A Bridge Too Far Page #4

So for God's sake,

keep your tanks on the move.

Good God Almighty.

That's just the 101st.

The other two groups

are on the northern route.

H hour in 90 minutes.

- I'd better be going, sir.

- Right you are, Joe.

- Any last-minute changes, Bob?

- Yes, sir.

If the advance runs into difficulty, we

call in the Air Force with purple smoke.

First class.

And good luck, Joe!

Thank you, sir.

Think you'll be able

to manage it?

I've got nothing else planned

for this afternoon.

I told you you should have had

the bloody thing out.

What the hell's that?

It's flak.

General Bittrich!

In here, Matthias.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Just once to have

such power in my hands.

Red on.

Come on, move yourselves!

If there's no more opposition than this

on the road, we should be all right.

Where the hell

do you think you're going?

B Company, to me!

A Company, over there!

Excuse the interruption,

Field Marshal, but...

British paratroopers

have landed...

three kilometers from here.

Why should they do that?

There is nothing

important here.

Me! I am important.

They must all be coming

just to capture me.

Call my chauffeur and car.

Evacuate the headquarters.

And don't forget my cigars.

General!

- You all right?

- Yeah.

Okay, you guys,

gather your stuff and move!

- This is it, Jim.

- Okay, sir.

You okay?

Right! Let's go!

Then keep trying.

There must be someone there!

My apologies.

I can get no sense from anybody.

They say thousands of troops

are dropping over Holland.

- Yes, west of Arnhem.

- Right on top of Field Marshal Model.

I can't get through

to his headquarters.

A strong force has landed

south of Nijmegen.

Nijmegen?

They're after the bridge.

That doesn't matter.

Perhaps they've landed

in the Field Marshal's soup.

Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you?

Now listen.

I'll take care of Arnhem.

You get to Nijmegen

as fast as you can.

Take anything that'll move...

every man that can walk,

and hold the bridge.

No. Field Marshal Model.

Nothing must cross it.

Is that clear?

You must hold that bridge

under any circumstances.

- Understood?

- Clear.

Ryan and Ross,

come with me.

Cover the right flank.

How far away is headquarters?

Half a mile.

Maybe more.

Brigadier Lathbury's

just left, sir.

Johnny Frost and the 2nd Battalion

are on the river road.

Good.

Thank you, Baker. Any news of

Freddie Gough's jeep squadron?

- It's unconfirmed...

- It's rather bad luck, sir.

Considering how few gliders

we lost on the way in.

It appears that a lot of

the special jeeps failed to arrive...

and those that did have been

badly shot up in an ambush.

So no one's going to get

to Arnhem Bridge except on foot.

Splendid.

They must be from the lunatic asylum,

located on the far side of the wood.

They escaped when

it was bombed this morning.

Do you think they know

something we don't?

All guns, commence firing!

Right, get moving.

Get moving.

Driver, advance.

Start the purple!

Start the purple!

Take cover!

- Loading!

- Fire!

Get the wounded down the line.

Get that wreck off the road.

Joe, how the hell...

How the hell do they expect us

to keep to schedule on a road like this?

You don't know the worst.

- This bit we're on now...

- Yes?

It's the wide part.

Peter, the general's coming in.

- How's it going now?

- Not too well, sir.

We haven't been able to make contact

with General Browning...

So no one knows

we've arrived safely.

Not as far as we know, sir.

What about those VHF sets?

Well, sir, it appears the sets have

been delivered with the wrong crystals.

- So they're quite useless?

- Yes, sir, I'm afraid they are.

Are Brigadier Lathbury and Colonel Frost

aware of what happened...

- to the special jeep squadron?

- Not as far as we know.

At the moment we're unable to contact

any of the units moving into Arnhem.

Not a very satisfactory

state of affairs.

We can't quite understand it.

It's perfectly good equipment.

Then for God's sake,

get it sorted out...

before we have a bloody disaster

on our hands.

Sir.

Hancock...

I've got lunatics

laughing at me from the woods.

My original plan has been scuppered

now that the jeeps haven't arrived.

My communications

have completely broken down.

Do you really believe

that any of that can be helped...

by a cup of tea?

Couldn't hurt, sir.

Forgive me for returning,

Field Marshal.

I must press for permission...

if it becomes necessary...

to blow up the bridges

at Arnhem and Nijmegen.

That is out of the question.

Never.

Is that clear?

We need them

for our counterattack.

Counterattack?

With what?

Paratroopers cannot fight long.

They are too lightly equipped.

Isolated they are lost.

I have spoken

to Von Rundstedt.

All reinforcements

come to us first.

Every hour we get stronger

and they grow weaker.

- But if we blow the bridges...

- They don't want the bridges.

Do you really think

if they wanted the bridges...

they would have landed

It's ridiculous.

Thank you for the tea.

Our lightning-like assault

on Arnhem Bridge...

is certainly a smashing success.

I've an aversion to apples.

I'm so sorry.

I'm sure the Germans will

be thunderstruck with surprise.

- Are there many of you?

- Yes, there are thousands of us.

- Thank you for coming.

- Thank you.

Look here, this isn't

a victory parade.

Come on, sir,

enjoy the moment.

I will enjoy the moment

when we reach the bridge...

and when we find the bridge intact.

It will be.

Things couldn't be going better.

- Nothing's wrong.

- I know. That's exactly what is wrong.

Jesus Christ!

Stay down!

Sh*t.

There's still no contact.

Then keep at it.

I shall be back shortly.

Brigadier Lathbury can't have gone

that far. All right, Brown.

I'm sure we'll have them fixed

by the time you get back, sir.

Can you get a message down

to 30th Corps on that dingus?

Yes, sir. We just got word

from the 82nd up ahead.

They've captured the Grave Bridge

completely intact.

That's terrific,

except 30th Corps...

ain't about to reach

the goddamn intact Grave Bridge...

until the goddamn Son Bridge

gets fixed.

Tell our British cousins

to hustle up some Bailey stuff.

I'll meet 'em in Eindhoven

when they get there.

Tell those schmucks to do this right and

have their Bailey stuff at the front.

Got that?

And be sure to say please.

Joe, I make it just over six miles

to Eindhoven.

We won't make it tonight.

It'll be dark shortly.

Well, I hope to God the 101st

can hang on till tomorrow.

Giles, remember what the general said:

"We're the cavalry."

It would be bad form

to arrive in advance of schedule.

In the nick of time

would do nicely.

These plans should have

been left in England.

They're top secret.

And now we have all we need...

units, defense plans,

objectives...

and the schedule

for further drops.

I have prepared Nijmegen Bridge

for demolition...

if I blow it up tonight.

This Operation Market Garden

must fail.

Why do all my generals

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