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Osprey Campaign #24
Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden
'Market Garden' was one of the most audacious, and ultimately controversial, operations of the Second World War - a joint penetration, by an armoured column and a large-scale airborne drop, to punch a decisive hole in the German defences. If it had succeeeded, the war could have ended in 1944. Yet the two-pronged attack failed in its objectives. This book details how, instead of being relieved after 48 hours as expected, British paratroopers were cut off for nine days. Facing two unexpected SS Panzer divisions the Allies were eventually evacuated across the Rhine after putting up an incredible fight: of the 10,000 men involved less than 2,000 survived.
96 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 26, 2023
Nice history book. Lots of great pics and a nice layout of the events. Recommended
May 22, 2018
So many bridges, so little space that quickens the pace to the point where the movie couldn't keep up.
Thankfully followed up in trilogy format, with equal and separate attention to the 'sideshow' of XXX Corps, which is an admitted rarity outside of the original sources, and the American airborne operations, which entailed a lot more than just a river-crossing:
1)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (1): The American Airborne Missions
2)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (2): The British Airborne Missions
3)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3): The British XXX Corps Missions
Thankfully followed up in trilogy format, with equal and separate attention to the 'sideshow' of XXX Corps, which is an admitted rarity outside of the original sources, and the American airborne operations, which entailed a lot more than just a river-crossing:
1)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (1): The American Airborne Missions2)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (2): The British Airborne Missions3)
Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3): The British XXX Corps Missions
March 12, 2009
Great book.....sad story! ....especially watching the Brits being pinned down and decimated in Arnhem. First of all, Montgomery holds a lot of the blame for this one, but in my mind, it rests on the shoulders of Eisenhower. Monty continued to beleaguer Eisnhower for a lead in a battle anywhere and sold this plan to him. It almost seems as if Ike wanted to placate him, because the risk involved far outstripped the realities on the ground. Intelligence was all but non-existant and the terrain was one road with many bridges critical for follow on force to support the 1st British Airborne Division in Arnhem. The saddest part was the total lack of expediency to support them when the armored convoy got bogged down, that is from the command level. The tenacity and bravery of the soldiers to hold on to what they did, for as long as they did was above and beyond the call of duty. The essence of Operation Market Garden wasn't the 101st or the 82nd troopers of the US, but the slaughter of a division in which only 2000 returned.
May 7, 2023
Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden (2004) by Stephen Badsey sits somewhere between the Wikipedia article on Operation Market Garden and longer works such as the classic A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan. Since very few contemporary readers will have been alive for the original battle, A Bridge Too Far (film) works nicely as a visual reference.
After the Allies broke out from Normandy with Operation Cobra, they routed the German forces through France. Allied supply lines became over-extended, making it temporarily impossible in the autumn of 1944 to fully supply all the Allied armies in their drive to Germany. This led to a contest between rival leaders to see who would get enough supplies to keep moving. Bernard Montgomery won that round of the supply contest, leading ironically to his failed attempt to cross the Rhine during Operation Market Garden. This led in turn to decades of Monday-morning quarterbacking as amateurs and professionals alike dissect the battle and the reasons for its failure (or its 90% success for those who want to put a positive spin on things, as the Allies did achieve everything in the plan save for that one last bridge at Arnhem - of course taking that bridge was the whole point, so 90% success wasn't a whole lot better than 0%).
Market Garden represented the Allies' only defeat in their drive to Germany after the landings at Normandy. The battle remains compelling due to its high drama, the pitting of elite troops on both sides against each other, and for the narrowness of the defeat at Arnhem. The mighty British XXX Corps, advancing up the one road avaiable to it, got to within artillery range of Arnhem, but arrived too late to relieve John Frost's overmatched paratroopers who were struggling to hold their half of the bridge.
Badsey gives a tight narrative account of the Operation, with its large number of moving parts, all of which had to work to perfection for the plan to succeed. Of course, all did not work to perfection, with the Germans and the weather in particular failing to cooperate fully with the Allied plan.
