The battle of Normandy ended as the Allied armies crossed the Seine
at the end of August 1944, a month after Operation Cobra had broken
the stalemate. The Allies harried the retreating Germans, who left
their tanks and heavy weapons south of the Seine, and by
mid-September the Allies were coming up against the defences of
Germany itself, the impressive Westwall. As far as the Allies were
concerned, the Germans were beaten. The scent of immediate victory
was in the air, the only question was where to apply the coup de
grace. Logistics demanded that this should be a single thrust
rather than Eisenhower's broad front approach. Montgomery-the
architect of victory in Normandy-proposed a daring plan to
circumvent the Westwall, thrust towards Berlin, and make use of the
newly created 1st Allied Airborne Army. The plan was simple: use
the Paratroopers to hold key bridges along a single route along
which British XXX Corps would make an advance that would be "rapid
and violent, and without regard to what is happening on the
flanks." US 101st Airborne would land north of Eindhoven; 82nd
Airborne at Nijmegen; British 1st Airborne at Arnhem-the so-called
"bridge too far." Unfortunately, the plan was flawed, the execution
imperfect, and the Germans far from beaten. In spite of the
audacious actions of the Paratroopers who would cover themselves
with glory, Operation Market Garden showed that the German ground
forces would still provide the Allies with stiff opposition in the
West. And then, in 1977, A Bridge Too Far came out. With levels of
realism that wouldn't be approached for twenty years, the movie
produced a view of the battle that subverted reality and permeated
public perception. Just as George C. Scott produced the definitive
Patton, so A Bridge Too Far provided an unnuanced view of the
battles that historians have battled to correct ever since. As with
its companion volumes on D-Day, the Bocage, and the Ardennes
battlefields, this book provides a balanced, up-to-date view of the
operation making full use of modern research. With over 500
illustrations including many maps, aerial and then and now
photography, it will provide the reader with an easy-to-read,
up-to-date examination of each part of the operation, benefitting
from on-the-ground research by Tom Timmermans, who lives in
Eindhoven.
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