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| operation market garden battle analysis: Arnhem William F. Buckingham, 2019-03-15 Explore this gripping day-by-day combat narrative of the infamous battle for a bridgehead over the Rhine. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: A Magnificent Disaster David Bennett, 2008-07-08 “Reveals much of what history has tended to gloss over . . . should be a must read for all who have an interest in this operation” (Airborne Quarterly). After Normandy, the most spectacular Allied offensive of World War II was Operation Market Garden, which planned to join three divisions of paratroopers dropped behind German lines with massive armored columns breaking through the front. The object was to seize a crossing over the Rhine to outflank the heartland of the Third Reich and force a quick end to the war. The operation utterly failed, of course, as the 1st British Airborne was practically wiped out, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions became tied down in vicious combat for months, and the vaunted armored columns were foiled at every turn by improvisational German defenses. Some have called the battle “Hitler’s last victory.” In this work, many years in the making, David Bennett puts forward a balanced and comprehensive account of the British, American, Polish, Canadian, and German actions, as well as the strategic background of the operation, in a way not yet done. He shows, for example, that rather than a bridgehead over the Rhine, Montgomery’s ultimate aim was to flank the Ruhr industrial area from the north. The book also deals as never before with the key role of all three Corps of British Second Army, not just Brian Horrocks’ central XXX Corps. For the first time, we learn the dramatic untold story of how a single company of Canadian engineers achieved the evacuation of 1st Airborne’s survivors back across the Rhine when all other efforts had failed. Also revealed is the scandal of how Polish Gen. Sosabowski was treated by the British military authorities, and how the operation would have failed at the outset but for the brilliant soldiery of the two American airborne divisions. Respectfully nodding to A Bridge Too Far and other excellent works on Market Garden, the author has interviewed survivors, walked the ground, and performed prodigious archival research to increase our understanding of the battle, from the actions of the lowliest soldier to the highest commander, Allied and German. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: It Never Snows in September Robert J. Kershaw, 2019-08 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: British Airborne Soldier vs Waffen-SS Soldier David Greentree, 2019-07-25 Operation Market Garden was an Allied plan to try and end the war before the end of 1944, and relied on landing airborne troops to secure bridges over the Rhine bridges in the Netherlands. Critical to this plan were the glider troops of Britain's 1st Airlanding Brigade. Short on heavy weapons and not trained in street fighting, the glider troops were meant to secure and defend the Allied perimeter around Arnhem as the parachute brigades fought their way into the city. Facing the airborne forces were understrength Waffen-SS units that were hastily formed into ad hoc battle groups, some supported by armour. The troops on both sides would have their tactical flexibility and powers of endurance tested to the limit in the bitter actions that ensued. Employing first-hand accounts and drawing upon the latest research, David Greentree tells the story of the glider troops' dogged defence of the Allied perimeter at Arnhem, and the Waffen-SS forces' efforts to overcome them. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: A Bridge Too Far Cornelius Ryan, 1974 On 17th September 1944, the people of southern England gaped as the mightiest airborne force in history thundered overhead en route for Arnhem. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Last German Victory Aaron Bates, 2025-04-30 Operation Market Garden - the Allied airborne invasion of German-occupied Holland in September 1944 - is one of the most famous and controversial Allied failures of the Second World War. Many books have been written on the subject seeking to explain the defeat. Historians have generally focused on the mistakes made by senior commanders as they organized the operation. The choice of landing zones has been criticized, as has the structure of the airlift plan. But little attention has been paid to the influence that combat doctrine and training had upon the relative performance of the forces involved. And it is this aspect that Aaron Bates emphasizes in this perceptive, closely argued and absorbing re-evaluation of the battle.As he describes each phase of the fighting he shows how German training, which gave their units a high degree of independence of action, better equipped them to cope with the confusion created by the surprise Allied attack. In contrast, the British forces were hampered by their rigid and centralized approach which made it more difficult for them to adapt to the chaotic situation.Aaron Bates's thought-provoking study sheds fresh light on the course of the fighting around Arnhem and should lead to a deeper understanding of one of the most remarkable episodes in the final stage of the Second World War in western Europe. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Leadership in War Andrew Roberts, 2020-10-27 A comparison of nine leaders who led their nations through the greatest wars the world has ever seen and whose unique strengths—and weaknesses—shaped the course of human history, from the bestselling, award-winning author of Churchill, Napoleon, and The Last King of America “Has the enjoyable feel of a lively dinner table conversation with an opinionated guest.” —The New York Times Book Review Taking us from the French Revolution to the Cold War, Andrew Roberts presents a bracingly honest and deeply insightful look at nine major figures in modern history: Napoleon Bonaparte, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, George C. Marshall, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Margaret Thatcher. Each of these leaders fundamentally shaped the outcome of the war in which their nation was embroiled. Is war leadership unique, or did these leaders have something in common, traits and techniques that transcend time and place and can be applied to the essential nature of conflict? Meticulously researched and compellingly written, Leadership in War presents readers with fresh, complex portraits of leaders who approached war with different tactics and weapons, but with the common goal of success in the face of battle. Both inspiring and cautionary, these portraits offer important lessons on leadership in times of struggle, unease, and discord. With his trademark verve and incisive observation, Roberts reveals the qualities that doom even the most promising leaders to failure, as well as the traits that lead to victory. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Ardennes Hugh Marshall Cole, 1965 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Hell's Highway Tim Saunders, 2009-05-18 This WWII history and battleground guide offers a fascinating look at the vital and infamous stretch of road through the Netherlands. After the Allied victory at Normandy, Operation Market Garden was intended to cut a path to Germany through the Netherlands. Essential to the plan was a two-lane road that came to be known as Hell's Highway. This was the route that the British 3rd Guards Armored Division had to advance down rapidly to relieve the American Paratroopers of the 82d Airborne at Nijmegen and the British I st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Beginning with the famous capture of Joe’s Bridge by the Irish Guards—an essential preliminary action before the start of Operation Market Garden—historian Tim Saunders guides visitors through the seizure of bridges, the liberation of small towns, and other actions undertaken by the famous Screaming Eagles. With vivid personal accounts throughout, this guide features practical visitor information about monuments and other important sites. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Ardennes 1944 Antony Beevor, 2015-11-03 The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Gods of War James Lacey, Williamson Murray, 2021-05-18 Hannibal vs. Scipio. Grant vs. Lee. Rommel vs. Patton. The greatest battles, commanders, and rivalries of all time come to life in this engrossing guide to the geniuses of military history. “A compelling study of military leadership.”—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom Any meeting of genius may create sparks, but when military geniuses meet, their confrontations play out upon a vast panorama of states or civilizations at war, wielding the full destructive power of a mighty nation’s armies. Gods of War is the first single-volume, in-depth examination of the most celebrated military rivalries of all time, and of the rare, world-changing battles in which these great commanders in history matched themselves against true equals. From Caesar and Pompey deciding the fate of the Roman Republic, to Grant and Lee battling for a year during the American Civil War, to Rommel and Montgomery and Patton meeting in battle after battle as Hitler strove for European domination, these match-ups and their corresponding strategies are among the most memorable in history. A thrilling look into both the generals’ lives and their hardest-fought battles, Gods of War is also a thought-provoking analysis of the qualities that make a strong commander and a deep exploration of the historical context in which the contestants were required to wage war, all told with rousing narrative flair. And in a time when technology has made the potential costs of war even greater, it is a masterful look at how military strategy has evolved and what it will take for leaders to guide their nations to peace in the future. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Monte Cassino Matthew Parker, 2004-06-01 Monte Cassino is the true story of one of the bitterest and bloodiest of the Allied struggles against the Nazi army. Long neglected by historians, the horrific conflict saw over 350,000 casualties, while the worst winter in Italian memory and official incompetence and backbiting only worsened the carnage and turmoil. Combining groundbreaking research in military archives with interviews with four hundred survivors from both sides, as well as soldier diaries and letters, Monte Cassino is both profoundly evocative and historically definitive. Clearly and precisely, Matthew Parker brilliantly reconstructs Europe’s largest land battle–which saw the destruction of the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino–and dramatically conveys the heroism and misery of the human face of war. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The PIAT Matthew Moss, 2020-08-20 Designed in 1942, Britain's innovative Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank (PIAT) provided British and Commonwealth troops with a much-needed means of taking on Germany's formidable Panzers. Replacing the inadequate Boys anti-tank rifle, it was conceived in the top-secret World War II research and development organization known colloquially as 'Churchill's Toyshop', alongside other ingenious weapons such as the sticky bomb, the limpet mine and the time-pencil fuse. Unlike the more famous US bazooka, the PIAT had its roots in something simpler than rocket science. Operated from the shoulder, the PIAT was a spigot mortar which fired a heavy high-explosive bomb, with its main spring soaking up the recoil. The PIAT had a limited effective range. Troops required nerves of steel to get close enough to an enemy tank to ensure a direct hit, often approaching to within 50ft of the target, and no fewer than six Victoria Crosses were won during World War II by soldiers operating PIATs. A front-line weapon in every theatre of the conflict in which Commonwealth troops fought, from Europe to the Far East, the PIAT remained in service after 1945, seeing action during the Greek Civil War, the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Korean War. This illustrated study combines detailed research with expert analysis to reveal the full story of the design, development and deployment of this revolutionary weapon. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Looking for the Good War Elizabeth D. Samet, 2021-11-30 “A remarkable book, from its title and subtitle to its last words . . . A stirring indictment of American sentimentality about war.” —Robert G. Kaiser, The Washington Post In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans—all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States’ “exceptional” history and destiny. Samet finds the war's ambivalent legacy in some of its most heavily mythologized figures: the war correspondent epitomized by Ernie Pyle, the character of the erstwhile G.I. turned either cop or criminal in the pulp fiction and feature films of the late 1940s, the disaffected Civil War veteran who looms so large on the screen in the Cold War Western, and the resurgent military hero of the post-Vietnam period. Taken together, these figures reveal key elements of postwar attitudes toward violence, liberty, and nation—attitudes that have shaped domestic and foreign policy and that respond in various ways to various assumptions about national identity and purpose established or affirmed by World War II. As the United States reassesses its roles in Afghanistan and the Middle East, the time has come to rethink our national mythology: the way that World War II shaped our sense of national destiny, our beliefs about the use of American military force throughout the world, and our inability to accept the realities of the twenty-first century’s decades of devastating conflict. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Patton Papers Martin Blumenson, 2009-07-21 One of World War II's most brilliant and controversial generals, George S. Patton (1885-1945) fought in North Africa and Sicily, as commander of the Third Army, spearheaded the Allies' spectacular 1944-1945 sweep through France, Belgium, and Germany. Martin Blumenson is the only historian to enjoy unlimited access to the vast Patton papers. his many books include Masters of the Art of Command (available from Da Capo Press) and Patton: The Man Behind the Legend. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Walcheren 1944 Richard Brooks, 2011-06-21 Osprey's study of the Walcheren campaign of World War II (1939-1945). Walcheren is a saucer-shaped island in the estuary of the river Scheldt, commanding maritime access to Antwerp, the largest port in Western Europe. The Allies captured Antwerp intact on September 4, 1944, but their eyes were on the Rhine crossings at Arnhem, not the lower Scheldt. The failure of Operation Market-Garden later that month brought home the Allies' logistical weakness. As autumn gales drew near, every shell and petrol tin had still to be landed at Cherbourg or across the Normandy beaches. Complete US Army divisions were immobilized for lack of transport. It was vital to re-open Antwerp. The continued German presence on Walcheren, however, prevented Allied shipping from entering the Scheldt. In the fall of 1944, Walcheren had the most heavily fortified coastline in the world. Its seaward defences consisted of 30 coastal and field batteries, mounting 50-60 guns from 75mm to 220mm in caliber, manned by high quality naval personnel behind massive concrete emplacements. Supporting strongpoints had anti-aircraft guns, flame-throwers rocket-launchers and Goliath remote controlled demolition vehicles. The sand dunes protecting the low-lying island from the North Sea were laced with barbed wire, mines and dragon's teeth. Defending infantry came from Generalleutnant Wilhelm Daser's 70.Infanterie-Division, a 'white bread division' consisting of men with gastric problems. Allied intelligence estimated the total garrison at 4,000, but 8,000 eventually surrendered. On November 1, 1944, in a double-pronged attack, the men of 52nd (Lowland) Division plus No. 4 Army Commando seized Flushing (Infatuate I) while in the west 4th Special Service Brigade with three Royal Marine Commandos and No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando would take Westkapelle, and fight their way north and south along the dunes, taking the coastal batteries as they went (Infatuate II). All this was to be supported with HMS Warspite and two 15-inch gun monitors; the Support Squadron Eastern Flank (SSEF) with 25 specialized Landing Craft with guns and rockets; 350 Army guns