'A Bridge Too Far' Then & Now - Nijmegen Bridge
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Fulfilling a childhood ambition to drive across the Waal Road Bridge at Nijmegen in the Netherlands, famous for its role in Operation Market Garden and the film 'A Bridge Too Far'.
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA, is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.o...
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; A Bridge Too Far (Dir: Sir Richard Attenborough, 1977); A London Inheritance; City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
NOTE: This video is not monetised, and all clips and photos included under the terms of Fair Use for educational purposes only.
As a young G.I. in 1984 I got to march across the bridge during the annual "Nijmegen Marches," or "Vierdaagse" in Dutch. It was a great time, and I really enjoyed the historic significance and Dutch hospitality!
My elder brother (a British ‘squaddie’) also took part in the Nijmegen Marches around the same time as you.
I think almost every NATO member country sent teams, and even some non-NATO countries were represented. As you know, we marched 40km per day for four days, and we tried to drain the Netherlands of beer every night!
Did you then receive the walking medal?
@@rolfagten857 - My brother did, along with several other ‘marching’ medals.🏅
@@AtheistOrphan wear them proudley ! The Dutch NSB (collaborators party) had in the 1930's also walking medals.
WOW! I live in Nijmegen! I am 16 and have been interested in Nijmegen and history in general. I could tell you everything about my city and the history of my province, Gelderland! If you’d like to see photos and original maps of Nijmegen, you can ask me! Thank you for making this video!
@@Elatenl Meer geschiedenis dan je denkt makker
This is nothing to do with history but your hometown team of NEC Nijmegen are the only other football team in the world apart from the team I support (Glentoran FC) who play in red, green and black.
Yess ik ook! Gaaf om te zien!
He, een mede Nijmegenaar! 👏
💖
*a bridge too far theme intensifies*
Hey, you were in my city! So amazing to see that bridge that I drive across every day holds such a special place to you. You should have come in the summer, There's like popup cafe's underneath it where people can sit and relax, enjoy a band. or DJ. The Waalbrug as we call it is special to the people of Nijmegen. It is our symbol and driving across it from north to south feels like coming home. To the west, where the the brave men of the 82nd crossed the river in little boats, a new bridge has been built, exactly where they crossed, which is now called The Crossing in their honor. It has 48 lights, one for each soldier that died in the crossing and they go on every evening, one at a time. And people walk along the lights, the Sunset March, every evening.
Please tell the local government to clear up the graffiti on the bridge!
@@MarkFeltonProductions Good idea. I see the waters were much higher 70 years ago... 3:09
Thank you for honoring their memory and sacrifice.
@@MarkFeltonProductions Believe me, we want nothing more. The bridge was receiving major renovations 2 years ago. But it ended up costing too much, so the national government, which paid for it, decided to skip the paintjob and postpone it. Much to the chagrin of the locals, but there is little we can do. The paint that was used in the previous renovation is a little, shall we say, toxic? It requires specialist treatment to remove. Although if it were up to me I'd round up the local football hooligans. It's mostly their stupid graffiti that's on it.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Charge the hooligans for the cost of clean up. That will quickly end the problem.
My favourite thing on TH-cam is WW2 "Then and Now" videos. Even better when they appear on Mark Felton's channel.
I took part in the Nijmegen marches back in 1969 and earned myself the Queen Juliana medal. It was a brilliant four-day march and the Dutch were fantastic. I had two beautiful Dutch girls holding my hands, encouraging me, for the last two miles. One of my most treasured memories.
Love the music from A Bridge Too Far. Still one of the best war movie scores ever written.
agree
In the September 1987 I rode my Suzuki 1100 motorcycle the whole length of the XXX Corps planned route. It gave a whole different appreciation of the scale of the plan and why it proved to be impossible in the final execution despite huge effort by all the troops involved. Brave men and much blood on a perfect plan that didn't have enough margin for the myriad of small things that always go wrong.
As the saying goes,
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
No plan survived Montgomery's ineptitude!
Moltke was right, but there's also Clausewitz's saying: "In war, even the simplest things are difficult."
I always heard it "No plan survives first contact in tact"
Or the Mike Tyson corollary: “Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Great bike and great ride!
