Remember Arnhem: Story of the First Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron at Arnhem

by John Fairley

Hardcover. First edition. From the collection of J.P. Williams, father of Hugh Bonneville; gift dedication to Hugh penned on front To Hugh Williams

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written and detailed history of the 1st Airborne Recce Squadron during Operation Market-Garden. There's a lot of great detail in there as is the discussion about the use of the unit during the operation. The unit was trained to recon enemy positions in order to help the movement and positioning of the combat units of the British 1st Airborne. During planning however it was put into the role of a coup-de-main unit to conquer the bridge at Arnhem.

The way the book tells the story of the men involved really keeps you reading. There are many actions in which the unit was involved, from beginning to end, and they take you all over the battlefield. There is tension, fear, hurt, blood, humor and more, making you 'feel' what it must have been like. Quite interesting were the observations on the behavior of the enemy. For the first couple of days the men could check there watches and be certain that in x minutes a German mortar attack would be coming their way. Only in the end became this pattern more erratic. Another observation was the noise the Germans seemed to make all of the time. Loud talking, yelling of officers and NCO's. This all warned the Brits that something would be coming their way soon.

The fighting at Arnhem and Oosterbeek was really hard, but the Germans had great respect for their enemy and only in a few instances did things get 'out of hand'. Parts of 1st Recce kept on fighting till the bitter end and also took part in the evacuation across the Rhine. Despite of all the hardship and war all around them there were still instances where humor helped the men to endure it.

Great book and an absolute must read!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another myth from Arnhem gets busted as Fairley [a Reconnaissance Squadron Arnhem campaign veteran] tells us that it was simply untrue.

He tells us that only a small fraction of the Squadron jeeps failed to arrive at the landing zone... not most of them as many historians state in respected accounts. It was not the case that the "coup-de-main" failed because of glider losses, but simply because of confusion of the landing zones and well placed German ambushes.

Get it right folks.