south of the Scheldt, most of them heavier than 25-pounders; and the Typhoon and Spitfire fighter bombers of 84 Group RAF. In fighting described by one survivor as 'worse than Dieppe and D-Day put together' the Army and Royal Marines forced their way ashore, supported by specialized armour and tracked vehicles, and over the next eight days cleared the positions of their German defenders in bitter street fighting. The first Liberty ships unloaded at Antwerp on December 1, just over a fortnight before the Ardennes offensive began. If Walcheren had not fallen when it did, opening Antwerp just in time, the Allies would have been hard pressed to withstand the German attack, or replace the fuel stocks lost in its opening days, let alone cross the Rhine in the following spring, and meet the Russians on the Elbe. The Walcheren campaign was not merely a dramatic combined operation pulled off against the odds; it helped determine the course of the war and the shape of the post-war world. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Arnhem Iain Ballantyne, 2023-02-13 The account of the fateful bridge too far... ‘It was a bridge too far and perhaps the whole plan was doomed to failure from the start, but we had to try, didn’t we?’ 17 September 1944: 30,000 airborne soldiers prepare to drop 64 miles behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Holland; tens of thousands of ground troops race down Hell’s Highway in tanks and armoured cars, trucks and half-tracks to link up with them. The goal – to secure eight bridges across the Rhine and end the war by Christmas. Ten days later, over 15,000 of these soldiers have died, 6,000 have been taken prisoner. Operation Market Garden was the daring plan to stage a coup de main in occupied territory, gain control of those bridges, and obtain a direct route into Hitler’s Germany. But the operation failed and the allied forces suffered a brutal military defeat. In the 75 years since, tactics have been analysed and blame has been placed, but the heart of Arnhem’s story lies in the selflessness and bravery of those troops that fought, the courage and resilience of the civilians caught up in confrontation, and the pure determination to fight for their lives and their freedom. This is the story of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. In Ballantyne’s Arnhem, we go into battle with not only the famous commanders in the thick of the action, but also with all those whose fates were determined by their decisions. Based on first-hand interviews, military records, and diaries, we witness the confusion and mayhem of war – from the horrific and devastating to the surreal and mundane. But most of all, we witness the self-sacrifice and valour of the men who gave their lives to liberate strangers in a foreign country. Praise for Arnhem: Ten Days in the Cauldron ‘Reminiscent of Stephen Ambrose at his best... some remarkable stories, which Ballantyne neatly dovetails into a rolling epic’ Dr Harry Bennett, University of Plymouth ‘Breath-taking... I thoroughly enjoyed reading this account of Arnhem, adding, if you like, a trench-level perspective to those other accounts written from more senior, and sometimes more detached, points of view. Thoroughly recommended’ British Journal for Military History |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Disputed Decisions of World War II Mark Thompson, 2019-12-23 A former Harvard professor of decision science and game theory draws on those disciplines in this review of controversial strategic and tactical decisions of World War II. Allied leaders--although outstanding in many ways--sometimes botched what now is termed meta-decision making or deciding how to decide. Operation Jubilee, a single-division raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, for example, illustrated the pitfalls of groupthink. In the Allied invasion of North Africa three months later, American and British leaders fell victim to the planning fallacy: having unrealistically rosy expectations of an easy victory. In Sicily in the summer of 1943, they violated the millennia-old principle of command unity--now re-endorsed and elaborated on by modern theorists. Had Allied strategists understood the game theory of bluffing, in January 1944 they might well not have landed two-plus divisions at Anzio in Italy. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Bitter Victory Carlo D'Este, 2009-06-02 Bitter Victory illuminates a chapter of World War II that has lacked a balanced, full-scale treatment until now. In recounting the second-largest amphibious operation in military history, Carlo D'Este for the first time reveals the conflicts in planning and the behind-the-scenes quarrels between top Allied commanders. The book explodes the myth of the Patton-Montgomery rivalry and exposes how Alexander's inept generalship nearly wrecked the campaign. D'Este documents in chilling detail the series of savage battles fought against an overmatched but brilliant foe and how the Germans—against overwhelming odds—carried out one of the greatest strategic withdrawals in history. His controversial narrative depicts for the first time how the Allies bungled their attempt to cut off the Axis retreat from Sicily, turning what ought to have been a great triumph into a bitter victory that later came to haunt the Allies in Italy. Using a wealth of original sources, D'Este paints an unforgettable portrait of men at war. From the front lines to the councils of the Axis and Allied high commands, Bitter Victory offers penetrating reassessments of the men who masterminded the campaign. Thrilling and authoritative, this is military history on an epic scale. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Day of Battle Rick Atkinson, 2008-09-16 In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Britain's War Daniel Todman, 2016-05-26 'An energetic, ambitious, provocative work by a young historian of notable gifts, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, The Sunday Times 'Bold and breathtaking... I have never read a more daringly panoramic survey of the period' Jonathan Wright, Herald Scotland The most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. Yet the outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe. Britain's War is a narrative of these epic events, an analysis of the myriad factors that shaped military success and failure, and an explanation of what the war tells us about the history of modern Britain. As compelling on the major military events as he is on the experience of ordinary people living through exceptional times, Todman suffuses his extraordinary book with a vivid sense of a struggle which left nobody unchanged - and explores why, despite terror, separation and deprivation, Britons were overwhelmingly willing to pay the price of victory. This volume begins with the coronation of George VI and ends with the disasters in the Far East in December 1941. A second volume will tell the story from 1942 to Indian independence in 1947. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Arnhem 1944 Martin Middlebrook, 2009-09-19 A detailed history of the World War II battle, featuring experiences from over 500 participants, by the author of The First Day on the Somme. The Battle of Arnhem was a turning point in the war, a gamble by Montgomery, using three airborne divisions to capture a series of bridges spanning the wide rivers of Holland and unleash the Allied armies into the plains of northern Germany. If the bridges had been captured and held, and the ground forces had been able to relieve the airborne forces, then there would have been a good chance of ending the war before Christmas, 1944. It all went wrong. Although the bridges taken by the Americans were relieved by ground troops, these troops could not reach Arnhem quickly enough. In the meantime, only a small part of the 1st British Airborne Division had reached the Arnhem Bridge. Most of the remainder of the airborne force was held up on the outskirts of the town by German units that turned out to be far stronger than expected—a major intelligence failure. After nine days of fighting, the survivors of the division were withdrawn across the Rhine, and it was not until many months later that ground forces captured Arnhem. Using the technique he has perfected over twenty-five years of military study, blending meticulous research based on original documents with the personal experiences of more than 500 participants, Martin Middlebrook describes the Battle of Arnhem from start to finish, from one end of that complicated battlefield to the other. He offers a masterly summary of what went wrong in the last major defeat in battle suffered by the British Army. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Invasion of Southern France United States. Naval Operations Office (Navy Department), 1945 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Why Normandy Was Won Operation Bagration and the War in the East, 1941-1945 Ken Weiler, 2010 Here at last is the long-awaited story of the contributions of the Red Army in assisting in the success of the Allied invasion at Normandy. Operation Bagration was the massive Soviet assault on June 22, 1944 against Germany's Army Group Center in Byelorussia. Germany lost over 300,000 men in twenty-two divisions in just five weeks; this was a blow from which the Ostheer (the German Army in Russia) never recovered. In order to stabilize the front, the German command was forced to transfer forty-six divisions and four brigades to Byelorussia from other sectors, taking some of the pressure off the British and American troops in France. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Siegfried Line Campaign Charles B. MacDonald, 2016-03-29 To many an Allied soldier and officer and to countless armchair strategists, World War II in Europe appeared near an end when in late summer of 1944 Allied armies raced across northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg to the very gates of Germany. That this was not, in fact, the case was a painful lesson that the months of September, October, November, and December would make clear with stark emphasis. The story of the sweep from Normandy to the German frontier has been told in the already published Breakout and Pursuit. The present volume relates the experiences of the First and Ninth U.S. Armies, the First Allied Airborne Army, and those American units which fought under British and Canadian command, on the northern flank of the battle front that stretched across the face of Europe from the Netherlands to the Mediterranean. The operations of the Third U.S. Army in the center, from mid-September through mid-December, have been recounted in The Lorraine Campaign; those of the Seventh U.S. Army on the south will be told in The Riviera to the Rhine, a volume in preparation. Unlike the grand sweep of the pursuit, the breaching of the West Wall called for the most grueling kind of fighting. Huge armies waged the campaign described' in this book, but the individual soldier, pitting his courage and stamina against harsh elements as well as a stubborn enemy, emerges as the moving spirit of these armies. In the agony of the Huertgen Forest, the frustration of MARKET-GARDEN, the savagery of the struggle for Aachen, the valor of the American soldier and his gallant comrades proved the indispensable ingredient of eventual victory. