Patrick:

“Yet the failure of British command to listen to intelligence from Dutch resistance resulted in military disaster.”

After finishing reading Ryan’s book in 1978, I later met Norm Bonter, a colleague’s husband.

Bonter, a Dutch Canadian from Pitt Meadows B.C., was seconded to British intelligence, and it was he who first reported the presence of the two panzer divisions.

BTW, he got his information from a Dutch girl who routinely rode her bicycle through the countryside, and first reported to him through morse code. (In the movie version “A Bridge Too Far” it’s a young boy).

I remember him telling me that each person creates a dialect or accent when using morse code…the dots or dashes are either lengthened or shortened and of course she was using Dutch. That way he could tell if his contact had been compromised.

He was with his commanding officer when they tried to get through to Montgomery. When he told me that Monte’s subalterns did not want this news to upset Monte and ‘the party’, I just shook my head. After all, my postman in Nelson BC when I was growing up was a paratrooper shot through the left foot, arm and eye during Operation Market-garden.

And he, along with thousands, was put in harm’s way because some lackeys didn’t want to upset the party?

That the precious ego and arrogance of a General, who would not have won at El Alamein if not for the Enigma Code being broken and military intelligence, was more important than the lives of the soldiers under his aegis?

To be fair, the Dutch underground was considered compromised, but Norm trusted his contact as her intelligence had been corroborated every time.

When Norm saw my disbelief, he offered me the keys to his Bridge Lake fishing lodge hall cabinet.

“What’s this for,” I asked.

His reply, “I made copies of everything I received or sent. It’s all there. In boxes.”

I read as much as I could. The truth staggered me and reminded me of a line from Machiavelli’s The Prince:

“Put not your trust in Princes nor Generals …for they will soon find it expedient to shed your blood…at a distance.”

Or perhaps the better translated:

“Put not your trust in princes, bureaucrats or generals, they will plead expedience while spilling your blood from a safe distance.”

Thanks for the good read.