Featured battle : Operation Market Garden

Part of Second World War

Date : 17 September 1944 - 26 September 1944

Montgomery's audacious plan to punch a narrow hole through German lines and turn the flank of the Siegfried line. The aim was to lay a 'carpet' of Airborne forces to capture vital bridges over the Meuse, Rhine and Lower Rhine around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, then force the 2nd Army, spearheaded by the British XXX Corps down the causeway to link up with the Airborne divisions. German resistance was, however, much stronger that expected as 2 German Panzer units were resting in the area and the supposedly 'scratch' units defending the line fought hard. Additionally the nature of the terrain made it particularly easy for the germans to cut the road, raised between low-lying boggy fields. Although the US 101st and eventually the 82nd Airborne secured their bridges the column was unable to reach the British 1st Airborne in Arnhem, who were surrounded and crushed. Their 10 day stand, however, became legendary.

Marshal Ney at Quatre Bras

Paul L. Dawson
Do we need another book about Waterloo? If they are like this we most certainly do. This book is different because of the primary source material researched to create it. The usual story is not trotted out without a fresh critical analysis. Within the book one chapter stands above all others for me and that is chapter 8. The movements of 1st Corps is a tale of mismanagement and confusion and has been a source of conjecture for all who study Quatre Bras. Paul Dawson makes, as clear as possible, the events of the day carefully weighing the evidence for the ultimate actions of the key players. He makes the confusion clear while bewailing the fact that verbal exchanges which could have played an important part on the day are lost to history.
This is a book for the Waterloo 'aficionado' written in a way which is easily accessible to the general reader.
I highly recommend this book and at the time of writing look forward to, the soon to be published, Paul Dawson's 'Waterloo. The Truth at Last'.
Frontline Books. Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2017