The narrow margin of failure leads naturally to plenty of "What ifs" - what if the Allies had made two rounds of air drops on the first day instead of just one? What if they had dropped closer to their objectives? What if the Allies made a simultaneous amphibious landing on the Dutch coast, to split the German forces? We can't replay history so we'll never know. But the lack of an amphibious landing seems peculiar to me. The Allies had gotten pretty good at amphibious operations by this stage of the war, and had massive navies available. The Germans had their hands full stopping the Allies at Arnhem. It seems doubtful they could have stopped a landing at the same time. If the Allies had siezed a beachhead somewhere between The Hague and the Zuider Zee, they would have had a force across the Rhine, able to link up with Allied armies advancing from the south. Presumably there was some reason why that option seems not to have been considered.
After the Allies broke out from Normandy with Operation Cobra, they routed the German forces through France. Allied supply lines became over-extended, making it temporarily impossible in the autumn of 1944 to fully supply all the Allied armies in their drive to Germany. This led to a contest between rival leaders to see who would get enough supplies to keep moving. Bernard Montgomery won that round of the supply contest, leading ironically to his failed attempt to cross the Rhine during Operation Market Garden. This led in turn to decades of Monday-morning quarterbacking as amateurs and professionals alike dissect the battle and the reasons for its failure (or its 90% success for those who want to put a positive spin on things, as the Allies did achieve everything in the plan save for that one last bridge at Arnhem - of course taking that bridge was the whole point, so 90% success wasn't a whole lot better than 0%).
Market Garden represented the Allies' only defeat in their drive to Germany after the landings at Normandy. The battle remains compelling due to its high drama, the pitting of elite troops on both sides against each other, and for the narrowness of the defeat at Arnhem. The mighty British XXX Corps, advancing up the one road avaiable to it, got to within artillery range of Arnhem, but arrived too late to relieve John Frost's overmatched paratroopers who were struggling to hold their half of the bridge.
Badsey gives a tight narrative account of the Operation, with its large number of moving parts, all of which had to work to perfection for the plan to succeed. Of course, all did not work to perfection, with the Germans and the weather in particular failing to cooperate fully with the Allied plan.
The narrow margin of failure leads naturally to plenty of "What ifs" - what if the Allies had made two rounds of air drops on the first day instead of just one? What if they had dropped closer to their objectives? What if the Allies made a simultaneous amphibious landing on the Dutch coast, to split the German forces? We can't replay history so we'll never know. But the lack of an amphibious landing seems peculiar to me. The Allies had gotten pretty good at amphibious operations by this stage of the war, and had massive navies available. The Germans had their hands full stopping the Allies at Arnhem. It seems doubtful they could have stopped a landing at the same time. If the Allies had siezed a beachhead somewhere between The Hague and the Zuider Zee, they would have had a force across the Rhine, able to link up with Allied armies advancing from the south. Presumably there was some reason why that option seems not to have been considered.
November 24, 2025
Exceptionally good description of the original Plan and all the operations by the belligerents.
Nice easy flow to the narrative, and accompanied by good quality maps, it was fairly simple to follow the progress of the battle.
Osprey is well-known for producing better quality Campaign books, and this one certainly qualifies.
Highly recommended.
Nice easy flow to the narrative, and accompanied by good quality maps, it was fairly simple to follow the progress of the battle.
Osprey is well-known for producing better quality Campaign books, and this one certainly qualifies.
Highly recommended.
October 13, 2019
Osprey Publishing Campaign publication.
The place is worthwhile visiting as well.
The place is worthwhile visiting as well.
February 5, 2016
Some episodes of history are more than unforgettable, they are thrilling every time one thinks of them. One such is the battle of the bulge, when the allied forces were further out than could be logistically supported and German forces unexpectedly turned around to strike back, and the allies were surrounded on almost all sides with almost no option but to surrender or be massacred - and yet the commander famously replied "nuts" to the proposal of surrender from the Germans, barely taking the cigar out of his mouth for saying that much calmly, immediately, nonchalantly.
Patton was in Italy and was informed of the bulge and the urgency - and he drove his army in an impossible drive across to the battlefront in Ardennes near Belgian border in time to save the situation, the men, the battle and the war.
Patton was in Italy and was informed of the bulge and the urgency - and he drove his army in an impossible drive across to the battlefront in Ardennes near Belgian border in time to save the situation, the men, the battle and the war.
August 22, 2012
One of the best Osprey Campaigns I have read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews