Corps Of Engineers Boat Launch Pass: Fill & Download for Free

Information on When buying and Using the Senior Pass for Federal Public Lands ……If you're a U.S. citizen or permanent resident age 62 years or older who likes to travel, you'll want to buy a Senior Pass. The Senior Pass allows free access and discounts at National Parks and other federal recreation sites. The official name of the Senior Pass is America the Beautiful—the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. This pass replaced the Golden Age Passport.General Information About the Senior Pass ~~~The Senior Pass is a card available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are 62 years and older. It provides access to recreation areas managed by six federal agencies including National Parks. It also provides the pass owner a discount on some amenity fees, such as camping.As of August 2017,…[ the cost of a lifetime Senior Pass is $80. ] …[ An annual pass is $20. ] An annual pass can be traded for a lifetime pass if four annual passes were purchased in four consecutive years. Annual passes cover two people. Annual passes do not cover expanded amenity fees (e.g., camping).If you have one of the older Golden Age Passports, know that they are still valid for a lifetime and are equivalent to the new Senior Pass. Plastic Golden Age Passports are valid for a lifetime. However, if you want the new Senior Pass, you may purchase one with proof of identification (e.g., driver's license, birth certificate, or similar government-issued document). Paper Golden Age Passports will be exchanged free for the new Senior Passes with proof of identification (e.g., driver's license, birth certificate, or similar government-issued document).How to Obtain the Senior Pass ~~~To be eligible for a pass, you must have turned ( 62 and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. ) …A Senior Pass can be obtained in person from a participating federal recreation site or office. Passes can also be purchased by mail or online at these participating agencies. Additional fees may apply.Bureau of Land ManagementBureau of ReclamationFish and Wildlife ServiceNational Park ServiceU.S. Army Corps of EngineersUSDA Forest ServicePurchase a pass online by uploading documentation issued by an authorized U.S. agency that proves U.S. citizenship or permanent residence and your birthdate. Acceptable documentation is a driver's license, passport, green card, U.S. birth certificate, or state-issued identification card.Purchase a pass by mail and include photocopies of documentation showing your citizenship, permanent residence, and birthdate.If your pass doesn't arrive before your trip, purchase a pass when you arrive at the recreation site. After your pass arrives, return it for a refund. Do not sign it before returning it.Senior Passes are not transferable even between spouses.How to Use the Senior Pass~~~~The Senior Pass admits pass owners and passengers on bicycles or in a non-commercial vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas, and the pass owner plus three adults, not to exceed four adults, where per-person fees are charged. Children younger than 16 years are always free. Only the vehicle with the pass owner is covered. A second vehicle is subject to an entrance fee or must have (or buy) a second pass. This applies even if you are traveling together on two motorcycles.The Senior Pass may also provide the pass owner a discount on some expanded amenity fees such as camping, swimming, boat launching, guided tours, transportation systems, and special-use permit fees. Discounts do not apply at onsite bookstores or gift shops.Photo identification will be requested to verify pass ownership.Where the Senior Pass Can be Used~~~~~The Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers honor the Senior Pass at sites where entrance or standard amenity fees are charged.In addition, the Tennessee Valley Authority may honor the Senior Pass. Visitors are always encouraged to contact the site they plan to visit and inquire about pass acceptance before visiting.Replacing a Senior PassThe Senior Pass is not replaceable if lost or stolen. You can either buy another Senior Pass with proper documentation or pay the applicable entrance or standard amenity fee(s).A damaged Senior Pass can be replaced for free at a recreation site as long as identification is provided to validate ownership and a portion of the pass is identifiable. You can also get a replacement card by mail by returning the damaged pass. Replacement by mail requires a processing fee.Additional Benefits of the Senior Pass~~~At many sites, the lifetime Senior Pass provides the pass owner a discount on expanded amenity fees (e.g., camping, swimming, boat launching, guided tours). Annual passes do not cover these amenities. Inquire at the places you plan to visit.The pass program is managed by six federal agencies that operate under different regulations and have different fees. Therefore, the discount program for the Senior Pass is not handled the same way on all federal recreation lands. The best advice is to always inquire locally.In general, discounts are honored as follows:Individual campsites: The discount only applies to the fee for the campsite physically occupied by the pass owner, not to any additional campsite(s) occupied by members of the pass owner's party.Campsites with utility hookups: If utility fees are charged separately, there is no discount. The discount may apply if the utility fee is combined (seamless) with the campsite fee.Group campsites and facilities (including, but not limited to, group facilities, picnic areas, or pavilions): There is no discount for group campsites and other group facilities that charge a flat fee. If the group campsite has a per-person fee rate, only the pass owner receives a discount; others using the site pay the full fee.Guided tours: The pass offers discounts on some guided tours. Only the pass owner receives a discount if one is offered.Transportation systems: Inquire locally.Concessionaire fees: Inquire locally.Special use permit fees: Inquire locally.Since the pass program is managed by six federal agencies that operate under different regulations and charge different types of fees, it can be confusing to sort out fees and terminology, and to distinguish between a "federally managed facility/activity" versus a "concession-managed facility/activity." Your best bet is to inquire locally regarding your fee and pass-acceptance-related questions.The Senior Pass does not cover discounts in on-site bookstores or gift stores. The Senior Pass is valid only at participating federal recreation sites.I hope that this is helpful for you.

The Germans had planned an invasion of the New York Harbor as early as 1899 when the idea of a joint Army-Navy assault of New York Harbor involving the landing of two to three battalions of infantry and one battalions of engineers on Long Island was envisioned. After seizing New York, the troops would then split and proceed north to Boston and south to Norfolk. This plan never materialized for Germany and the Kaiser.U-boats actually conducted operations in American waters during World War 1. During this time, the German submarine U-156 sunk a vessel 10 miles offshore of Fire Island, Long Island. Patrol aircraft and blimps from the Rockaway and Montauk Naval Air Stations conducted routine patrols in these waters, but only during daylight hours. It is rumored that the twin 6-inch gun battery named West Battery (later renamed Battery Kessler ) opened fire on what was believed to be a German submarine. No corroborating information has been discovered yet to support this rumor, but German submarines were in fact in the area during that time period.A steel net was sunk across the Verrazano Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island to keep German submarines out of the inner harbor. German submarines did plant mines around Sandy Hook, and 16 tug boats based at Staten Island were turned into minesweepers. "Working in pairs, they swept the ocean every day for 100 miles out from Sandy Hook, finding and exploding a large number of floating mines". (See Ref 3)On December 16, 1917, the pilot boat named "Pilot", tangled with the submarine net and was rammed and sunk by the Steamer "Berkshire" of the Merchants and Miners Line.An aircraft bomber offensive against the United States was envisioned by Hitler in 1940. This plan involved the use of the long-range Messerschmitt Me-264 "America Bombers" based out of the Azores. This plan also failed to materialize, as the Nazis never captured the Azores and only built one Me-264 aircraft.The U-boats AttackIn 1941, Admiral Doenitz, Commander-in-Chief of U-boats, believed that "a U-boat could steam directly into the throat of New York Harbor, on the surface , at night, without being challenged. As for the nets and shore batteries, he doubted their effectiveness, if they even existed" (Ref 1, page 71). This statement was partly true in 1941. The effectiveness of the harbor defenses at this time was limited by the lack of radar, hydrophones, and the magnetic detection loops that would be added in mid-1942. These overdue improvements in coastal defense were implemented in a rush after German submarines had already begun their attacks in American coastal waters. After America entered World War 2 on December 7, 1941, Doenitz implemented his