I'm the least interested in History anyone can be, so I was quite surprised to find myself really interested in the following article from the same newspaper as I mentioned in my last post.

Sixty years ago to the day, Operation Market Garden was launched by the Allies to push into Germany from Holland and bring the Second World War in Europe to a rapid end.

It was the largest airbourne battle in history, involving thousands of aircraft and armoured vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of troops.

The weather was absolutely crucial for the airlift, and meterologists forecast at least two days of clear weather starting on September 17th 1944.

The conditions began well, but the next day fog over England grounded large numbers of reinforcements, while over Germany and northern Holland, the weather cleared and allowed Luftwaffe to attack the invasion force.

Flying conditions continued to be bad for the next three days. By the time the weather cleared, ground operations were going seriously wrong. Many allied troops were running out of supplies whilst the Germans had rushed in reinforcements.

Finally the Allies had to retreat and Operation Market Garden failed, and with it the chance to end the war in 1944.

For the Dutch population that had expected liberation in occupied Holland, the bitterly cold winter that followed brought mass starvation.

Although the Allies had made mistakes in Operation Market Garden, if the fine weather had held on throughout the period, they would have stood a good chance of beating the Germans and driving into Germany, saving countless lives by a quick victory.