Customer Reviews

Arnhem: Britain's Infamous Airborne Assault of WW II

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This is a good companion volume to Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far. A valuable perspective from the point of view of the British 1st Airborne Division's commanding officer, essential to anyone who wants a complete understanding of this battle and its tragic outcome.

An excellent depiction of the battle from the British airborne commander's viewpoint, Arnhem gives a very good soup to nuts description and analysis of the battle of Arnhem within Market Garden. Urquhart provides his thoughts on why decisions were made and the impacts, and gives a very good step by step account of the battle. Many times commanders, especially those at the divisional level, give a very high and somewhat remote view of the battle. Urquhart, however, jumped into Arnhem with his division, and details many close calls with the Germans, including being trapped and surrounded for almost 36 hours. Urquhart makes no reservations on expressing his opinion on why the operation failed, although he sometimes overlooks many of the problems created by the British Airborne themselves. One cannot blame him though on his loyalty to troopers that exceeded all expectations by holding out against an armored division with mostly small arms. A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan is the definitive book on Operation Market-Garden, but Urquhart's should be a must read for anyone looking for more details on the Arnhem battle. I would also recommend Geoffrey Powell's excellent book Men at Arnhem for a company commander's personal view of the battle.

What better book to give you insight on what the commanders of the Market Garden operation were thinking when everything hit the fan. Read this in conjunction with "A Bridge Too Far" to get a very good outline of the battle.

This is a good companion volume to Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far. A valuable perspective from the point of view of the British 1st Airborne Division's commanding officer, essential to anyone who wants a complete understanding of this battle and its tragic outcome.