Its all about organisational politics.Aber wrote:Not an expert, but there seems to have been conflict between Browning who set up and developed the British Airborne forces, and US commanders who saw him as an empire builder trying to grab control of the US airborne. Part of this was the view of some of the US commanders that US airborne forces should be supporting 12th Army Group, rather than being part of an Allied Army. This was not helped by having Brereton in overall charge.
It should be no surprise that the leg infantry and armour commanders of the 12 AG thought airborne was a waste of resources and that all that air transport would be better placed in their support.
Nor that the airborne enthusiasts were keen supporters of Market Garden. This was about the only proposal to use the expensively recruited and trained airborne army in a strategic role, rather than as a tactical adjunct to seaborne landings.
For more of this kind of thinking check out my interpretation of the campaign on the New Mission Verbs section of ARRSE. http://www.arrse.co.uk/community/thread ... st-3984952 (NSFW)