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THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER The great airborne battle for the bridges in 1944 by Britain's Number One bestselling historian and author of the classic Stalingrad 'Our greatest chronicler of the Second World War' - Robert Fox, Evening Standard ______________ On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out on to his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power. Operation Market Garden, the plan to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept: the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. But could it ever have worked? The cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch, who risked everything to help. German reprisals were pitiless and cruel, and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination with heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths. Antony Beevor, using often overlooked sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of the fighting, which General Student himself called 'The Last German Victory'. Yet this book, written in Beevor's inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single, dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war. ______________ 'In Beevor's hands, Arnhem becomes a study of national character' - Ben Macintyre, The Times 'Superb book, tirelessly researched and beautifully written' - Saul David, Daily Telegraph 'Complete mastery of both the story and the sources' - Keith Lowe, Literary Review
* Exciting overview of the World War II battle made famous by the classic movie and book A Bridge Too Far * Boots-on-the-ground story of British paratroopers fighting off Germans in Holland during Operation Market Garden * Masterly analysis of why the operation failed * Draws from the personal experiences of more than 500 participants * Written by an accomplished military historianMartin Middlebrook has written numerous works of military history, including the classic The First Day on the Somme (978-1-84415-465-4). He lives in England
The fierce struggle between the British 1st Airborne Division and the superior German forces in and around Arnhem is well documented. This book tells of the role played in the battle for Oosterbeek and the bridge at Arnhem itself by the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment (GPR). These men were already experienced soldiers who volunteered to join the airborne forces and take the fight to the Germans in a totally new regiment.The men of the GPR were predominantly SNCOs trained to fly wooden assault gliders into occupied territory. Once on the ground they were expected to go into battle with the troops they had delivered onto the Landing Zone. During the Arnhem operation they were involved in the initial defense of the LZs, before fighting house to house leading mixed groups of infantrymen, engineers and medics. In so doing they suffered extensive losses from which the Regiment never fully recovered. This book tells their story in their own words from the moment they landed on Dutch soil through the fierce fighting all around the ever shrinking perimeter until the survivors of the GPR proudly marked the route out for the battered survivors of 1st Airborne Division as they escaped over the Rhine.
Explore this gripping day-by-day combat narrative of the infamous battle for a bridgehead over the Rhine.
“Reveals much of what history has tended to gloss over . . . should be a must read for all who have an interest in this operation” (Airborne Quarterly). After Normandy, the most spectacular Allied offensive of World War II was Operation Market Garden, which planned to join three divisions of paratroopers dropped behind German lines with massive armored columns breaking through the front. The object was to seize a crossing over the Rhine to outflank the heartland of the Third Reich and force a quick end to the war. The operation utterly failed, of course, as the 1st British Airborne was practically wiped out, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions became tied down in vicious combat for months, and the vaunted armored columns were foiled at every turn by improvisational German defenses. Some have called the battle “Hitler’s last victory.” In this work, many years in the making, David Bennett puts forward a balanced and comprehensive account of the British, American, Polish, Canadian, and German actions, as well as the strategic background of the operation, in a way not yet done. He shows, for example, that rather than a bridgehead over the Rhine, Montgomery’s ultimate aim was to flank the Ruhr industrial area from the north. The book also deals as never before with the key role of all three Corps of British Second Army, not just Brian Horrocks’ central XXX Corps. For the first time, we learn the dramatic untold story of how a single company of Canadian engineers achieved the evacuation of 1st Airborne’s survivors back across the Rhine when all other efforts had failed. Also revealed is the scandal of how Polish Gen. Sosabowski was treated by the British military authorities, and how the operation would have failed at the outset but for the brilliant soldiery of the two American airborne divisions. Respectfully nodding to A Bridge Too Far and other excellent works on Market Garden, the author has interviewed survivors, walked the ground, and performed prodigious archival research to increase our understanding of the battle, from the actions of the lowliest soldier to the highest commander, Allied and German.