plan named "Operation Drumbeat", by launching submarines to attack the United States on December 12, 1941.On December 10, 1941, a notice to mariners was issued stating that "A mined area covering the approaches to New York Harbor has been established. Incoming vessels will secure directions for safe navigation from patrol vessels stationed off Ambrose Channel Entrance". Mayor Fiorello La Guardia wondered "if the Republic could even guarantee the defense of Coney Island". Just as in WWI, a submarine net was again erected at the Narrows from Norton's Point in Coney Island to Hoffman Island. The nets and booms were laid by the US Navy Net Depot, Bayonne, NJ.The vessels YNG-3 and YNG-39 were stationed at the nets and had no propulsion of their own, so they were moved by tugs. Each had a power generator for electricity and steam. The YNG- 39 was equipped with hydrophones for underwater listening, ASDIC gear, and one magneto telephone to Hoffman Island. This was connected in turn to the Harbor Entrance Command Post (HECP) at Fort Wadsworth and to Swinburne Island, the site of the Degaussing Section. The YNG-39 was also equipped with one 50 caliber and two 30 caliber machine guns, as well as a 1-pounder, or "heave to" gun. The YNG-3 was equipped only with visual signaling equipment and armed with Thompson machine guns.After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the German U-boats began their assault on American shipping on Jan 12, 1942, when Captain Hardegan and his crew of the U-123 sunk the "Cyclops" off Nova Scotia, and the war entered New York waters on Jan 14, 1942, when the U- 123 sunk the"Norness" 60 miles off Montauk Point, Long Island.On the next evening, the U-123 was following a parallel course westward along the south shore of Long Island, towards New York City. The submarine almost itself beached on the Rockaway shore, as the crew did not have detailed charts of the area and did not anticipate the southward curve of the Rockaways. From the reports of the area including the description of " a hotel, shore lights, and sand dunes backed by low, dark woods", the U-123 probably came close to beaching on the shores of Fort Tilden or Jacob Riis Beach. Fort Tilden is the only part of Rockaway with dunes backed by woods and the Bathhouse building a Riis Park does look like a hotel. Later that night at 10 p.m., Captain Hardegan was viewing the lights of the city of New York at 330 degrees, and the Parachute jump and Wonder Wheel of Coney Island from the U- 123. The men of Fort Tilden posted as lookouts in the 100 foot tall towers at Fort Tilden and Arverne did not spot this target and no action was taken by the shore defenses or patrol aircraft.The U-123 steered a course of 110 degrees, away from the city, until a ship was sighted at 1:40 a.m., Jan 15, 1999. The British tanker "Coimbra" was sunk 61 miles east of Ambrose light, within sight of residents of the south shore of Long Island. The U-123 turned south towards the Delaware bay, along the New Jersey shore.The "Pearl Harbor" of the AtlanticA few German U-boats were responsible for the sinking of a total of 397 ships in the first six months of 1942. There were 171 ships sunk off the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida, 62 sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, and 141 in the Caribbean. A total of 2,403 persons were killed and 1,178 were wounded.Explosions could be heard and burning wrecks could be seen from the shoreline at night. Dead bodies, debris and oil washed ashore on east coast beaches. Despite all of this, blackouts were never implemented as they were along the coasts of England and Germany. This gave the German submarine crews a tremendous advantage in being able to spot cargo ships running along the coast at night with their lights extinguished. A "dim-out" was eventually mandated, but even with the lights dimmed out, patrol boats were able see the glow of New York from a distance of 25 miles off shore.A propaganda campaign utilizing slogans such as, "Loose Lips Sink Ships", was used to caution both soldiers and civilians to avoid discussing ship movements. This was intended to hamper German agents from overhearing public conversations and passing this information on to U-boat crews. This popular campaign of posters (click here to see some) was merely a "feel good" measure as German submarines neither utilized or needed such intelligence. The U-boats merely waited offshore, intercepted ship radio transmissions to locate potential targets, and torpedoed any large ship that would come into view.German Saboteurs Land in New YorkAs part of "Operation Pastorius" a team of four saboteurs were infiltrated into the United States by