We Fought at Arnhem

By Mike Rossiter

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Operation Market Garden was an Allied plan in 1944 to capture Dutch bridges over the Rhine using airborne troops to outflank the German front and hasten the end of the war. The operation failed, however, and 6,500 Allied paratroopers were taken prisoner.

This book tells the story of three British paratroopers at Arnhem, narrating their lives before they joined up, their experiences during the battle and finally what happened to them after the battle.

Focusing on what these three saw and experienced, Rossiter gives a lucid account of the operation as it unfolded, describing vividly the fears of the ordinary soldier and highlighting the almost comical disparity between what was planned and what actually happened on the ground. The global events of the operation are used by the author to contextualise the three men’s differing experiences and are interwoven skilfully.

The book is excellent on the aftermath of the battle when the three soldiers were taken prisoner and endured a brutal captivity in a German POW camp.

All in all, this is a very interesting private eye’s view of this ‘glorious’ defeat.