A Bridge at Arnhem |
Charles Whiting |
Future Publications, Limited (1974) |
Summary: Operation Market Garden: a massive airborne strike designed to open a corridor through Nazi-held Holland, bypass the Siegfried Line and crush the 1,000 Year Reich before Christmas. Despite the gallantry of the elite First British Airborne Division - the Red Devils - who were to seize the key bridge across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, the Operation ended in a resounding victory for the Germans. This is the story of this epic battle, the commanders who planned it and the units who paid for their mistakes. Book jacket. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 264 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780860071211 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: After Normandy, the most spectacular Allied offensive of World War II was Operation Market Garden, which saw three divisions of paratroopers dropped behind German lines, to be joined by massive armored columns breaking through the front. The ultimate object was to seize a crossing over t 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. In many circles the battle has become known as "Hitler's last victory." In this work, many years in the making, Professor Bennett puts forward a complete, 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 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 General Sosabowski was humiliated, insulted and dismissed by the mendacious hostility of the British military authorities. And the book shows, too, how the Operation would have failed at the outset but for the brilliant soldiery of the two American airborne divisions who overcame a variety of odds to achieve their objectives. 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, the Operation develops in highly readable style, with the author's expert analysis unveiling new insights at every step. www.magnificentdisaster.com |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 286 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781932033854 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: During the Battle of Arnhem Kate ter Horst-Arriëns lives with her family in the old vicarage next to the Old Church in Oosterbeek, the village where the battle is finally decided. There she and her husband are asked by the British to open their house as a first-aid post after the airborne landings on 17 September 1944. They agree, but the rapid victory that had been hoped for, fails to materialise and soon all rooms are crammed with wounded. Kate ter Horst is doing her utmost to help the often badly injured soldiers. It gives her the title "Angel of Arnhem"; the survivors would never forget her. Central to Angel of Arnhem are the experiences of Kate ter Horst during the Battle of Arnhem, which she recorded shortly after the Battle. Her story was first published in 1946 in the bundle Niet tevergeefs (Not in Vain) and later in translation under the title Cloud over Arnhem. One of the wounded at that time, the later general Sir Frank King, provided the 1993 edition with a foreword, which is also included in Angel of Arnhem. Kate's daughter Sophie Lambrechtsen-ter Horst wrote the introduction to her mother's memories. The Battle of Arnhem is placed in its historical context by journalist/writer Willem de Bruin, born in Oosterbeek; the situation shortly after the war is covered by a report of Kate's husband, mr. Jan ter Horst, who was acting mayor at that time. |
Number of Pages: 160 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9789492411440 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This book comprises a two part report by Major Ernest Watkins, R.A., who participated with 1 Airborne Division in Operation Market Garden in September 1944. First published by the Army Bureau of Current Affairs in December of that year as part of its War series of pamphlets, it is among the earliest printed eyewitness accounts of the fighting at Arnhem, although circulation at the time was restricted to military personnel only. Watkins returned to the Dutch town in April 1945 after the Germans had been driven from the area and provided his impressions of the aftermath of the conflict in another ABCA article, 'Arnhem Revisited', published on June 23rd. This too has been included in the compilation. There is also a piece by Major Anthony Cotterell, written prior to the operation, that describes the frustrations of being constantly on standby only to be stood down again. Cotterell did not make it back.As for the outcome of the mission, to quote Watkins: "The operation itself was not a complete success because only two of the three river barriers were carried. But Arnhem has left in history a record which those who come after must strain every ounce of courage and endurance they possess even to equal."The text has been reset for this edition and a number of footnotes added, largely to help those who are unfamiliar with the less commonly recognised army acronyms and abbreviations. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 80 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781910375464 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Arnhem by John Nichol and Tony Rennell is an absolutely gripping narrative packed with action and heroic tales of courage.'Riveting ... reveals the ice-cool courage of British troops trapped in the bloody shambles of Arnhem' Daily MailIn 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. The plan went terribly wrong ...Seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, Arnhem is the gripping story of a bitter military defeat that became a triumph of the human spirit. It paints a vivid portrait of those in the cauldron of war, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour, a battle they won hands down.For fans of A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and for readers of Antony Beevor's Stalingrad and Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Dunkirk. