Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944: The Sunday Times No 1

Britain’s bestselling historian’s #1 bestselling account of the classic WW2 follyOperation Market Garden, the plan in 1944 to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept- the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. It was the greatest demonstration of paratroop power ever seen – but the cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch who risked everything to help. German reprisals were cruel and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination for heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths, not least that victory was even possible. Antony Beevor, using many overlooked and new sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of this epic clash. Yet this book, written in Beevor’s inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war.

Antony Beevor is the author of Crete, Stalingrad, Berlin, The Battle for Spain, D-Day, The Second World War, and Ardennes 1944. The number one bestselling historian in Britain, Beevor’s books have appeared in thirty-two languages and have sold just over seven million copies. He was knighted in 2017.