Last Drop, The: Operation Varsity, March 24-25, 1945 Hardcover – January 15, 2008

by Stephen L. Wright

Excellent Book

Genres: World War II, War, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, History

Hardcover

First published February 10, 2008

About the author

My interest in WW2 comes from my uncle, S/Sgt Billy Marfleet, who was a British Glider Pilot. He died when his glider crashed into the Channel on the night of 5/6 June 1944. I wanted to know more about Billy's experiences as a Glider Pilot, so I started my research. This led to 'One Night In June', which I wrote with Kevin Shannon, and which tells the story of the operation in which he was involved.

My interest in Airborne Forces grew and my continued research led to reading about Operation Varsity. There wasn't a great deal of information on this pivotal event, and the only book on the whole operation was in German. So, I continued my research, contacted archives and veterans and 'The Last Drop' is the result.

My research and reading continues and there may yet be another book.

Reviews

[Studebhawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a story!
A must read for military history buffs.

[William White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically just a collection of quotes and recollections from soldiers who were there. The author does not do a good job of creating a story that can be followed. Instead, the book reads more like a deposition of what happened with little connection between testimonies. I was left with little understanding of what actually happened beyond just knowing it was violent and a lot of soldiers were lost.

[Nick Boldrini · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very disjointed book to read. The author follows each unit separately, so as a resource it is probably very useful for research, but in terms of getting an overview of the operation, it fails to deliver that. Its like a technical report on a number of units who carried out an operation, but fails to give a sense of how they worked togethor to achieve it. Dissappointing.

[Simon Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and concise description of operation varsity - the authors style of filling the narrative with passages written by the people who were there worls really well and brings the whole thing to life, makes the book very approachable. The vast majority f the casualties happened in the landing phase showing just how dangerous airborne and airlanding was in WW2.