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A Bridge Too Far (1977) MOVIE REACTION with Market Garden Historian !!

History War Cinema

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Join me and my good friend Sander as we react to the classic World War 2 movie; A Bridge Too Far (1977)
#ww2 #reaction #moviereaction #history #military #worldwar2

Directed by Richard Attenborough
Starring Sean Connery, Michael Cain, Gene Hackman, Ryan O'Neal, Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Hopkins and many more.

Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.

We had lots of fun watching this movie and Sander's expert knowledge of Market Garden gives lots of extra information on this huge operation from World War 2.

Check out Sander's Youtube channel and subscribe if you haven't already done so:
‪@SandervkHistory‬
Want to book Sander for a tour of World War 2 and World War 1 sites? Check out his website:
https://sandervktours.com/
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“This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder. It is a fair use under copyright law.”

00:00 - Intro
06:17 - Reaction
01:14:40 - Recap

20 Comments

@csb7376 1 year ago (edited)

My great uncle was badly wounded and hidden by a Dutch family until he was eventually found and captured. He made it back after the war, but died in the early 1950's from related complications.

@stevesoutar3405 1 year ago

This movie was made when the film makers, the researchers and many of the actors actually remembered going through the war - so the uniforms, the tanks, the aircraft were all still obtainable for filming - although they did make a few changes to compress all the stories and characters into the final cut

@ChrisHill-v5v 1 year ago

My father was born in 1922. He was in the British army from 1942. He was in the Royal engineers. With the American army going up Italy. Repairing the German army had destroyed as they retreated up Italy. Kesselring was a good defensive general. After the war he was lucky not to be shot. He only murdered about 330 people.

@thesentricwing5638 1 year ago

funny fact about the chicken that it's actually accurate during the jump... the name of the chicken: Myrtle the Parachick ...bc they having a short debate themselves over whether or not chickens could fly soo they practiced with the chicken about six times and myrtle was qualified before the operation market garden starts...but sadly the chicken died during the battle...

@stevesoutar3405 1 year ago

When you were discussing those gliders (20 minutes in) - they only had to survive one landing, so they were made as disposable aircraft

@Chris-mf1rm 7 months ago

Can never hear Abide With Me without welling up because of this.

@kenbattor6350 2 days ago

I think the chicken was a unit pet or mascot, so they took it along.

@SandervkHistory 1 year ago

Thanks for having me on Marcel! Was fun to do this!

@WARdROBE_Plays 1 year ago

4:51 on my trip to Europe, i was solo. I would try a tour guide next time so i could focus on the history and locale and less on the travel and logistics.

@stevesoutar3405 1 year ago

You guys probably already know a bit about Major Robert Henry Cain VC - he fought really hard at Oosterbeek, and personally grabbed a Piat anti-tank weapon to engage a StuG III at close range until it was destroyed. Despite being wounded, he refused morphia and went out again to continue engaging enemy armour - deafened from being almost hit multiple times by german tank rounds fired at his positions

I believe he is credited with disabling a Tiger I the next day, and was described by other troops as "a maniac, blackened and covered with blood, with his trousers in rags, rushing from one place to another" - firing repeatedly at enemy tanks to ensure the SS armour could not roll up the flank and encircle the Paras

@HankD13 1 month ago

The failure to take Nijmegen Bridge, while it us virtually undefended on the 1st day was the biggest single cock up (out of many) that sealed the fate of Arnhem. Advance units of XXX Corps reached Nijmegen in the early hours of the third day, the main force by the afternoon - 11 miles (18k) from Arnhem Bridge. Nijmegen Bridge was finally captured on the 4th day, but the 43rd Infantry was no there yet. So it was only on the 5th day they tried to push - but the Arnhem bridge had fallen and German armour blocked their way. If they had been able to push on over a captured bridge on the third day.... who knows. A whole long list of things went wrong, captured plans, radios, weather, no coup-de-main attack on the bridges (fear of AA defences), 2 Panzer Divisions close by. And still XXX reached Nijmegen on the 3rd day! It was still a very close run thing despite so much going wrong.

@davidgray3321 1 year ago

As a Brit my favourite scene is the Parachute Regiment officer blowing the hunting horn, good show, shows the character and traditions of the British.

@WARdROBE_Plays 1 year ago (edited)

19:59 i think para over glider
25:26 man, it brings a tear to my ears seeing these drops, thinking about the guys really going in and the vast numbers. And that we get to see this in color.
26:16 So many chutes: It never snows in September.
30:45 I believe it was lead by a creeping barrage, which is a crazy concept.
43:31 Think about the risk that family is taking those British in.
1:12:01 It didn’t go well for the Dutch after MG.

@redcardinalist 1 year ago (edited)

The SS attack across the bridge was suicidal. Perhaps Grabner; being a member of the SS thought he was somehow invincible? Who knows. What he did discover is that leading a group of lightly armoured vehicles into enemy fire, in an enclosed space = not a good idea.

The reality is that he led across the bridge a convoy of lightly armoured* and unarmoured vehicles right into the concentrated fire of the British and as a cosquence was slaughtered.

*The vehicles that were armoured (mostly 250 halftracks - a smaller recce version of the standard 251 halftrack and various armoured cars) were easliy destoryed in concentrated British firepower.

The movie does a good job overall in reprsenting the German vehicles in mockups

@davidgray3321 1 year ago

I think Lord Carington , the well known British politician in the 1980s was commander of one of those tanks on the Bridge, full credit to the Dutch resistance and their great valour.

@Shaun_Trails_of_History 1 year ago

The Chicken was after a drunken debate if chickens could fly or not so 1 chap to prove his friends wrong took the chicken to release it whilst parachuting to prove they could fly. Sadly the chicken was actually shot and killed whilst in the Soldiers haversack. It was given a burial by the troops.

@ssr481 2 months ago

A dear friend jumped with the 101st Airborne Division into Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. He was wounded a week later (Sept. 23, 1944) and was recovering and missed the Bulge. Wounded again in April 1945 in Germany, he later became a botanist of some renown ... I met him when he was just beginning to trace his WWII steps. He wrote an article that appeared in Issue 127 of After the Battle magazine.

@WARdROBE_Plays 1 year ago (edited)

Love that wall of videos behind you. Surprised you haven’t popped up on my feed before. I watch this with new insight. I was able to walk from Oosterbeek to Arnhem, and visit Nijmegen in 2024 on my first trip to Europe!