the submarine U-202 at Amagansett, Long Island on June 13, 1942 and another four landed in Ponte Vedra, Florida on June 16, 1942, all armed with explosives and plans to destroy factories, bridges, tunnels, powerplants and waterworks. One member of the group that landed eventually turned himself over to the FBI and confessed the entire story. All eight saboteurs were arrested and six were executed in Washington D.C. on August 8, 1942.U-boats lay mines in the NY HarborAccording to Samuel Eliot Morison's book "The Battle of the Atlantic", The German submarine U-608 laid 10 mines in the NY Harbor on November 10, 1942. The first mine was discovered by a sweeper and the NY Harbor was closed for a period of two days, the only time the harbor was ever closed during the entire war. This corresponds to data from the War Diary of the Eastern Sea Frontier dated November 13, 1942."At 1117 Hours, Minesweeper YMS-20 witnessed an under water explosion two miles from Ambrose in 40-25-42N; 73-44-00W, bearing 170 degrees True from minesweeper, range 300 yards. YNS-20 considers explosion actuated by reverse pulse. Column of water 200 feet high was seen. EDC reports all Army mines have been accounted for. Explosion evaluated as magnetic mine or old depth charge. Port entrance closed until 1800/14 while twelve minesweepers operate in area".The Navy Advances while the Army Clings to the PastBy mid-1942, the Navy eventually used both proven and new, innovative ways to defeat the U-boat menace. Convoys, patrol aircraft, HF-DF radio intercept, and additional patrol craft made it more difficult for the submarines to attack shipping with the ease they enjoyed in early 1942.Radio Direction Finding Stations were established at Jones Beach LI, Sea Isle City NJ, and Montauk LI. These stations would home in on the Enigma-coded messages transmitted by the German U-boats. Additional technology and resources such as sonobouys, magnetic loops, hydrophones, surface and B-17 aircraft mounted radar, and sightings by patrol aircraft, Civil Air Patrol volunteers, blimps, Pan Am Clippers, Eastern Airliners, and merchant vessels all aided to the intelligence effort of locating German U-boats.The Army Coast Artillery Corp was doomed by it's turn of the century mission of defending the United States against the large naval vessels that never came. New advances in radar and casemated gun positions were merely technological updates similar to the 1905 Taft Board additions of electrical lighting, communications and searchlights to the 1886 Endicott system of guns and concrete batteries. By the end of the war, the technological advancements of long range aircraft, missiles, submarines, and atomic bombs led the Army to eliminate the Coast Artillery Corp and the Army's role in harbor defense.

The operation was to use the British XXX Corps and the 1st Allied Airborne Army. The 1st Airborne Army was a joint British, American and Polish army of paratroopers to be used in operations to assist any western allied ground army when needed. It was an army in its own right with all troops wearing the 1st Airborne Army insignia.Market Garden was deemed a 90% success. A 60 mile salient was created into enemy territory isolating a German army in Holland, eliminating V rocket launching sites aimed at London creating a vital port of Antwerp, the only port taken intact in the west. XXX Corps never relinquished any territory taken. The northern end of the taken territory was later used to launch forces into Germany. The 10% of failure was that Allied armies did not gain a foothold over the Rhine at Arnhem.The operation plan was that the 1st Airborne Army would parachute drop and seize bridges from the Dutch/Belgium border up to Arnhem over the Rhine, with XXX Corps thrusting through to Arnhem over the captured bridges. Two of the bridges were large. The most northern large bridge was to be taken by British airborne units at Arnhem, the US 82nd would seize the large Nijmegen bridge and other small bridges and the US 101st Airborne seize smaller bridges to the south.The reason for not achieving 100% success in the operation was completely down to the failure of the 82nd Airborne in not seizing the Nijmegen bridge on the first day they dropped into Nijmegen. All bridges were seized on the first day, except the Nijmegen bridge. The man responsible was General Gavin. The 101st Airborne failed to take the bridge at Son in the south of Holland with the Germans destroying the bridge. XXX Corps aided by the 101st ran over a Bailey bridge which delayed the advance for 12 hours. XXX Corps made up the time reaching Nijmegen just ahead of schedule only being disappointed at seeing the bridge still in German hands