A Bridge at Arnhem: The Towering Story of the Greatest Airborne Operation in World War II

A blow-by-blow account of the epic Battle of Arnhem, the commanders who planned it and the units who paid for their mistakes.

Perfect for James Holland, Anthony Beevor and Cornelius Ryan.

‘An operation which will inspire our youth with the highest ideals of duty and of daring.’ — Winston Churchill.

‘The British First Airborne Division not only gave to all the Allied forces one of the most gallant examples of courage in all the war, but by drawing upon themselves the bulk of the German counter-attack, they enabled us to hold the important bridges.’ — General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

‘In years to come it will be a great thing for a man to be able to say: I fought at Arnhem.’ — Field Marshal Montgomery.

‘We have no regrets.’ — General R. Urquhart, Commander First Airborne Division.

Operation Market Garden was designed to open a corridor through Nazi-held Holland, bypass the Siegfried Line and crush the 1,000 Year Reich before Christmas. Yet, despite the courage of the elite First British Airborne Division, who were ordered to capture the key bridge across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, the battle developed into an unmitigated disaster.

Utilising a wide array of eyewitness accounts from both the Allied and Axis sides Charles Whiting uncovers the course of this battle from its planning stages through to its tragic denouement.

A Bridge at Arnhem is the towering story of the greatest airborne operation in history, it should be essential reading for all interested in this fateful battle.