What were the possible alternatives if Operation Market-Garden had been rejected?

by Heimdall2061

I've always imagined that the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and advances through the Ardennes would have just been pushed up on the schedule, but were there any other major plans on the books that would have been accepted/accelerated if not for Market-Garden?

white_light-king

The Market-Garden plan was designed to push directly towards the German industrial heartland by the most direct route. Attacks in the southern Ruhr region (i.e. Huertgen) and the Ardennes were similar ideas on slightly different terrain just to the south of Market-Garden.

The other major initiatives that the Allied armies under supplied and resourced in order to make a limited commit to Market Garden were the Clearing of the Scheldt estuary on the left flank to improve logistics in the whole theater and the Lorraine campaign on the Allied right. These activities were undertaken roughly at the same time as Market Garden but at a much lower tempo because of the lack of supplies, especially gasoline.

I don't want to get too speculative with this post, so I'll avoid any hypotheticals about the potential for increased gains in those areas.