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Devil's Birthday Geoffrey Powell, 2009-04-03 A WWII veteran combines firsthand immediacy with perceptive analysis in this vividly detailed history of the Battle of Arnhem. The Allied effort the liberate the Netherlands faced a brutal setback at the Battle of Arnham, where the men of the 1st British Airborne Division showed unsurpassed valor in the face of overwhelming opposition. The dramatic defeat, immortalized in the famous film A Bridge Too Far, is recounted here by Major Geoffrey Powell, who commanded C Company of the 156th Battalion, and who valorously led the entire battalion through—and out of—the onslaught. In The Devil’s Birthday, Powell draws on his own experience of the fighting while offring a deeply researched assessment of the operation and its execution. Casualties during the battle were appalling. The brave and enduring Dutch people suffered catastrophically while German morale was strengthened at a time of otherwise ebbing fortunes. But the hard lessons of Arnham will not be forgotten. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Moscow Option David Downing, 2013-08-05 This provocative alternative history looks at WWII from a new angle—what might have happened had the Germans taken Moscow in 1941. Based on authentic history and real possibilities, this unique speculative narrative plays out the dramatic and grotesque consequences of a Third Reich triumphant. In this terrifyingly plausible scenario, the Germans fight their way into the ruins of Moscow on September 30th, 1941—and the Soviet Union collapses. Although Russian resistance continues, German ambition multiplies after this signal success. They launch offensives in Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Hitler's armies, assured of victory, make their leader's dreams reality and Allied hopes of recovery seem almost hopelessly doomed. With a convincingly blend of actual history and alternate events, The Moscow Option is a chilling reminder that history might easily have been very different. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Stalingrad Antony Beevor, 1999-05-01 The Battle of Stalingrad was not only the psychological turning point of World War II: it also changed the face of modern warfare. From Antony Beevor, the internationally bestselling author of D-Day and The Battle of Arnhem. In August 1942, Hitler's huge Sixth Army reached the city that bore Stalin's name. In the five-month siege that followed, the Russians fought to hold Stalingrad at any cost; then, in an astonishing reversal, encircled and trapped their Nazi enemy. This battle for the ruins of a city cost more than a million lives. Stalingrad conveys the experience of soldiers on both sides, fighting in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield. Antony Beevor has itnerviewed survivors and discovered completely new material in a wide range of German and Soviet archives, including prisoner interrogations and reports of desertions and executions. As a story of cruelty, courage, and human suffering, Stalingrad is unprecedented and unforgettable. Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevor's magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War II's most harrowing battle. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: September Hope John C. McManus, 2012-06-05 Acclaimed historian John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die, explores World War II’s most ambitious invasion, Operation Market Garden, an immense, daring offensive to defeat Nazi Germany before the end of 1944. “A riveting and deeply moving story of uncommon courage.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The First Wave August 1944 saw the Allies achieve more significant victories than in any other month over the course of the war. The Germans were in disarray, overwhelmed on all fronts. Rumors swirled that the war would soon be over. On September 17, the largest airborne drop in military history commenced over Holland—including two entire American divisions, the 101st and the 82nd. Their mission was to secure key bridges at such places as Son, Eindhoven, Grave, and Nijmegen until British armored forces could relieve them. The Germans, however, proved much stronger than the Allies anticipated. In eight days of ferocious combat, they mauled the airborne, stymied the tanks, and prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine. September Hope conveys the American perspective like never before, through a vast array of new sources and countless personal interviews to create a truly revealing portrait of this searing human drama. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Crossing the Rhine Lloyd Clark, 2009-10-13 “The fighting spirit of Allied paratroopers comes through with exciting clarity” in this account of two separate invasions of Germany in World War II (Kirkus Reviews). A main selection of the Military Book Club In September 1944, as the Allies drove across Europe after Normandy, British field marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Market Garden to secure the lower Rhine—Germany’s last great natural barrier in the west—and passage to Berlin. Though Allied soldiers outnumbered Germans two to one, they suffered devastating casualties and were forced to retreat. Then, in March 1945, Montgomery orchestrated another airborne attack on the Rhine, called Operation Plunder. This time the Allies overwhelmed the German defenses, secured the eastern bank, and began their final march into the heart of the Third Reich. Including detailed maps and personal accounts from those on both sides of the battle, this “vivid war story” examines Allied attempts to breach Germany’s borders, and illustrates how lessons learned from failure helped form the second plan of attack—and seal Germany’s defeat (Publishers Weekly). |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Armageddon. La battaglia per la Germania (1944-1945) Max Hastings, 2016 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: A Savage War of Peace Alistair Horne, 1987 The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture. Nearly a half century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria's independence, and yet--as Alistair Horne argues in his new preface to his now-classic work of history--its repercussions continue to be felt not only in Algeria and France, but throughout the world. Indeed from today's vantage point the Algerian War looks like a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, from Beirut to Baghdad--struggles in which questions of religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism take on a new and increasingly lethal intensity. A Savage War of Peace is the definitive history of the Algerian War, a book that brings that terrible and complicated struggle to life with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is essential reading for our own violent times as well as a lasting monument to the historian's art. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Arnhem: Jumping the Rhine 1944 & 1945 Lloyd Clark, 2013-03-28 An insightful and gripping account of the largest airborne operation in history. In September 1944, the river Rhine was a serious barrier to the advancing Allied armies in the West who were intent on charging Berlin and ending the war. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decided to utilise the First Allied Airborne Army consisting of British, American and Polish troops. Codenamed Operation Market Garden, 40,000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines while ground forces linked to relieve them. But, due to bad weather and German resistance, the operation failed. In March 1945, asecond attempt was planned: Operation Varsity Plunder. This time the plan worked. Despite extremely heavy fighting, they cracked the German line. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Lonely Leader Alistair Horne, David Montgomery, 1994 Skildrer Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) som leder af den allierede offensiv fra D-dag i Frankrig til Tysklands kapitulation i Lüneburg |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Arnhem 1944 Stephen Badsey, 2004 Market Garden was one of the most audacious, and ultimately controversial, operations of the Second World War--a joint penetration by an armored column and a large-scale airborne drop. The objective was to secure key waterways and railheads and punch a decisive hole in the German defenses. If it had succeeded, the war could have been ended in 1944. Stephen Badsey closely examines the combatants, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and explaining the different phases of the battle. Yet the two-pronged attack failed as a confusing and daily-changing pattern of events unfurled. Instead of being relieved after 48 hours as expected, British paratroopers were cut off for nine days as the 2nd Army's spearhead, XXX Corps, were slowed by constant German shelling. Facing two unexpected SS Panzer divisions, the Allied paratroops were eventually evacuated across the Rhine after putting up an incredible fight. Of the 10,000 men involved, fewer than 2,000 survived. Badsey provides an authoritative and absorbing account of why this happened. He closely examines the combatants, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and explaining the different phases of the battle. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: In the Shadow of Arnhem Ken Tout, 2009 The true story of the men who lived, fought and died after landing at Arnhem |
| operation market garden battle analysis: Nineteen Forty-five Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen, 1995 Describes the world that would have existed in 1945 if Adolf Hitler had not declared war on the United States after Pearl Harbor. |
| operation market garden battle analysis: When Dragons Flew Stuart A. Eastwood, Charles Gray, Alan Green, 2009 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Supreme Command Forrest C. Pogue, 1954 |
| operation market garden battle analysis: The Other End of the Spear John J. McGrath, 2007 John McGrath's The Other End of the Spear is a timely historical analysis and an important follow-on work to his earlier analysis of troop density trends in CSI Occasional Paper 16, Boots on the Ground. Boots on the Ground analyzed the ratio between the numbers of troops employed in military operations relative to the population in a number of irregular conflicts. This study analyzes the composition of such forces to answer the question: what have been the historical trends in the ratio of deployed forces directly engaged in fighting, relative to those engaged in noncombat functions? This ratio is commonly, if inaccurately, called the tooth-to-tail ratio. McGrath's study finds that the tooth-to-tail ratio, among types of deployed US forces, has steadily declined since World War II, just as the nature of warfare itself has changed. At