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

A photographic history of WWII’s Operation Market Garden and the Allies’ quest for the famed “Bridge Too Far.” Operation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armored charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact, it would provide the Allies with a backdoor into Germany—the famous “Bridge Too Far.” This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed. Anthony Tucker-Jones’s photographic history, with a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative, describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time, British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along “Hell’s Highway” to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces. Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks’ advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.

In September 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden, with the intention to bypass the Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr. Paratroopers were dropped in the Netherlands to secure bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. They landed at Arnhem to secure the Nederrijn. The British forces faced unexpected resistance from elements of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. This is a detailed account of Operation Market Garden and its unexpected consequences in Arnhem.

Even fifty-nine years after the actual fighting, the Battle of Arnhem still represents a most telling defeat for a great many people. The fierce and bloody fighting for the bridge across the river Rhine near the capital of the Dutch province of Gelderland is perhaps one of the best-known episodes in the history of the Second World War. Scores of books, newspaper articles, documentary and even some feature films have been dedicated to the planning and execution of Field Marshal Montgomery's plan of attack. As the liberation of the part of Holland above the great rivers only seemed a matter of time, its tragic outcome had traumatic consequences for all who participated in the fighting. Tragically, the crossing of the Rhine appeared to be "a bridge too far". The heroic and valiant actions by the British and Polish airborne troops at the Arnhem road bridge and in the Oosterbeek perimeter, which later acted as bridgehead round the headquarters of the 1st British Airborne Division at Hotel Hartenstein, are well known. Less well known is what happened during the first days of Operation Market Garden at Ginkel Heath, east of Ede, where nearly two thousand British parachutists landed on September 18, 1944. To keep the memory of these momentous events on the heath alive, it is commemorated each year by the landing of a few WWII veterans and of paratroopers of the present British army. However, many spectators are not familiar with the specific events that took place in that part of the Veluwe region during those September days. The landing of the 4th Parachute Brigade was only part of all military activities on and around Ginkel Heath and took only nine minutes. The fact that the arrival of the brigade was preceded by almost twenty-four hours of fierce fighting is practically unknown to visitors to these annual landings. In most written and oral reports on the Battle of Arnhem, hardly any attention is paid to this episode. In this book, the fighting on the heath near Ede plays a central role. Issues such as the allied strategy after the Normandy landings, Eisenhower's Decision, the course of events in Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and the reasons for defeat are mentioned in both the text and the notes, but only when necessary for the broader picture and understanding of the fighting that took place on Ginkel Heath.

An insightful and gripping account of the largest airborne operation in history. In September 1944, the river Rhine was a serious barrier to the advancing Allied armies in the West who were intent on charging Berlin and ending the war. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decided to utilise the First Allied Airborne Army consisting of British, American and Polish troops. Codenamed Operation Market Garden, 40,000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines while ground forces linked to relieve them. But, due to bad weather and German resistance, the operation failed. In March 1945, asecond attempt was planned: Operation Varsity Plunder. This time the plan worked. Despite extremely heavy fighting, they cracked the German line.