Highway to the Reich - Operation Market Garden and the Battle for the Low Countries 1944: Seventy Years On
In September 1944 the Western Allies mounted an audacious attempt to seize a crossing over the Rhine into Germany in a bid to end the Second World War quickly. Yet despite the deployment of thousands of American, British and Polish airborne troops, in conjunction with the efforts of ground forces to link up with them, ultimately at Arnhem in the Netherlands, the plan failed spectacularly and the war continued well into 1945. Famously depicted in the blockbuster film "A Bridge Too Far" (1977) the operation, codenamed Market Garden, has attained iconic status and is the subject of countless books, documentaries and articles, and is subjected to more speculation than almost any other Allied operation of the war.
After seventy years it is time to re-evaluate the importance, impact and outcome of Market Garden, alongside a wider reappraisal of the fighting in the Low Countries in the autumn of 1944. Why did Market Garden take place? Why did it fail? What were the consequences of the operation? How did it impact on the experience of war in the Low Countries in 1944? How and why has it been depicted, studies and commemorated in the years since 1944?
Such questions and issues form the basis of this major international conference, hosted by the University of Wolverhampton’s Department of History, Politics and War Studies.
Academic organisers: Prof John Buckley (J.Buckley@wlv.ac.uk) | Dr Peter Preston-Hough (Peter.Preston-Hough@wlv.ac.uk)
Fees: £75 which includes two lunches, teas and coffees | Concessions and those presenting will have a reduced fee of £65 | Conference Dinner: Details TBA
Converence Venue: University of Wolverhampton, MC Building (Fourth Floor), rooms MC413 / MC414 / MC415, Wulfruna St, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY.
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Programme:
Wednesday 10th September
09.00 Registration
10.00 Introduction and Welcome
10.15 KEYNOTE LECTURE 1: Sebastian Ritchie
11.15 Tea and Coffee
11.45 PANELS
Panel 1:
Elizabeth A Coble: What We Knew When - Allied Intelligence Leading Up to Operation MARKET GARDEN
Stephen Craig: A Medical Bridge Too Far – Medical Support to Operation MARKET GARDEN
Linda Parker: "May the defence of the most high be around us" – The Role of Chaplains within the First Airborne Division at Arnhem
Panel 2:
Phil McCarty: Dangerously Exposed? Divisional Command on the Flanks of MARKET GARDEN, September to December 1944
John Peaty: Operation MARKET GARDEN - The Manpower Factor
Peter Randall: Incorporating Lessons from the Battle for the Low Countries into British Doctrine
01.15 Lunch
02.00 PANELS
Panel 3:
Matt Douglas: A Return to Static Warfare - 10 Canadian Infantry Brigade, Ammunition Shortages and the 10th Independent Machine Gun Company (New Brunswick Rangers)
Paul Latawski: The 1st Polish Armoured Division in the Battle for the Low Countries, August to December 1944 - Enabling Manoeuvre in the Watery Maze
Nigel De Lee: Co-ordination and co-operation in the operations of 4th Special Service Brigade Group on Walcheren Island in November 1944.
Panel 4:
Thomas Withington: Sowing the SEADS – Flak Suppression During Operation MARKET GARDEN
Ross Mahoney: Reorganising Air Power: Dismantling the Allied Expeditionary Air Force from D-Day to MARKET GARDEN and Beyond
James Slaughter: Allied Close Air Support during Operation MARKET GARDEN
03.30 Tea and Coffee
04.00 KEYNOTE LECTURE: Robert Kershaw
CONFERENCE DINNER - Speaker: Peter Caddick-Adams
Thursday 11th September
09.30 PANELS
Panel 5:
Russell Hart: Mission Impossible? The Mobilization of the German Replacement Army and its Role in Thwarting Operation MARKET GARDEN
Marc Hansen: Blocking the Highway to the Reich - A Comparative Analysis of the Combat Performance of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS during Operation MARKET GARDEN
Peter Preston Hough: The Graebner Assault
Panel 6:
Doug McCabe: Taking the Nijmegen Bridges - Participant Stories from the Cornelius Ryan Collection
Roger Cirillo: MARKET GARDEN Campaign Strategy
Robert Fleming: Jumping Into the Fire - The Airborne Strategy of MARKET GARDEN
11.00 Tea and Coffee
11.30 Veterans’ Panel - Chaired by Matthew Lucas
01.00 Lunch
02.00 PANELS
Panel 7:
Stephen Hart: Exploiting MARKET GARDEN - Operation GATWICK: The Offensive that Never Was
John Buckley: VIII Corps Operations - The Aftermath of MARKET GARDEN
Tim Jenkins: Starvation and Sacrifice - The Legacy of MARKET GARDEN
03.30 Tea and Coffee
04.00 Final Keynote: James Holland
05.00 End of Conference
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Contact:
Dr Phylomena Badsey