the same time, the percentage of deployed forces devoted to logistics functions and to base and life support functions have both increased, especially with the advent of the large-scale of use of civilian contractors. This work, coupled with Boots on the Ground, provides a unique analysis of the size and composition of military forces as found in historical patterns. Policy makers, commanders, and staff officers should use these two studies as a basis from which to begin their analysis of the particular campaign at hand. They will then need to apply their understanding of the objectives, the nature of the conflict, and local and regional culture and conditions to the analysis to create a winning military plan. The practice of war contains a strong element of science, but in the end, the practice of war is an art. This study cannot be used to guarantee victory simply by composing a force of the proportional figures presented in the conclusion. However, it does provide a good baseline, based on historical precedent, for future planning. |
OPERATION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of OPERATION is performance of a practical work or of something involving the practical application of principles or processes. How to use operation in a sentence.
OPERATION | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
OPERATION definition: 1. the fact of operating or being active: 2. the way that parts of a machine or system work…. Learn more.
Operation - definition of operation by The Free Dictionary
The act or process of operating or functioning. 2. The state of being operative or functional: a factory in operation. 3. A process or series of acts involved in a particular form of work: the …
OPERATION Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Operation definition: an act or instance, process, or manner of functioning or operating.. See examples of OPERATION used in a sentence.
Operation - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Operation can refer to medical surgery, a military campaign, or mathematical methods, such as multiplication and division. Operation comes from the Latin word opus (“work”) and can refer to …
operation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Apr 17, 2025 · operation (countable and uncountable, plural operations) (uncountable) The method by which a device performs its function. It is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser …
operation - definition and meaning - Wordnik
noun The act or process of operating or functioning. noun The state of being operative or functional. noun A process or series of acts involved in a particular form of work. noun An …
operation noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of operation noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Will I need to have an operation? He underwent a three-hour heart operation. operation to do something He had …
What does Operation mean? - Definitions.net
What does Operation mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Operation. The method by which a device …
operation, n. meanings, etymology and more - Oxford English …
What does the noun operation mean? There are 18 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun operation , four of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and …
OPERATION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of OPERATION is performance of a practical work or of something involving the practical application of principles or processes. How to use operation in a sentence.
OPERATION | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
OPERATION definition: 1. the fact of operating or being active: 2. the way that parts of a machine or system work…. Learn more.
Operation - definition of operation by The Free Dictionary
The act or process of operating or functioning. 2. The state of being operative or functional: a factory in operation. 3. A process or series of acts involved in a particular form of work: the …
OPERATION Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Operation definition: an act or instance, process, or manner of functioning or operating.. See examples of OPERATION used in a sentence.
Operation - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Operation can refer to medical surgery, a military campaign, or mathematical methods, such as multiplication and division. Operation comes from the Latin word opus (“work”) and can refer to a …
operation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Apr 17, 2025 · operation (countable and uncountable, plural operations) (uncountable) The method by which a device performs its function. It is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser while it is in …
operation - definition and meaning - Wordnik
noun The act or process of operating or functioning. noun The state of being operative or functional. noun A process or series of acts involved in a particular form of work. noun An …
operation noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of operation noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Will I need to have an operation? He underwent a three-hour heart operation. operation to do something He had an …
What does Operation mean? - Definitions.net
What does Operation mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Operation. The method by which a device performs …
operation, n. meanings, etymology and more - Oxford English …
What does the noun operation mean? There are 18 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun operation , four of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and …