and the 82nd still fighting in and around the town. The 82nd had made no real attempt to seize the bridge.In fact the 82nd had no part in the eventual seizure of the bridge at all, as it was taken in the dark by the British XXX Corps tanks and Irish Guards infantry. The Irish Guards cleared out 180 Germans from the bridge girders. Only 5 tanks crossed the bridge with two being knocked out and one got operational again by a lone sergeant who met up with the rest of the tanks in the village of Lent 1 km to the north. So, only four operational tanks were available on the north side of the bridge. Strangely, Gavin's plan was to take one of Europe's largest road bridges only from one end. The British planned to take the Arnhem bridge from both ends but a railways bridge was destroyed which would have taken the paras to the south of the bridge.The film A Bridge Too Far has Robert Redford (playing Colonel Tucker) as one of the 82nd men taking the vital road bridge after rowing the river in canvas boats. This never happened. Another part of the film has Redford (Tucker) insisting to a British commander of the British XXX Corps tanks, after the tanks crossed the bridge, to run onto Arnhem and relieve the British paratroopers and the commander refusing, leaving his tanks idle. Captain Moffatt Burriss of the 82nd, on documentary film stated he ordered the tank captain to run his tanks to Arnhem, saying on film, "I just sacrificed half of my company capturing that bridge". The tank officer was Lt (acting Capt) Lord Carington, who eventually became head of NATO. Carington's tank was the fifth tank across the bridge. He had stood for an hour at the bridge alone and under fire, until the Irish Guards infantry relieved him, then moving north to Lent to meet up with the other tanks and the 82nd men. Moffatt Burris stated: “I cocked my tommy gun, pointed it at his head and said, ‘Get down that blankety-blank road before I blow your blankety-blank head off." He said Carrington explained politely that Captain Burriss surely didn’t expect him to obey orders of a foreign officer, Burriss says, Carington “ducked into his tank and locked the hatch” so, as Burriss recalls, “I couldn’t get at him.” There is no record of this event occurring and there were many men around to have witnessed such an event, implying Burriss is lying, maybe to save the face of the 82nd who failed in seizing the bridge on the 1st day.The 82nd played no part in seizing the bridge counter to what Burriss stated. Some reports do state some 82nd men after the relief of being linked up with British forces, were urging the tanks to roll on to relieve their fellow 1st Airborne Army brothers in arms at Arnhem, not understanding the situation. When explained to them that there was no corps of tanks waiting to run over the bridge they desisted. The tanks were to secure the north end of the bridge after seizing the bridge, not to run off to Arnhem in the dark leaving the bridge vulnerable and the Germans taking the bridge back. The Irish Guards after seizing the bridge and removing the 180 bodies from the girders used the 82nd men to form a defensive line with them around the north end of the bridge. The Irish Guards infantry advanced no further than the immediate vicinity of the bridge that night.Sergeant Peter Robinson, of the of the Guards Armored Division who led the charge over the Nijmegen road bridge in his Firefly tank stated:"The Nijmegen bridge wasn’t taken [by the 82nd] which was our objective. We reached the far end of the bridge and immediately there was a roadblock. So the troop sergeant covered me through and then I got to the other side and covered the rest of the troop through. We were still being engaged; there was a gun in front of the church three or four hundred yards in front of us. We knocked him out. We got down the road to the railway bridge; we cruised round there very steady. We were being engaged all the time. Just as I got round the corner and turned right I saw these helmets duck in a ditch and run, and gave them a burst of machine gun fire. I suddenly realised they were Americans. They had already thrown a gammon grenade at me so dust and dirt and smoke were flying everywhere. They jumped out of the ditch; they kissed the tank; they kissed the guns because they’d lost a lot of men. They had had a very bad crossing."Sgt Robinson again...."Well, my orders were to collect the American colonel who was in a house a little way back, and the first thing he said to me was "I have to surrender""Well I said, 'I'm sorry. My orders are to hold this bridge. I've only got two tanks available but if you'd like to give me ground support for a little while until we get some more orders then we can do it. He said he couldn’t do it, so I said that he had better come back to my wireless and talk to General Horrocks because before I started the job I had freedom of the air. Everybody was off the air except myself because they wanted a running commentary about what was going on - So he came over and had a pow-wow with Horrocks. The colonel said 'Oh very well’ and I told him where I wanted the men, but of course you can't consolidate a Yank and they hadn’t been there ten minutes before they were on their way again."The 82nd men wanted to surrender! And never gave support which was what they were there to do.Captain Lord Carrington's own autobiography entitled 'Reflect on Things Past':"My recollection of this meeting is different. Certainly I met an American officer but he was perfectly affable and agreeable. As I said the Airborne were all very glad to see us and get some support, no one suggested we press on to Arnhem. This whole allegation is bizarre, just to begin with I was a captain and second-in-command of my squadron so I was in no position either to take orders from another captain or depart from my own orders which were to take my tanks across the bridge, join up with the US Airborne and form a bridgehead. This story is simple lunacy and this exchange did not take place."Carington again:-"At that stage my job - I was second-in-command of a squadron - was to take a half-squadron of tanks across the bridge. Since everybody supposed the Germans would blow this immense contraption we were to be accompanied by an intrepid Royal Engineer officer to cut the wires and cleanse the demolition chambers under each span. Our little force was led by an excellent Grenadier, Sergeant Robinson, who was rightly awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his action. Two of our tanks were hit not lethally - by anti-tank fire, and we found a number of Germans perched in the girders who tried to drop things on us but without great effect. Sergeant Robinson and the leading tank troop sprayed the opposite bank and we lost nobody, When I arrived at the far end my sense of relief was considerable: the bridge had not been blown, we had not been plunged into the Waal (In fact it seems the Germans never intended to blow the bridge. The demolition chambers were packed with German soldiers, who surrendered), we seemed to have silenced the opposition in the vicinity, we were across one half of the Rhine.""A film representation of this incident has shown American troops as having already secured the far end of the bridge. That is mistaken - probably the error arose from the film-maker's confusion of two bridges, there was a railway bridge with planks placed between the rails and used by the Germans for [light] road traffic, to the west of the main road bridge we crossed; and the gallant American Airborne men: reached it. When Sergeant Robinson and his little command crossed our main road bridge, however, only Germans were there to welcome him; and they didn't stay.""The pursuit had ground to a halt. The war was clearly going on. We spent the winter of 1944 in Holland, first near Nijmegen where the Germans had flooded the land between the two great rivers, and there was little activity."The meeting of the 82nd men and the tanks was 1 km north of the bridge in the village of Lent where the railway embankment from the railway bridge met the north running road running off the main road bridge. The 82nd men did not reach the north end of the actual road bridge, the Guards tanks and the Irish Guards infantry got there first from the south.Historians get confused. There are two bridges at Nijmegen. a railway bridge to the west and and road bridge to the east. They are about 1km apart. The 82nd men rowed the river west of the railway bridge made their way north following the railway embankment for cover. They reached the village of Lent where the railway embankment meets the road approach to the main road bridge. There is a small railway bridge over the road at this point. This is the bridge the 82nd men seized. The main railway bridge over the Wall was seized by British troops.Heinz Harmel (played by Hardy Kruger in the film A Bridge too Far), the 10th SS Panzer Division commander who was between Arnhem and Nijmegen, says it was the British tanks who raced across the bridge seizing the bridge. Harmel did not know of that three Tiger tanks that had crossed the Arnhem bridge running south, the German communications was disjointed. Harmel stated that there was little German armour between Nijmegen and Arnhem. That was not correct. The 12 powerful Tiger tanks would have made scrap metal out of the British Shermans. By the time the Guards