The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland [Hardcover]

Donald Burgett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1999

Author Donald R. Burgett presents the reader with a vivid account of his experiences as a Screaming Eagle fighting the Nazis.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As good as Currahee! and Seven Roads to Hell ... Burgett's natural storytelling ability makes this book hard to put down."
-- Booklist


Also by Donald R. Burgett:

Currahee!: A Screaming Eagle at Normandy

"I have read a lot of books on the experience of combat from both World Wars, and this is by a long shot the best. Without qualification."
-- Stephen E. Ambrose, author of The Greatest Generation

Seven Roads to Hell: A Screaming Eagle at Bastogne

"A stirring combat memoir."
-- Kirkus Reviews

Available from Dell --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

In a daring plan to end the war, the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne jumped into the heart of Nazi-held Europe -- and began a journey into hell....

In September 1944 -- sixteen weeks after the D-Day invasion -- British Field Marshal Montgomery unleashed a daring attack aimed at the heart of Nazi Germany. For the men of the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne, including nineteen-year-old Donald Burgett, the plan meant parachuting in broad daylight into Holland, securing the road to the Rhine River, and helping the British cross into Germany. It was a mission that sent thousands of young men to their deaths.

In this electrifying memoir, Donald Burgett takes us into seventy-two days of close-quarter combat in foxholes and towns against brutal Panzer counterattacks and into the face of the feared German 88mm artillery as the Screaming Eagles push straight into the might of the German Army. Capturing the horror and confusion of war, as ally and enemy move within yards of each other, Burgett tells the story of a legendary fighting unit's bloody victory -- in an epic battle for "a bridge too far." --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press; First edition (October 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089141682X
• ISBN-13: 978-0891416821
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Personal Account of War, April 24, 2001

By 

Brian Glass (Zanesville, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland (World War II Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a moving first person account of Operation Market Garden. I thought this book was as good an account of war as I've ever read. The author, Donald Burgett, isn't the most polished writer but this only adds to the personal feel. It's like having your grandfather or an old friend sitting around and reminiscing about his days in the war. Mr Burgett writes in a no-nonsense tone getting straight to the point. He writes matter of factly about seeing another soldier shot in the head or capturing a pig for dinner. In all of the narrative you can see that the author has lived this.

As with most books of this type there are many humorous incidents. Two of my favorites were the soldier who dodged enemy machine gun fire to retrieve jam for his comrades and Slick, who after running out of hand grenades, used some incredible ingenuity to escape from a firefight. This story is a mix of heroism and hilarious at the same time.

One thing that had an impact on me was Donald Burgett's description of himself. The fact that he was just a nineteen year old boy who weighed 140 lbs really brings home the fact that these men were just normal people not larger than life John Wayne figures.

This book went fast and was very much worth the price. As cliched as it sounds books like this should be mandatory to read in school so these brave men will be remembered for their sacrifices.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One trooper's tale of one of WWII's classic engagements, July 5, 2008

By 

Mannie Liscum (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland (Hardcover)

Donald Burgett's "The Road to Arnhem" is a gripping look into the lives of paratroopers involved in arguably the greatest feat of arms ever attempted by airborne troops - the Market portion of Operation Market-Garden.

For those who might not already know the basic story of Operation Market-Garden, it was the brainchild of commander 21st Army Group, British Field Marshal Bernard ('Monty') Montgomery. Monty conceived of Market-Garden as a war-winning 'knife-like' stab (to borrow terms from Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower) into the heart of Germany. By using a combined airborne and armored-infantry attack through Holland as an end run to the North around the main defenses of the West Wall (aka, Seigfreid Line to the Allies) to the Rhine at the Dutch-German border city of Arnhem, Monty hoped to cross the Rhine and push on to the Ruhr - the industrial heart of the Reich, and possibly straight on to Berlin. The airborne portion of the Operation, code named Market, was to lay a carpet of men from the start point on the Belgian-Dutch border to Arnhem, capturing all the necessary bridges spanning the various rivers and cannals along the single major highway running through this region of Holland and securing the flanks such that the Garden portion of the operation could be put into affect. Garden represented the armored-infantry portion of the operation, a thrust up this single highway by British XXX Corps to and across the Rhine at Arnhem. Operation Market-Garden was extremely bold and imaginative but suffered considerably from the standpoint of tactical and logistical options, relying exclusively on a single route from Belgium to the Reich, and near perfect timing of all portions of the operation. While Monty later claimed 'ninety percent success' for Market-Garden, it was a clear tactical and strategic failure that contributed significantly, if not directly, to attrition warfare of the fall-winter '44-45 the Allies were to endure. Considerable human and material wastage occurred as a result of Operation Market-Garden for essentially no tactical or strategic gain. "The Road to Arnhem" is one mans take on this Operation and its impact on those taking part in it.

Burgett doesn't hold back in his descriptions of his daily travails as an airborne trooper. This is not a book for the faint of heart wishing to have war completely sanitized. Rather the reader sees all the warts, brutality and heartbreak of war. If not a great writer, Burgett is in fact a solid storyteller who sucks in the reader to be part of the 'band of brothers' to which he belonged. Fortunately for the reader Burgett not only tells a story of this portion of the war as he saw it, but places this firmly within the context of greater Market-Garden Operation as a whole. In doing so Burgett gives the reader the broader picture of war since the experiences of a single trooper is but a tiny portion of the whole, often limited in space to hundred of yards to a few miles over the entire period of a 1-2 week-long operation. Many readers familiar with Market-Garden will also get the bonus of reading about 101st operations post achievement of their goals but within the temporal window of the Operation on the whole. Upon reading most accounts of Market-Garden readers might tend to think that the paratroopers only captured bridges and waited for XXX Corps. In fact they were in action throughout the month of September '44, although not always on Hell's Highway.

"The Road to Arnhem" is a 4.5 star read worthy of praise and wider readership.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best WWII story available, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland (Hardcover)

I rated this book with five stars only because that's the most I was allowed. But I feel that all of Burgett's literature deserves at least ten stars. He paints a picture that no movie director can capture. The horrors and atrocities of war can clearly be seen, as you look through the eyes of Burgett as he views the war. It is masterfully written and you will be unable to put it down as "Operation Market Garden" takes place, and will understand the legendary nickname "a bridge too far". The book is a great and complete story of how one man tries to survive the madness of a great but awful war.