A bridge too far - question

[Jonathan M]

When i'm right they called Joachim Peiper in the movie Battle of the Bulge Hassler

regards erwin

Probably due to the Malmedy incident. If i remember correctly (havnt seen the film for a long time) he was a Heer soldier as well wasnt he?

[Spanish Freiwillige]

Paul,
Take a look at the SS officer who leads the attack on the bridge ...around his neck a set of British Barr and Stroud naval binoculars , they might even be a civilian set.
A movie will never get things quite "right" or "as it was" ABTF gets it more "right" than most have done.

I thought they were hensold civilian model

[John Pic]

A Bridge too Far and Cross of Iron came out in theaters simultaneously in America. I saw them together when double features were the norm here.I will never forget what I thought the first time..good entertainment. One of my favorite scenes is the two British soldiers sneaking up to use a flame thrower on the pillbox and igniting the ammo supply.

Ive always wondered and tried to find out if the character of the British officer who tried to warn Browning of the panzers and was told to stay home, was a real figure in the event.

[Paul70]

I watched a history channel special on ABTF and the whistle blower was real and was sent on a mental leave for his fears that the operation might fail ........ now is the history channel right??????

[Paul B]

A Bridge too Far and Cross of Iron came out in theaters simultaneously in America. I saw them together when double features were the norm here.I will never forget what I thought the first time..good entertainment. One of my favorite scenes is the two British soldiers sneaking up to use a flame thrower on the pillbox and igniting the ammo supply.

Ive always wondered and tried to find out if the character of the British officer who tried to warn Browning of the panzers and was told to stay home, was a real figure in the event.

John and Paul

The officer was Major Brian Urquhart of the Dorset Regiment, serving as an Intelligence officer on the staff of 1st Airborne Division.

Urquhart had misgivings about the strength of the enemy presence in the Arnhem area due to information received from Dutch resistence sources, and ordered more low-level photo recons of the area, as shown in the movie. How the situation panned out is fairly accurately depicted in the film, with the exception that the the officer is renamed as "Major Fuller", mainly because the commander of 1st Airborne -as played by Sean Connery- was also called Urquhart and it was felt that this may be confusing to the audience. Major Urquhart was sent on sick leave, but after the war had a very successful career in industry.

Not shown in the movie -as it was not actually in the public domain at the time- was that senior officers were already well aware of the German strength in the area due to intercepted signals traffic deciphered by codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Modern research suggests that this in itself was damaging, as it seems some German units may have overestimated their weaknesses in supplies and equipment in these signals to buy themselves more time to rest and refit. Thus although it was known that these units were in the vicinity, their combat potential was undervalued. There also seems to have been a real feeling among the senior ranks of 1st Airborne that even if there was significant enemy in the area the risk was worth taking.

Hope this is of some interest, all the best

Paul.