Led World War II Attempt to Capture ‘A Bridge Too Far’ : Retired British Gen. R.E. Urquhart

Maj. Gen. Robert Elliott Urquhart, British commander at a heroic but ill-fated battle for a vital bridge over the Rhine River, has died, his family reported Thursday. He was 87.

The commander, whose attempt to capture and secure the bridge at Arnhem, the Netherlands, in September, 1944, was portrayed by actor Sean Connery in the three-hour film “A Bridge Too Far,” died Tuesday at his home near Stirling, Scotland.

The widely publicized World War II struggle was part of Operation Market Garden, a bold attempt to bring a swift end to the war. Of the more than 10,000 soldiers of Urquhart’s Red Devils Division who landed at Arnhem, only 2,613 returned. More than 1,200 died and 6,450 were captured. An estimated 12,000 German troops were killed by the British paratroopers.

“There can be few episodes more glorious than the epic of Arnhem,” Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery said.

The battle was the climax of a U.S.-British operation to exploit German disorganization after the Nazi retreat from Normandy resulting from the Allied invasion of Europe three months earlier.

The plan was to capture five river and canal bridges in the Netherlands to open the way for an armored advance into the northern German plain before the onset of winter.

It required the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions to capture bridges at Eindhoven and Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division to capture the one at Arnhem.

Simultaneously with the parachute and glider landings, a ground advance of 64 miles was planned by the British 30th Corps from the Meuse-Escaut Canal along the same axis.

The American operations succeeded. But the British, whose air drops had to be staggered because of a lack of aircraft, encountered unexpected German resistance and were able to capture only the north end of the Arnhem bridge.

The Germans, who were tipped off to the operation when they found plans for the campaign on the body of an American soldier shot down in a glider, heavily outgunned Urquhart’s 10,000 troops.

Bad weather and German assaults on the 30th Corps’ advancing armored column, meanwhile, denied relief for Urquhart’s troops, and their air support was steadily reduced.

Urquhart and his men fought for nine days. But with their ammunition and food virtually exhausted, their casualties rising and no hope of relief in sight, Urquhart ordered a costly breakout.

A total of five Victoria Crosses, Britain’s highest decoration for bravery, were later awarded to Urquhart’s troops.

A doctor’s son, Urquhart was educated at Sandhurst, Britain’s equivalent of West Point, and commissioned into the Highland Light Infantry in 1920.

At 42, he was one of the youngest generals in the British army. Urquhart had no previous experience with airborne forces, was prone to air sickness and had never parachuted when he was called upon to take his division into the Arnhem battle.

However, it was reasoned that his talent as an infantry soldier would be more valuable than airborne experience once the airborne troops were on the ground.

After the war, Urquhart became director general of the Territorial Army, the British army’s part-time reserve, during its reconstruction. He was later appointed commander of British forces in British-ruled Malaya, which became part of Malaysia, and he commanded British troops in Austria from 1952 until his retirement in 1955.