhem are defeated. Now let's have a look at Nijmegen.

The landings of the 508th Parachute Regiment were hopelessly unorganised. A glider attack would only be facing a dozen or so guards and would easily take the bridge. When they are reinforced by the 508th, with no misunderstanding between Colonel Lindquist and Major General Gavin, the bridge is firmly in allied hands. Model is limited in the reinforcements he can send, as Arnhem is in allied hands but the bridge is held. The bulk of the 82nd will probably still get bogged down in Grave and XXX Corps arrives on the 19th. With the bridge in friendly hands, they roll onwards towards Arnhem.

At Arnhem, the 1st Airborne have probably retreated a bit in Oosterbeek, but the arrival of the XXX Corps and further reinforcements later on definitely helps them. I'm not 100% sure what happens next, but as the 101st and 82nd become more secure and reinforcements arrive from Belgium, Model may order a retreat further into the Netherlands or into Germany in the last week of September. Depends on how much Hitler decides to interfere too.

I'm not sure on how plausible this is and I know there were many other issues like Eisenhower not giving OMK a very high priority and poor defences against tanks but I think this may be a concept not suggested before. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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