My grandfather was 82nd airborne 504th and a pathfinder for the whole war. He jumped into Graves as a pathfinder and joined up with a heavy weapons platoon stick before taking over the now Thompson bridge in Graves. What most people dont know if they base their knowledge of the battle in Nijmegen off the movie was a bit different than real life. The island in the Waal was not there in 44. My grandfather crossed in the 2nd and 3rd crossing of the river. He had to actually cross back and get another radio with the return trip as his first was shot. There was multiple crossings. Secondly the battle across the river was not fast like in the movie. It took them almost 7 hours of fighting to reach the north end of the bridge from the shore. Besides that my grandfather said the movie wasn't all of that off. They did have to use their rifles to paddle as they did not have enough paddles. There were snipers in the bridge itself. There was also another unit with the boats getting them across who would take them back for the next wave. I don't have the papers on me and can't say which exact unit. The battle was fierce and he really liked the movie.
A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting and staying in a boat hotel under the bridge. There's an amazing museum nearby in Groesbeck. Also the sunset bridge memorial crossing was amazing.
salutation !
Thank you for sharing.
As a history person living in Nijmegen i never expected there to be any interest in the city from outside. Cool to see people show interest from the outside. Also, if you ever visit again, i do some hardcore metal-detecting and digging around the area, since your grandfather was in the 82nd, i have some relics for you that you can have. :) mainly some 82nd parachute pieces and parachute coords. I also have some empty M1 clips i found near the bridge if you want them. I always try and find relics with names on them so i can return them to either family or the vet himself, but i havent bin lucky yet. Would be cool to return some related relics to you.
@@prank_name3126 goede dag, mede Nimwegenaar!
@@samuelclaessens7699 goede dag!
It’s good to see the historical bridge that survived the operation market garden still stands today.
Some years ago I spoke to a veteran of the battle, he was in the Royal Artillery and had to set up AA batteries around the bridge, there were two really harrowing memories in particular that haunted him all his life and part of his suggested therapy was to talk about it more and to re-visit the bridge which he did with his family, he said to me it all seemed a bit silly and unnecessary to go all that way when he was fine about it, until he clapped eyes on that bridge again, the next thing he knew he was running full tilt on that motorway to get across and only his young son in law was quick enough to catch him and prevent him causing an accident, after that day he said he realised he had to start listening to people and taking advice on how to deal with his PTSD, He was a lovely genuine guy and I was honoured and humbled that he chose to share his experience's with me that day.
What an idiot that son in law. He should have left him enjoy the excitement of being back in that bridge.
I did the same drive about 6 years ago, also fulfilling a childhood dream. Thanks for the A Bridge Too Far music as well. One of the great soundtracks of all time. God bless!
Wow, the bridge hasn’t really changed at all! I love the historical work you do. Keep up the good work! Big fan of yours out of Detroit, MI USA
Except for the universal vandals who have to tag everything because there is nothing in their lives or in their heads.
@@389383 Do you know about all of the ancient Petroglyphs and pictographs all around the world? They are the same thing as what is presently called "tagging"
Don’t try to justify it goon.
This video is a little funny to me because unlike your normal videos with well-researched and thorough scripts, it didn't teach us a huge load of information. But this is one of my favorite videos you've done because it's such a historically significant place and you've presented it in a scale and grandeur that it deserves from that event. Great stuff as always!
I think this time Dr. Felton just let the images speak for themselves.
Never seen anything quite like this. Mark turned a four minute movie into a Blockbuster!
Dr, Felton, thank you for this episode it brought back memories for me, of a time when history was still taught in High School. Back in the 70s, I had a professor who was dedicated, a gift to his profession and students. thank you for your dedication to history and teaching the facts.
I was there with my band back in the early 90's and we had a few hours of free time, and I was able to walk through the very area of the fighting. Walking in the same footsteps of great people is good enough for a humble man such as myself. We drove over the bridge the day after our show. It's a sacred place where heroes fought and died on both sides.
There were no Wermacht heroes.
Dr Felton, thanks for this video. I just watched A Bridge Too Far because of this video. Great movie.
One of my favorite movies. A bridge too far!! I watched these movies as a kid over and over. What a thrill to actually be there. I would have walked the bridge and definitely gone to Arnhem! Thanks for showing us what the bridge looks like today.
Dont go to Arnhem
If you visit Nijmegan, try and go to Grosbeek, there are areas where the gliders landed and the wood held by the Germans who pinned the allied forces down, My uncle was a para at Nijmegem and every evening the bridge lights illuminate one by one to remember the fallen, very emotional.
The Nijmegen bridge that was filmed in "a bridge to far " was filmed in Nijmegen at the original bridge . I was at the bridge the day the filmed was taken .
There was no normal traffic ,only the tanks,infantery etc. ( German first and British /American later )It was an exiting day !
"The bridge to far "in Arnhem was taken in Deventer. Reason was that in Deventer the municipality cooperated willingly and there where a lot of similair buildings around the bridge (although fake building were build as well.)