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 368 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780141048352 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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ISBN: 9781913099244 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Here is the true story of the events that inspired the famous film, A Bridge Too Far, told in compelling style by Christopher Hibbert, one of Britain's foremost historians. In September, 1944, in Arnhem, Holland, what was to have been a brilliant battle-a battle meant to hasten an end to the war-instead turned into an epic tragedy. Nine-thousand men of the First British Airborne division parachuted into the countryside, behind German lines, with a mission: to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine ahead of the advancing British Second Army. But the result was disastrous: the men faced constant bombardment. Nine days later, after some of the fiercest street fighting of the war, only 2,000 of the paratroopers managed to escape to safety. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 258 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781842127278 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This is the latest in the well-respected Battleground series of books, and covers a number of aspects of the battle of Arnhem. It concentrates on the landings and the desperate and legendary battle fought by the remnants of 1st Airborne Division in the town of Oosterbeek. The book relies on both historical knowledge and anecdotes from veterans to bring to life the events of those fateful days of late September 1944.Having set the strategic scene in the opening chapter, the guide suggests four separate tours around the area, one on foot and the others requiring a car. They can all be completed in a full day, but are structured in such a way that visitors can make their own choice of how and where to visit. For a clear, concise and accurate account of the Arnhem-Oosterbeek battlefield this excellent addition to our Battleground series is unlikely to be beaten. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 144 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780850528565 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: In the second of his two Battleground guides to the epic struggle put up by the British and Polish paratroopers at Arnhem, Frank Steer concentrates on the battle in the town itself and particularly for the vital bridge. Seized at a comparatively early stage, the bridge became the focus for prolonged and vicious fighting. Cut off from further reinforcement by the furious Germans, the small garrison, led by the redoubtable Colonel John Frost, waged an increasingly desperate struggle for survival against overwhelming odds, hoping against hope that 30 Corps would arrive in time. As is well known they did not. The fact that this battle was lost and the bold aims of Market Garden were not fully achieved in no way diminished the extent of the achievement of the Para's. Indeed it has added to their glory. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 144 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780850529395 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 111 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780711008267 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: A tale of great heroism and tragic misjudgement, by an extraordinary man with an extraordinary story to tellOur huts had been locked and left just as they were when we left them on Monday morning. We took the keys, went in and sat down on our beds. The four of us looked round the hut. There were eighteen empty beds. It was very quiet now . . . Of the 10,000 men who landed at Arnhem, 1,400 were killed over nine days, and more than 6,000--about a third of them wounded--were captured. It was a bloody disaster. The remarkable Louis Hagen, an enemy alien who had escaped to England having been imprisoned and tortured in a Nazi concentration camp as a boy just a few years earlier, was one of the minority who made it back. What makes this book so unforgettable is not only the breathtaking drama of the story itself, it is the unmistakable talent of the writer. The narrative was first published anonymously in 1945. When 45 years later at a dinner party in Germany, Louis Hagen met Major Winrich Behr, Adjutant to Field Marshal Model at Arnhem, Louis added Behr's side of the story to add even more insight to the original work. |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 143 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780752468686 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 118 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780901627100 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Language: English |
ISBN: 9789083142203 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 8 June 2025 |
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Summary: Heavily outnumbered by German forces, John Frost's men have failed in their attempt to hold the road bridge in Arnhem. (See Part 1) The rest of the British Airborne Division is forced to retreat to Oosterbeek to form a bridgehead for the troops approaching from the south. The heavy fighting is accompanied by immense suffering for all those concerned not least the civilians desperately hiding in their cellars. Slowly it becomes clear that the long-awaited 30th Corps will not be coming to relieve them. Without food or water and with little ammunition left, the situation has become gravely desperate for General Urquhart's airborne troops. With the first tanks rolling into the village streets of Oosterbeek near Arnhem, the battle against Hitler's elite forces is about to reach its deadly climax. Will they still manage to cross the river Rhine and escape with their lives? Brought to you in the form of an outstanding graphic novel, this story of human sacrifice is worthy of being told over and over again. SELLING POINTS: * Stunning graphic novel depicting the nine day battle at Arnhem Colour throughout |