When Men at Arnhem was first published in 1976 the author modestly concealed his identity behind a pseudonym and changed the names of his comrades in arms. But the book was at once recognised as one of the finest evocations of an infantrymans war ever written and those in the know were quick to identify the author. His cover has long since been blown, in this edition Geoffrey Powell adds an introduction in which he identifies the men who fought with him in those eight terrible days at Arnhem in September, 1944. The book cannot be said to be a military history in the strictest sense, even the units involved being unidentified, but the events described are, as the author points out in his introduction, as nearly accurate as memory allowed after a lapse of over thirty years. It is unlikely every to be surpassed as the most vivid first-hand account of one of those epic disasters which we British, in our paradoxical way, seem to cherish above and beyond the most glorious victories.
In September 1944, a mighty shock force of battle hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II.Landing miles behind the German lines, their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well, the war could be over by Christmas. But what many trusted would be a simple operation turned into a brutal losing battle. Of 12,000 British airborne soldiers, 1,500 died and 6,000 were taken prisoner. The vital bridge at Arnhem they had come to capture stayed resolutely in German hands. But though this was a bitter military defeat for the Allies, beneath the humiliation was another story - of heroism and self-sacrifice, gallantry and survival, guts and determination unbroken in the face of impossible odds. In the two-thirds of a century that have passed since then, historians have endlessly analysed what went wrong and squabbled over who was to blame. Lost in the process was that other Arnhem story - the triumph of the human spirit, as seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, in the cauldron, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour, a battle they won hands down.
'Theirs is the Glory' - the story of the Battle of Arnhem - was the biggest-grossing UK war film for a decade. Made by veterans of the battle in the late summer of 1945, it tells their story day by day: the pre-operation briefing, the drop, the race to the bridge, the daring, death and banter that only soldiers could have scripted - but the veterans had outstanding assistance. Men like Terence Young of XXX Corps - and later the early 'James Bond' director - helped craft the words we hear. Directing the veterans was a First World War veteran - who had survived a bayonet charge at Gallipoli - and prolific film director: Brian Desmond Hurst. Born and bred in Belfast, Hurst went on to learn the craft of film making in Hollywood with his mentor, John Ford. Conflict is shown, heard and interpreted in many of his 30 films made from the 1920s to the 1960s. This book is the 'director's cut' - looking in-depth at his work on conflict - and takes, as its centerpiece, 'Theirs is the Glory'. Decade-by-decade conflict is chronicled from the 1920s and Hurst's 'Ourselves Alone' (and the War of Independence in Ireland, where his film was banned in Northern Ireland) to the 1960s and 'Simba' and the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. This is a book you will refer to again and again, and shows why 'Theirs is the Glory' is the definitive film on Arnhem; it will remain the veterans' lasting tribute to their comrades that did not return. This book also shows why Hurst was an enigma, but a master of the genre, and at his very best when focusing on the subject of conflict on the vast canvas of film.
Based on first-hand interviews, records, and diaries, the heart of Arnhem's story is in the selflessness and bravery of the troops that fought, the courage of the civilians caught up in confrontation, and the pure determination to fight for their lives and their freedom. This is the story of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events.
When Eagles Dared is a salute to the men and women who participated in World War II and the filmmakers who have immortalised their stories on screen. It tells both the story of the historical events of this first truly 'world war' and of the films that have depicted these events - comparing the cinematic myth with the historical reality - as a guide to history through cinema. When Eagles Dared portrays the people who participated in the war, from the evacuation of the Allied forces from France at Dunkirk through to the battle for Berlin and beyond. Each chapter discusses a theatre of war, an event, a campaign or battle by explaining the historical events as they unfold and then examines how filmmakers have represented them. Chapters discuss the war in the skies (Battle of Britain and The Dam Busters), the sea (Sink the Bismarck! and The Cruel Sea) and the North African desert (The Battle of El Alamein and Tobruk). There are 'special mission' movies including Where Eagles Dare and The Dirty Dozen, classic tales of ingenuity (The Great Escape), valour (Saving Private Ryan), and human endurance (The Bridge on the River Kwai). Offering a unique view of war through the lenses of over 150 diverse films that have shaped our perceptions of the conflict, When Eagles Dared is illustrated with rare stills and posters from this ever popular genre.