tanks crossed Nijmegen bridge Johnny Frost and the British paratroopers at the Arnhem bridge were being overrun because of the long delay in seizing the Nijmegen bridge.Only 4 XXX Corps tanks were available at the north end of the bridge to secure it. No tanks were available to run on any further to Arnhem and any that did would have been sitting ducks on the raised road. The Guards tanks were split up and spread out over 20 miles, supporting the 82nd all over the place around Nijmegen. Which was supposed to have been taken. All over Nijmegen, Mook, Groosbeek, Grave etc. Some even had to go back down the road towards Eindhoven when Panzer Brigade 107 tried to cut the road.Only five British tanks were able to cross the bridge that night, and two of them were damaged. 4 tanks initially went across then Carrington's lone tank followed, guarding the northern end of the bridge by itself for nearly an hour before he was relieved by infantry.Nor did the 82nd take the southern end of the main road bridge in Nijmegen town. Lt Col Ben Vandervoort of the 82nd was in the southern approaches to the bridge, alongside the Grenadier Guards tanks as the Royal Engineers were removing charges on the bridge. Vandervoort and his men never went onto the bridge to take it. He remained at the southern approaches to the bridge with the rest of the 82nd and the Grenadier Guards infantry, as Sgt Robinson and his four tanks raced on up the main road, up onto the bridge, and across it. Vandervoort was full of praise for the tankers of the Grenadier Guards. Here are his own words:"The 2nd Battalion 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment was attached to the famed Guards Armoured Division on Tuesday 19th September. We were honoured to be a momentary part of their distinguished company....The clanking steel monsters were a comfort to the foot slogging paratroopers.....Morale was high....For soldiers of different Allied armies it was amazing how beautifully the tankers and troopers teamed together. It was testimony to their combat acumen as seasoned veterans, both Yanks and Tommies...The battalion had fought with tanks before, but never in such lavish quantities. The tanks were the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, the Grenadier Group as a whole being commanded by Lt Col Edward Goulburn....Col Goulburn, a perceptive commander, more or less turned individual tanks loose and let them go. The Guards tanks gave us all the tank support we needed. Some Shermans and their crews were lost as we went along. Usually it happened when the tank was employed too aggressively."After 2 days fighting, split up, spread out and disjointed, the Guards Armored Division had to regroup, re-arm and re-fuel. It was simply not possible for them to have moved onto Arnhem that night being spread out over 20 miles. The task the five tanks that crossed the bridge were given was to defend the bridge and consolidate against enemy attacks. Moffatt Burriss of the 82nd is mistaken, there was not a 'whole corps' of tanks ready to go.Browning, joint head of the 1st Airborne Army, who parachuted into Nijmegen seeing the bridge untaken told General Gavin of the 82nd on the evening of 18th September that the Nijmegen bridge must be taken on the 19th, or at the latest, very early on the 20th. The Nijmegen bridge was not captured on the 17th because there was a foul up in communication between General Gavin and Colonel Roy Lindquist of the 508th PIR of the 82nd Airborne. Gavin allegedly verbally told Lindquist during the pre-drop talk to take a battalion of the 508th and make a quick strike to the bridge on the 17th and to "move without delay" but Lindquist understood it that Gavin had told him that his 508th should only move for the bridge once his regiment had secured the assigned 508th's portion of the defensive perimeter for the 82nd Division. So Lindquist didn't move his battalion towards the Nijmegen bridge until after this had been done, and by that time it was too late as the Germans had reinforced the bridge.This misunderstanding/miscommunication, which had disastrous ramifications for the overall Market Garden operation, has been the subject of much debate and controversy ever since.This was passing the buck, in an attempt to shift blame due to the fact that the 82nd totally failed to take the Nijmegen road bridge, casting aspersions on the British tankers whose job it was to defend the bridge and prevent the Germans from taking it back. Had the 82nd done the job it was supposed to have done, the bridge would have been taken 3 days before, and XXX Corps would have reached Arnhem and relieved the beleaguered British paras making the operation a 100% success.