Finally finished this book!

[Kwaka]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridge-Too-Hod ... o+far+book

I have very fond memories of my dad and I sat around the telly on wet weekends watching old British war movies. Since then have always been a bit of a history buff, reading mostly around WW2 and the Falklands conflict.

I started to read this when I was in middle school some Ahem! quite, a few years ago now; but I think at the time the number of pages and the detail involved put me off and I gave up reading it and moved onto something else.

I recently took my dad down to the Imperial war museum for his 70th birthday, as he had never been. We had a great day and on the way out I called in to the gift shop and there was a copy. I bought it straight away and on the coach on the way back started to read. There have been times when I have watched the clock tick past midnight whilst I have been reading as I just could not put the book down

Now i'm obviously very familiar with the film having seeing it many times, and to be fair it is a reasonable representation of events surrounding the most disastrous of battles by airborne troops in British history. More were lost in operation "market Garden" than were lost on D-Day; the 1st Airborne division basically ceased to exist after the battle.

The book is incredibly comprehensive and written from both sides of the battle with lots of direct quotes from those involved and the acts of bravery determination and courage shown by those cut off in Arnhem and those fighting to hold the other bridges is truly astonishing; not withstanding the bravery of the ordinary dutch civilians in helping the wounded and in the battles in the Dutch countryside.

I think the arrogance of Montgomery (desperate to beat Patton into Germany), coupled with a mixture of poor weather, incomplete planning, a reluctance to accept intelligence from the Dutch underground and, on occasion, pure bad luck contributed to the failure of the operation. At no point could you believe there was a lack of effort from those directly involved on the ground.

We should never forget the contribution and sacrifices that others have made on our behalf so that we can live the lives that we lead now.

Having now read the book I wish that I had read it long before, but would I have appreciated it in the same way that I do now at that age?

So if you like your military history I would absolutely recommend it.

Neil