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==The campaign==
The movie was very committed to show the real campaign and in general, it does illustrate how the battle unfolded. It does somewhat simplify what happened but it gives a good overview of the fighting and the operation. The first day of the campaign went well and the allied paratroopers seized, several key targets including several bridges. By the second day, the paratroopers began to take heavy casualties. It also correctly shows the contribution of the Dutch Resistance to the Allied cause. In one memorable scene, we see Dutch resistance fighters using dead bodies for barricades and this occurred. The Germans were able to respond very quickly to the airborne attacks. In one scene in the movie, the Germans are shown as detonating explosives that they had rigged to a bridge. This is what happened. The movie also shows very accurately the ferocity of the German resistance. It shows how the Germans could slow down the advance of the Brtish unit the Irish Guards as they tried to move forward along the narrow Dutch roads<ref> Ryan, p. 234</ref>. The geography of Holland helped the German defenders because the British tanks could not drive off the roads because of the many canals. This meant that the Nazis inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing allies and fatefully slowed down their advance. The movie, which is quite long even for a Hollywood blockbuster shows nearly all the key battles, including how the Americans were able to capture the bridge at Nijmegen by rowing across the river and attacking the Germans from behind. The movie shows very accurately the importance of the SS 9th and 10th Division and how they helped to pin down the British at Arnhem. Without the intervention of the elite SS troops, the British would have been able to secure their objective at Arnhem, that is to secure hold the bridge until an armored divisor division arrived. However, the SS with their tanks were too much for the lightly armed paratroopers. The significance of Arnhem to Operation Market Garden is also shown in the film. A Bridge Too Far correctly shows that the British and Americans captured all the bridges except the key one at Arnhem and this is correct <ref>Badsey, Stephen. Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden (London: Osprey Publishing, 1993), p. 267</ref>. Indeed, Browning claims in the movie that the operation was 90% as a result. However, the movie shows that because the British paratroopers could not hold the Bridge at Arnhem the offensive was demonstrated to be a costly failure. The rest of the allied army did not reach them in time and this led to their near annihilation by the SS. Attenborough’s movie shows Operation Market Garden to be a failure and this was the case. This is the view held by the Allied High Command at the time and by historians since.
==A Bridge Too Far==