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels |
Number of Pages: 48 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9789490000097 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Genre: Comics & graphic novels, historical fiction, general |
Language: Dutch |
ISBN: 9789490000134 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Date Published: 1 January 2015 |
ISBN: 9780750965217 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This is the first in a series of game books which put you in command of the forces in engaged in some of history's most famous battles. Your tactical skill and ability to make the right command decision will be tested at every turn of the page. Operation Market Garden in September 1944 was one of the most daring Allied plans of the Second World War. An audacious surprise assault from the air, it was intended to give the Allies a bridgehead across the Rhine, removing the last significant natural barrier on the road to Berlin. If successful it might have shortened the war by months. Will the brave British paratroopers be able to seize the vital bridge at Arnhem and hold it until reinforcements fight their way through? Or will the Germans be able to recover the initiative and crush them in a skillful counterattack? The book presents you with a series of command decisions, aided by situation maps; directing you to the next relevant briefing depending on the option you choose. No dice are necessary to play, just this book and your tactical skill. When you buy this book, the fate of nations is in your hands. |
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies |
Number of Pages: 166 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781848844841 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This wallet contains 12 facsimiles of key original 1944 documents, relating the story of the heroic Allied attempt to take a bridge across the Rhine from the viewpoint of British and American airborne troops, German defenders and the Dutch resistance. The documents are accompanied by an illustrated introduction which places them in their historical context and includes a glossary of technical terms used in the items. The pack includes: the SS account of the battle, with a cover note signed by Heinrich Himmler; VC citations for a glider pilot and paratrooper; the US 82nd Airborne colour map of the landing and attack on Nijmigen; SOE signals sent to London; war diaries for two paratroopers and Grenadier Guards; an aerial reconnaissance photograph of destroyed SS armour on the bridge at Arnhem; a congratulatory letter from a colonel in the US 101st Airborne to Irish Guards; the ULTRA decrypt of the German analysis of the battle; and the Ordre de Mission for the SOE and OSS teams. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 8 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781873162835 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Number of Pages: 336 |
Language: Dutch |
ISBN: 9789062350674 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 197 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780718305215 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: The remarkable true story of a Canadian paratrooper's escape from behind enemy lines following the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. Ideal for readers of James Holland, Anthony Beevor and Cornelius Ryan. On September 17, 1944, over 8,000 men of the British 1st Airborne Division landed in German-occupied Netherlands as part of the largest airborne invasion ever undertaken. Twenty-two-year-old Canadian paratrooper Leo Heaps was one of them. Told with authenticity and clarity, Heaps' personal account of the nightmare battle fought after the paratroopers dropped at Oosterbeek paints a remarkably vivid picture of one of the most dramatic and little-known events of the Second World War. Captain Leo Heaps volunteered to serve with the British Army early in 1944 and arrived in England in May of that year. Attached to the Dorset Infantry Regiment, he took part in the D-Day assault on Normandy in June. After twelve days, he was wounded and returned to England. In August, he applied to join a British Parachute Regiment and was accepted. A mere three weeks later, Heaps made his first and only jump as the Arnhem assault commenced. Escape from Arnhem is a powerful and personal account of a young man's experience fighting in the Battle of Arnhem. His capture by the Germans and incredible escape was only the beginning. His immediate return to Holland as part of Operation Pegasus and his vital work with the Dutch resistance to help rescue hundreds of Allied soldiers behind enemy lines resulted in Heaps being awarded the Royal Military Cross for "outstanding gallantry." Written only a year after the war ended, the images of the Battle of Arnhem are as fresh and raw as the wounds of war themselves and offer a stark reminder of the triumph and tragedy during and after the Battle of Arnhem. |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 160 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780854950973 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: After seeing service with the Austrian Army in World War I, the author joined the newly created Polish Army in 1918. By September 1939 he was commanding 21st Infantry Regiment in the Battle of Warsaw against overwhelming German forces. Taken prisoner, he escaped to join the Polish Army in France before evacuating to England.In 1941 he formed the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade and trained and commanded it for the next three years. While created for the liberation of Poland, the Brigade and the author parachuted into Arnhem in September 1944 and fought with great courage.His frank style and opinions resulted in major disagreements with his British senior officers such as Boy Browning and he was forced to resign.Freely I Served is both a personal memoir and a tribute to the many brave Polish soldiers who fought to regain their country from occupation. An inspiring and revealing book. |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 203 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781526781703 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 208 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780099574606 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: "This volume of the Battleground Europe series starts with one of the most celebrated events of the North West-European campaign, the spectacular capture of Joe's Bridge by the Irish Guards. Though, strictly speaking, not a part of Market Garden, it is an important and exciting precursor. This is followed by an explanation of the controversial and optimistic assumptions made by 21st Army Group and the Airborne Army's planning staff and the difficult logistic and Alliance issues that General Eisenhower had to deal with. However, the meat of the book covers the part played in Operation Market Garden by 101st US Airborne and the British Guards Armoured Divisions in the heady days of September 1944, following the German defeat in Normandy"--Introduction. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 208 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780850528374 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: "The Glider Pilot Regiment, having been raised as the first element of the new Army Air Corps in 1942 and disbanded in 1957, can probably claim the dubious distinction of having been the smallest and shortest-lived regiment ever to form part of the British Army. Nevertheless, in those few years the regiment gained as much distinction as it has taken other units hundreds of years to achieve. Yet, strangely enough, the story of these heroic men who piloted their flimsy gliders to most of the important battlefields of the Second World War has never before been told. It is indeed a remarkable story and no one is better qualified to tell it than Claude Smith, who himself served with the regiment and took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and later in the ill-fated landing at Arnhem, where he was taken prisoner"--Page 4 of cover. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 204 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781844156269 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Number of Pages: 159 |
Language: Dutch |
ISBN: 9789020509816 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: The 82nd Airborne Division fought some of its most desperate battles in support of the British landings at Arnhem, yet these actions are little known today. All of the units, personalities and actions of this hopeless struggle are covered in the acclaimed Battleground Europe style. This heavily illustrated work also contains a guide to the battle sites, monuments and local facilities as they are today. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 208 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780850528152 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This book tells the story of the search for the men aboard a huge Horsa glider that sailed into the Battle at Arnhem on 18 September 1944. In the early phase of the battle the pilots of the British engineless plane wish their passengers good luck in their race for the Arnhem bridges, probably never to see them again. 54 years later one of the pilots, Sergeant Morley 'Taffy' Williams, visiting the Netherlands for the annual commemorations of the battle, meets a Dutch journalist and expresses his deep wish to find out what happened to his passengers of that fateful flight to Arnhem. Together they decide to start a search for them. Over six years later this investigation has resulted in a moving personal story of the Battle at Arnhem. The captivating stories of the airbornes give the reader a surprising and gripping view on the events. As a fascinating consequence the search has led to several unexpected renewed personal contacts between the pilot and some of his passengers and their relatives. It also rekindled the search for some of Morley's passengers that are still missing. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 260 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9789059118812 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: The battle of Normandy ended as the Allied armies crossed the Seine at the end of August 1944, a month after Operation Cobra had broken the stalemate. The Allies harried the retreating Germans, who left their tanks and heavy weapons south of the Seine, and by mid-September the Allies were coming up against the defenses of Germany itself, the impressive Westwall. As far as the Allies were concerned, the Germans were beaten. The scent of immediate victory was in the air, the only question was where to apply the coup de grace. Logistics demanded that this should be a single thrust rather than Eisenhower's broad front approach. Montgomery--the architect of victory in Normandy--proposed a daring plan to circumvent the Westwall, thrust towards Berlin, and make use of the newly created 1st Allied Airborne Army. The plan was simple: use the Paratroopers to hold key bridges along a single route along which British XXX Corps would make an advance that would be "rapid and violent, and without regard to what is happening on the flanks." US 101st Airborne would land north of Eindhoven; 82nd Airborne at Nijmegen; British 1st Airborne at Arnhem--the so-called "bridge too far." Unfortunately, the plan was flawed, the execution imperfect, and the Germans far from beaten. In spite of the audacious actions of the Paratroopers who would cover themselves with glory, Operation Market Garden showed that the German ground forces would still provide the Allies with stiff opposition in the West. And then, in 1977, A Bridge Too Far came out. With levels of realism that wouldn't be approached for twenty years, the movie produced a view of the battle that subverted reality and permeated public perception. Just as George C. Scott produced the definitive Patton, so A Bridge Too Far provided an unnuanced view of the battles that historians have battled to correct ever since. As with its companion volumes on D-Day, the Bocage, and the Ardennes battlefields, this book provides a balanced, up-to-date view of the operation making full use of modern research. With over 500 illustrations including many maps, aerial and then-and-now photography, it will provide the reader with an easy-to-read, up-to-date examination of each part of the operation, benefitting from on-the-ground research by Tom Timmermans, who lives in Eindhoven. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 192 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781612005867 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Volume 2 of this two-volume history of Operation Market-Garden continues the story as XXX Corps links up with the 82nd Airborne at Nijmegen which leads to the dramatic and spectacular capture of the vital bridges there over the Waal river. But at Arnhem the tide of battle has already turned. The main force of lst Airborne is thrown back to the Oosterbeek perimeter, leaving John Frost's isolated force at the road bridge to fight it out till the end. As the Polish Brigade is dropped south of the Rhine, and the ground army desperately tries to relieve the beleaguered British paras, down in the south the Germans launch repeated attacks on the narrow corridor in an attempt to cut the Allied supply artery. As savage battles rage for possession of Hell's Highway, the airborne battle is lost and on September 26 the survivors of lst Airborne are evacuated back across the Rhine. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 416 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781870067454 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Volume 1 covers the mounting of the operation and the crucial first two days of the battle. The story opens with the planning and preparation of the double undertaking - of Market by the newly created First Allied Airborne Army in the UK and Garden by the British Second Army on the Belgian-Dutch border. The scene then switches to describe the German military situation in the Netherlands on the eve of battle. The massive initial airborne landings of September 17, 1944, are then recounted with equal attention to each of the three airborne divisions involved. The break-out battle by the Guards Armoured Division, spearhead of the ground army, is likewise illustrated with a wealth of photographs. The second day of the operation, September 18, sees the Guards reaching the 101st Airborne at Eindhoven, making their first contact with the airborne army. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 336 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781870067393 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: The character David Gibson through whose eyes most of the story is told, is based on the recollections of a British airborne soldier. We see and hear him and are privy to his thought throughout the battle. But unlike him, we know what is going on in the enemy's camp as well, and at the end, readers will ask, what would I have done? In September of 1944, ten thousand airborne soldiers came from the sky to secure the Rhine River Bridge at Arnhem, Holland. Two thousand returned, many believing they had been sent on a suicide mission by leaders blinded by a sense of their own invincibility. Their stand at Arnhem, against overwhelming odds, is still considered on of history's most heroic military feats. Red Devil Rising encompasses the range of human feeling from the arrogant tot eh simple, from the strategist to the mud and blood soaked warriors, both German and British who killed each other separately, or schemed to save each other. Ironically, one side fought because they wee doomed: the other for the glory of their last victory. |
Genre: Fiction |
Number of Pages: 364 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781425132538 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 410 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780863791574 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: This is the second volume in a meticulously researched four-part series that provides a comprehensive insight into the aerial exploits at Operation 'Market Garden' in September 1944. In an interesting method of presenting the information, the author's arrangement of British, American, Dutch and German personal narrative interspersed with factual material offers a more personalized view of the war through the eyes of the hard-pressed Allied airborne troops who were actually there in the thick of the action. They take you steadily through the bitter house-to-house fighting in Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem and the fanatical attempts to keep open the narrow road to permit XXX Corps to reach and relieve Colonel John Frost's men, outnumbered and out-gunned at Arnhem Bridge. They reveal the frustration and bitter disappointment in the battles of the drop zones, the bloody fight for the bridges across the Rhine and the almost suicidal second and third lifts to re-supply the troops holding on precariously, fighting desperately, tenaciously and bravely to prevent their positions being overrun in the face of overwhelming enemy superiority. Stories of individual heroism act to humanize this period of wartime history, which is often reduced to mere facts. Timelines detail the day-to-day events happening in all areas of the battle both on the ground and in the air and also add weight to the story in hand, whilst carefully selected archive images work to supplement the text perfectly. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 256 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781781591178 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: 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. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 124 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9789059113862 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 276 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780907675259 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: An account of heroism and courage in one of the Allies' biggest military catastrophes of the Second World War. Ideal for readers of James Holland, Anthony Beevor and Cornelius Ryan. Ten thousand Allied troops landed in the Netherlands in September 1944. This was the largest airborne invasion ever undertaken and it ended in utter disaster. Eight thousand men were killed, wounded, or captured during the Battle of Arnhem. Yet, what of those who escaped? And how did they manage it when surrounded by German troops? Leo Heaps' remarkable book The Grey Goose of Arnhem charts the activities of two hundred and fifty men who, with the aid of Dutch Resistance, made it back across the Rhine to Allied lines. As a member of the First Airborne, Heaps draws from his own experiences as a soldier who fought, evaded capture, and then returned to work with the Dutch Resistance, for which he was awarded the Military Cross, as well as using material from private diaries, letters, and interviews with about forty paratroopers and Dutch Resistance leaders to record a thorough account of the most amazing mass escape of World War Two. These men never gave up in the face of insurmountable odds. Indeed, as Heaps explains, rather than stay within the safety of allied lines, some of these men returned to the frontlines to assist the Resistance and ensure that as many of their comrades returned as possible. The Grey Goose of Arnhem is a brilliant account of heroism that weaves together the accounts of numerous unforgettable characters to provide insight into what the Battle of Arnhem and its aftermath was like from those who saw it first-hand. "Heaps' narrative of the captures, escapes and evasion (including his own) after the battle is well constructed. ... The tension of the moment is tautly recreated. The conclusion is exciting and rewarding. It is a valuable addition to the record of the gallant First Airborne Division." Infantry Journal |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 268 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781913518110 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Having fought their way up fifty miles of Hell's Highway and through Nijmegen, XXX Corps was just ten miles from Arnhem and 1st British Airborne Division. The Island is flat land between the Waal at Nijmegen and the Rhine at Arnhem. The situation was increasingly bad with the remainder of II SS Panzer Corps in the area and German counter attacks on Hell's Highway preventing the Allies applying their material superiority. The Guards Armoured and then 43rd Wessex Infantry Division took turns to lead before reaching the Rhine opposite the paratroopers in the Oosterbeek Perimeter. Attempts to cross the Rhine by the Polish Paras and the Dorset Regiment had little success but, meanwhile, the guns of XXX Corps ensured the survival of the Perimeter. After some desperate fighting on the island, 43 Wessex Division evacuated just two thousand members of the elite Airborne Division who had landed eight days earlier. Selling Points * The controversy over the failure of XXX Corps to link up with the 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem still rages. * Interest in Operation Market Garden never wanes. * A superb subject for a Battleground book with movement and action all the way. * This book completes the trilogy covering XXX Corps' advance * Tim Saunders is one of our leading Battleground authors Author Tim Saunders is a professional serving soldier. He has led many battlefield tours and is now one of the our most experienced and best-selling authors with Hill 112, Nijmegen and Hell's Highway in print all in the Battleground series. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 190 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780850528619 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 189 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780304302383 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Date Published: 2021 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781527297395 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Summary: Sunday Times Bestselling author of The Traitor of Colditz Robert Verkaik reveals the incredible never-before-told story of the role played by the Cambridge Spies in the British defeat at Arnhem "A bombshell book." Daily Mail "Original, thought-provoking and exceedingly well written." Robert Kershaw "Sensational." Daily Express "Robert Verkaik's best book yet, a testament to his investigative skills, journalistic nous for a compelling story, and impressive understanding of the spy world." Richard Kerbaj *** The end of the Second World War is in sight. Following the overwhelming victory on D-Day, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin all seek to shape the global future to their own ends and win the race to Berlin. The British launch Operation Market Garden, the greatest airborne operation the world has ever seen. It is a bold roll of the dice, which, if successful, will end the war in weeks. But behind the scenes, spies are working, and plans are betrayed, the operation fails and thousands of Allied soldiers die. The Traitor of Arnhem tells a never-before-told story of this iconic operation, and of the very different figures working in secret to cause the catastrophic defeat. One traitor a terrifying giant of a man, a supposed hero of the resistance who sent hundreds of fellow freedom fighters to torture and death, the other an aristocrat and an English gentleman, working from inside the heart of the Allied war effort in London. Both of them working for the Russians. Drawn from unseen records and shedding fresh light on the operation and the spies responsible for its failure, this is an incredible account of the battle that would go on to shape