OPERATION MARKET GARDEN THEN AND NOW (BOXED SET)

In due ponderosi volumi la storia completa ed autorevole di “Operation Market-Garden” corredata da oltre 2300 foto “then and now”. Un resoconto visivo dell’iniziativa che Montgomery ritenne dovesse “accorciare la guerra” e tutti i retroscena del fallimento, da parte delle forze Alleate, nell’assicurarsi l’ultimo ponte: fallimento che significò la perdita di oltre 8,000 soldati. 

Before the events of September 1944 fade into history, After the Battle presents the story of the airborne landings in Holland through hundreds of 'then and now' comparison photographs. Editor Karel Margry has studied the battle and explored the battlefield for more than 20 years and has collected virtually every photograph taken during those fateful ten days. Many are published here for the first time giving an unrivalled pictorial account of a bold initiative which the Allied Land Commander, Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery, believed would shorten the war. The failure to capture and hold the last bridge of the nine to be taken spelled disaster for the lst Airborne Division from which over 8,000 men failed to return.

Contents Volume 1:

VOLUME 1 covers the mounting of the operation and the crucial first two days of the battle. The story opens with the planning and preparation of the double undertaking - of 'Market' by the newly created First Allied Airborne Army in the UK and 'Garden' by the British Second Army on the Belgian-Dutch border. The scene then switches to describe the German military situation in the Netherlands on the eve of battle. The massive initial airborne landings of September 17, 1944, are then recounted with equal attention to each of the three airborne divisions involved. The break-out battle by the Guards Armoured Division, spearhead of the ground army, is likewise illustrated with an unprecedented wealth of photographs. The second day of the operation, September 18, sees the Guards reaching the 101st Airborne at Eindhoven, making their first contact with the airborne army. 

INTRODUCTION 

PART I: OPERATION 'MARKET-GARDEN'

The Creation of First Allied Airborne Army

The Planning of Operation 'Market-Garden'

The Battle of the Belgian Canals

Second Army prepares for Operation 'Garden'

The German Situation in the Netherlands 

PART II: THE FIRST DAY

Preliminary Bombing Operations

The Pathfinders

The 101st Airborne Division

The 82nd Airborne Division

The 1st Airborne Division

The XXX Corps Break-Out

PART III: LOSS OF MOMENTUM

The 101st Airborne Division takes Eindhoven

The First Link-Up: XXX Corps reaches Eindhoven

101st Airborne Division: The Second Lift

82nd Airborne Division: The Second Lift

Bomber Resupply for the American Divisions

1st Airborne Division, September 18 (D+1)

Index for Volume 1

Contents Volume 2:

VOLUME 2 of this two-volume history of Operation 'Market-Garden' continues the story as XXX Corps links up with the 82nd Airborne at Nijmegen which leads to the dramatic and spectacular capture of the vital bridges there over the Waal river. But at Arnhem the tide of battle has already turned. The main force of lst Airborne is thrown back to the Oosterbeek perimeter, leaving John Frost's isolated force at the road bridge to fight it out till the end. As the Polish Brigade is dropped south of the Rhine, and the ground army desperately tries to relieve the beleaguered British paras, down in the south the Germans launch repeated attacks on the narrow corridor in an attempt to cut the Allied supply artery. As savage battles rage for possession of 'Hell's Highway', the airborne battle is lost and on September 26 the survivors of lst Airborne are evacuated back across the Rhine.

PART IV: IN SEARCH OF TIME LOST

The Second Link-Up: XXX Corps reaches Nijmegen

First German Attacks on the Corridor

1st Airborne Division, September 19 (D+2)

Arnhem Bridge, September 17-21

The Allies capture the Nijmegen Bridges 

PART V: THE BATTLE IS LOST

The 43rd (Wessex) Division moves up

Hell's Highway

VIII and XII Corps cover the Flanks

The Guards are stopped short of Elst

The Polish Parachute Brigade lands at Driel

The Third Link-Up: XXX Corps reaches Driel

The Long-delayed Last Lift

PART VI: THE OOSTERBEEK PERIMETER

The Perimeter Battle, September 20-25

The Evacuation

PART VII: AFTERMATH

A German Appraisal of Operation 'Market-Garden' 

Combined index for Volumes 1 and 2