Editing Operation Market Garden (section)

===Logistics===
By late August the allied armies were running out of petroleum gasoline. Several allied divisions and corps were forced to halt their advance temporarily to replenish supplies. To Eisenhower fell the task of responding to competing demands for fuel and other supplies for the armies under his command. There was no shortage of fuel in the makeshift ports in Normandy; the difficulty lay in transporting sufficient quantities from Normandy to the armies in Belgium and northern France. Most arrived at the front in five gallon [[jerry cans]] after being transported hundreds of kilometres by trucks, known as the [[Red Ball Express]], from makeshift ports in [[Normandy]].{{sfn|Atkinson|2013|p=220}} A potential solution to the logistics problem was to capture a large port more accessible to the advancing allied armies. On 4 September, Montgomery's troops did just that, capturing the massive port of [[Antwerp]] in Belgium virtually intact, but the [[Scheldt]] Estuary leading to it and preventing its use was still under German control.{{sfn|Ellis|Warhurst|2004|p=5-9}} Neither Eisenhower nor Montgomery initially made opening the port of Antwerp a top priority and Antwerp was not used by allied supply ships until 28 November after the [[Battle of the Scheldt]]. The allied failure to win access quickly to the port of Antwerp has been called "one of the greatest tactical mistakes of the war".<ref name="MacDonald2">{{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Charles B. |title=The Mighty Endeavor: American Armed Forces in the European Theater in World War IIArmed |date=1969 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=362}}</ref>{{sfn|Atkinson|2013|pages=302–306, 329}} [[Winston Churchill]] later acknowledged that "clearing the Scheldt Estuary and opening the port of Antwerp had been delayed for the sake of the Arnhem thrust. Thereafter it was given first priority."<ref>{{cite book | last = Churchill | first = Winston | author-link = Winston Churchill | title = The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy |volume=VI | publisher = Cassell |year=1954 | location=London |pages=174–175 }}</ref>