the twentieth century. *** "Breathtaking." Sunday Post "This history book serves as a powerful and timely reminder of how the failure to tackle Joseph Stalin's threat to the West at the end of World War 2 has forced the free world to face up to the aggression of Vladimir Putin today." Bill Browder, author of Red Notice and Freezing Order "Excellent ... a remarkable answer through considerable research to the vexed question: why were the Nazis unexpectedly lying in wait?" The Jewish Chronicle "The strongest point of the book is the story about 'Josephine'. We will probably never be sure who 'Josephine' was, if it even was a person, but... Robert proves the case as far as circumstantial evidence allows one." Bob de Graaff, Holland's foremost expert on intelligence and the official historian of the Dutch intelligence services. "I have not read such a convincing portrayal of the German intelligence war in Holland ... A worthwhile read." Robert Kershaw, author of It Never Snow In September |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 400 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781802797404 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: The 1944 Arnhem airborne operation, immortalized by the film A Bridge Too Far, will forever be remembered as a great British feat of arms. British and Polish paratroopers displayed outstanding courage and tenacity in a desperate last stand situation. And yet, as this book describes, the plan was fatally flawed as the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were recuperating and concealed nearby. What followed was a bloody battle of attrition the result of which was arguably inevitable.Drawing on rare and unpublished photographs, this Images of War series work reveals the historical combat record of the 'Hohenstaufen' and 'Frundsberg' divisions. It describes the intensity of the fighting in and around Arnhem between these elite SS and supporting units against a lightly armed yet equally determined enemy. In spite of the war being only months away from its end and the defeat increasingly certain, the SS soldier remained fanatically motivated.This superbly illustrated book with its well-researched text and full captions captures the drama of that historic battle for a bridge over the Rhine. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 112 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781399012942 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Number of Pages: 28 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780978383800 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 5 May 2025 |
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Summary: '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. |
Genre: History |
Number of Pages: 355 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781911096634 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Twee verslagen van Britse militairen over de slag bij Arnhem in september 1944. |
Number of Pages: 400 |
Language: Dutch |
ISBN: 9789060576120 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: Operation Market Garden- a plan to capture the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem and outflank the German front. In all twelve thousand airborne troops were to land, either by parachute or glider, at three drop zones and move towards their objective. As the world now knows the mission was to be 'a bridge too far' for the British forces. Mike Rossiter has interviewed three of the survivors of those fateful days, each involved in a different flank of the British attack, and in vivid detail reconstructs the events that lead up to this most famous of glorious defeats. It is at once a story of hubris and bad planning, but also of valiant sacrifice and inspirational courage. |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 460 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9780552162333 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Number of Pages: 272 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781857943498 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |
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Summary: "[The author's] recollections of the events as he experienced them extend to tiny details which, while not unusual for veterans, is appreciated in their accounts for the authenticity it lends. In gathering other viewpoints for this work, he communicated with other soldiers, officers including generals, and historians for added details to flesh out his tale. The result is a very engaging and interesting book." -- WWII History MagazineDetermined to 'do his bit', Des Evans absconded from a reserved occupation in 1939 and joined the newly formed Reconnaissance Corps. He saw action in North Africa and Italy before being evacuated back to England with pneumonia in early 1944. Once fully recovered, he volunteered as a wireless operator with 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. After parachute training, he joined C Troop in time to play his role in Operation MARKET GARDEN, the ill-fated but glorious attempt to seize the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem. In this gripping memoir, Des vividly describes both the intense action and his emotions following the drop. At first there was an unreal sense of calm but this was soon to evaporate. In the intense action that followed, Des was ambushed twice and badly wounded. Fortunate to survive, he became a POW. After eight long months' captivity moving between camps, Des escaped to American lines. Sadly, but inevitably, new first-hand accounts by Second World War veterans are becoming increasingly rare. Covering the author's frontline action in three theaters and his POW and escape experiences, With Recce at Arnhem is a gem. Some readers may find its brutal honesty disturbing but war has never been for the faint-hearted |
Genre: Biography & Autobiography |
Number of Pages: 137 |
Language: English |
ISBN: 9781473843639 |
Reading Status: Unread |
Date Added: 10 May 2025 |