Arnhem: Ten Days in the Cauldron

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 selfle