15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
==Montgomery's Strategy==
[[File:British paratroopers in Oosterbeek.jpg|thumbnail|270px350px|left|British paratroopers at Arnhem (1944)]]
The allies needed to break the Germans resistance and cross the Rhine in the Low Countries. General Bernard Montgomery, the hero of the British victory at EL Alamein, proposed a daring plan. Field Marshal Montgomery’s goal, as recounted in his memoirs was to invade Germany by securing the bridges over the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands<ref> Montgomery, Bernard Law. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007J1BXO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0007J1BXO&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=1ed80a46adf53fbeae6a37e7dbcb15e2 Normandy to the Baltic]'' (Hutchinson & Co. London, 1947), p. 157</ref>. This idea had several advantages such as by-passing the Siegfried Line. Montgomery wanted an airborne assault in the Netherlands to secure key bridges over the Lower Rhine. This would allow the Allies to enter into the Northern German plains, where there were no natural barriers, to their advance to Berlin.<ref>Burgett, p. 117</ref>