Dear Dr.Felton you did a good job .
In a word; “FANTASTIC” well done Mark!
Nice to see the bridge I live nearby featured by such a big channel! Did you know the other bridge near it (not the train but the "Oversteek") has 48 pairs of light on it that light up each night one by one, remembering each of the falling soldiers during this operation. Every night, veterans march this bridge in remembrance of this since 2013. Every night, for nearly 10 years, and it's still going on. Everyone is welcome to join as well, it's called the "Sunset March"
Visited here in 2019, just to see the bridge! It is astounding what the area had been through!
Btw nijmegen is netherlands oldest city!
You're very generous with your knowledge, thank you Sir!
A few years back I was quite excited to find myself near Arnhem. Even though I know the Arnhem bridge was destroyed I thought it would have been interesting to see the site. As it turned out we stayed too long at the Son-in-laws parents in Deventer. As we were leaving I looked up at the Deventer Bridge and said, "Hey! This looks like..." Apparently they made the movie "A Bridge Too Far" using the Deventer Bridge as it resembled the Arnhem Bridge during the war. Or so I was told by my son-in-law.
The Arnhem bridge was built in 1936, demolished by the Dutch Army in 1940, rebuilt to the same design and opened in August 1944. The paint was still curing in September when it was set on fire by the British flame thrower attack duringthe operation. It was then bombed by the USAAF after Market Garden in October 1944, and finally replaced with the original design again in 1950. The bridge itself looks exactly like the original, but the surrounding buildings are modern office blocks replacing the original housing, so it was unsuitable for filming. Deventer has a bridge of the same design and the town looks like wartime Arnhem. It also had a convenient car park next to the bridge ramp, so they constructed fake houses on that area which they could destroy as the battle progresses through the film.
I used to bike across this piece of history daily for years, I miss Nijmegen sometimes
The soundtrack was the perfect touch! What a neat drive!!
I appreciate your inclusion of historical photos and videos in your films..
Thank you, Professor Felton, for the historical video comparisons then and now..........
Greatings from Nijmegen. Love your clips!
A Bridge Too Far......WOW......Neat Bucket List check- off !
Thanks Dr. Felton for your taking us on trips. Great stuff!
It’s a mother, loving, beautiful bridge! Thank you Professor for this wonderful video!
Had the pleasure of walking across this bridge back in July during this year’s 4Daagse march as part of one of this year’s USMIL detachments. Whole bunch of fun, makes the Netherlands my favorite country in the world (After America, or course)
I was attending the 4Daagse march this year and because of day 1 cancellation (39 C heat), none of the marchers could go over the Nijmegen bridge. Did get to go over Grave bridge on day 4.
@@marks_sparks1 It might have been, I was so tired by day 4 (3) that I don’t remember which bridges I went over.
@@Michael-yu2yk that's understandable regards tireness. The last 10 km to Charlotte Field on day 4 - I was literally put 1 foot forward with the only amazing crowd just willing me on. Its an experience. Have to do the full 4 days march in 2023.
I love the “then and now” pictures and films. Give us some more if you can. Nice job, Mark!
Thank you Sir for the Video
Mark this is one of your best!...fantastic!... thanks so much for sharing!!
I was stationed in West Germany 83-85. far too young to have appreciated the sites I could have seen.
Thank you, again, for the adventures in world history.
How cool! It always feels so great to actually visit places where great events of history occurred. Thanks for this!
The fact that you used the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies for context makes a good video....even better.
Mark. Thanks for providing my Monday night entertainment!
I was born and raised in this beautiful city, and i still live and work here. It still gives me a warm welcome when i come back from a roadtrip, thats what makes our bridge a special bridge. 😇
A remarkable work, thanks Mark. Great narrative. Great editing. I like how you blended the personal (childhood dream) with the historical. Wished that school history lessons had been as captivating. Greetings from Australia.
How awesome is that, Mark??? Thanks for sharing this milestone with us, I don't think I'll ever get to cross that bridge.
Nijmegen has been through so much throughout history, sadly alot of that has been destroyed or demolished but gladly the bridge still stands. I love sitting near the river with the bridge in the background
The only thing the Germans did right in Nijmegen is actually rebuilding the bridge after the Dutch blew it up in 1940!
I saw “A Bridge Too Far” in the theater when it was released…still love that movie
thank you Dr felton i used to ride over this bridge almost everyday
Thanks for the look at this iconic piece of history.
What an awesome video
Thanks Dr. Felton!
Wow this is amazing its really unchanged. Thanks Mark
Excellent..
Fantastic music too behind the video to complement another great historical presentation..🍻🖖
Excellent! Thanks Mark.
Nice editing and mixing of old & recent shots of the bridge. 👌.
I first seen "A bridge too far" when I was thirteen and hundred times since. I am 56. Love your channel Mark.
Have marched over Nijmegen bridge a few times. Good memories.
Excellent.
Him driving on the bridge with the music from the movie overlayed brought a smile to my face.
I remember seeing the movie in the theater ,it was good to see the actual bridge , thank you.
I've only been abroad once and this is where I went , always been fascinated by operation Market Garden.
All because of watching the film as a kid.
It's an area well worth visiting.
Thank you Dr Felton! This was an inspiring and emotional video to watch. I didn't realize the same bridge seized so heroically and at such great cost by a combined force from each of our nations was still standing to this day.
Awesome! Thank you for making this!
A fantastical historical coverage about that bridge 🌉 and that famously crossed during WW2... Dr. Mark Felton's production channel is always selecting excellent subjects
OUT STANDING!!!. You hit it out of the ballpark again Mark.
You have made me remember about the wonderful movie "A bridge too far"... Tonight I'm gonna watch it... Thanks Mark... it's amazing video
Professor Felton, another excellent video.
Excellent work, Mark!
goed om mijn historische stad Nijmegen te zien.
It's good to see my historical home town, Nijmegen.
Using the fantastic music score from A Bridge Too Far was an especially nice touch.
Awesome video. Thanks Mark.
🦊As always , a fascinating video Dr Felton 👍🙏
Thanks Dr. Mark Felton, love your video's! keep up the good work, or as they say in the Netherlands: ''Dankjewel'' ga zo door!
I cross that bridge about 10 times per year. Whenever you get back here you should go see the John S. Thompson bridge in Grave. In fact a part of Market Garden that did not get a lot of attention but the only part of MG that went very well. Thanks for your video.
Keep 'em coming Mark!
Another one of your best episodes Dr. Felton! Beautifully done! Thank you!
Brilliant! I was obsessed with the film and the story as a child. Thanks for this.
Thank you once again Dr. Felton . All the best sent for the Holiday Season and all future endeavors in 2023 .
We sure love your history lessons here in America Mr Mark you not only tell the story you many times take us on location of the actual events well done
Wonderful. Thank you for 2022 and Happy Xmas,.
Im from Nijmegen as well! Right now I pass one of the bunkers almost everyday. Glad that you are making a video about this!
Great stuff Mark! I truly loved the film and seeing you drive the route was very entertaining.
Bob
England
Thank you, Dr. Felton. This was wonderful.
Thank you Sir!
Fantastic job documenting this hallowed crossing, then, and now! The Dutch also have much to proud of as it really is o lovely place. Lovely people. We should never forget these men and their valiant effort to free the world of Tyrany. Thank you Again for sharing!
Best Wishes and Merry Christmas Dr. Felton
Excellent video. Thank you
Interresting movie fact: The Arnhem part of the movie A bridge too far wasn't shot at the Arnhem bridge. When they went scouting for locations for the movie, they found that there was nothing left from the old situation surrounding the bridge so they filmed that part at a very similar bridge in Deventer, 35km from Arnhem at the Wilhelmina bridge. They even rebuilt houses near the bridge specifically for the movie.
Thank you that was great to walk us in the footsteps of 1944 and show us history that is one of the places to go on my bucket list well done. ✌
Very nice. It is always wonderful visiting a historic sight one has studied.
brilliant and the music to go along with it
Another great episode!
Amazing. History is just awesome
My dad was in the 4th Armored Division band 1957-59 and on the anniversary of this battle they played at the ceremony in Nijmegen. Dad’s pics of the event are outstanding. Thanks!
Another great job Mark. Thank you. It is good that you do videos like this. The world needs reminded of history and things that have happened. Only by looking back at history can we as humans keep from repeating the same mistakes again.
Wonderful way to knock it off your bucket list. Hope you have a good festive season and thank you for all you research posted here for us to enjoy. Cheers and stay safe.
Fantastic film score by the composer John Addison, who was actually in XXX Corps during "Market Garden"!
Hi Mark, although I’m a follower of your channel, I must have missed this video until now. Very nice you visited my hometown. Not a day is going by that we are thinking of WWII since the heart of Nijmegen was bombed in ‘44.
Thank you for making all these very important videos.
Best of luck.
Merry Christmas Mark, I grew up in Nijmegen. I will forward this video to my family.
So cool to see you cover my hometown! Ive lived here all my life and now study at the city's university. Thanks for the content!
Fantastic little video, Mark!