What Eisenhower Did When Montgomery Pushed for Operation Market Garden

In September 1944, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery pushed General Dwight Eisenhower for a single bold thrust into Holland — a plan to seize bridges over the Rhine and end the war before winter. Eisenhower, committed to a cautious broad-front strategy, gave in. He approved Operation Market Garden, diverted scarce fuel and supplies to Montgomery's forces, and even halted Patton's advance to make it happen. What followed was the largest airborne operation in history, and one of the Allies' costliest gambles of the war. This is the story of Eisenhower's decision, and the bridge that proved one step too far.