Operation Varsity: The British & Canadian Airborne Assault

by Tim Saunders

In Spring 1945 the outcome of the war was ritually certain but the mighty River Rhine still stood in the way of the Allies. Eisenhowers strategy was to guarantee a crossing in the Ruhr area by allocating the main effort to Montgomerys 21st Army Group. Montys task was to envelope and take out the last German war production and open the way onto the North German Plain.On the morning of 24 March 1945 the Normandy veterans of 6th British Airborne Division were to land just three to six miles in front of XII Corps, within supporting distance of their artillery, with the aim of linking up with the ground forces on day one. First in were the two parachute brigades, who benefited from the numbing effect of the Allied bombardment but by the time 6th Airlanding Brigade came in aboard their gliders, the German anti-aircraft gunners were recovering and, on the DZs, resisting and even counter-attacking the British and Canadian paratroopers.Casualties were heavy, not least because the Airlanding Brigade were gliding in amidst an Armoured kampfgruppe. Despite their presence, the glider infantry of the Ox and Bucks and the Ulster Rifles took their bridges and the Devons fought a desperate battle for the key village of Hammelkeln.By evening, despite heavy losses, General Bolss 6th Airborne Division had linked-up with XII Corps, the airborne objectives had been taken and the gateway onto the North German Plain and final victory was open.

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Tim Saunders MBE MA (1956 - ????) served in the British Army as an officer in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and The Rifles for over 30 years before leaving to become a full time military historian. In his second career he brings together the overlapping spheres of writing, battlefield guiding and military history film making. His intuitive knowledge of warfare and soldiers that is abundantly clear from his insightful and entertaining writing is a result, of his military training, service across the world and his operational experience.
Tim's portfolio of work is wide, with videos from Vikings to WW2 being made with Battlefield History TV and Pen & Sword Digital, variously as presenter, director and editor, His books, now totalling more than twenty title, however, are mainly focused on the Napoleonic Wars and the battles of the Second World War
Tim lives on the edge of the Army's Salisbury Plain Training area and often finds himself writing to the accompaniment of the sound of real tanks and gunfire.

Reviews

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise account of the British and Canadian Airborne in the crossing of the Rhine .