Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3) by Ken Ford

Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3) by Ken Ford

The final instalment in Osprey's trilogy on Operation Market-Garden, this is a fascinating account of the British XXX Corps assault towards the Rhine at Arnhem.

Field Marshal Montgomery's plan to get Second British Army behind the fortifications of the German Siegfried Line in 1944 led to the hugely ambitions Operation Market-Garden. Part of this plan called for a rapid advance from Belgium through Holland up to and across the lower Rhine by the British XXX Corps along a single road already dominated by airborne troops.

Their objective along this road was the bridge at Arnhem, the target of British and Polish airborne troops. Once XXX Corps had reached this bridge it would then make for the German industrial area of the Ruhr. The operation was bold in outlook but risky in concept.

Using specially commissioned artwork and detailed analysis, Ken Ford completes this trilogy on Operation Market-Garden by examining this attack which, if successful, could have shortened the war in the west considerably. Yet it turned out to be a bridge too far.

Ken Ford trained as an engineer and spent almost 30 years in the telecommunications industry before a change in career led him to become a full-time military historian. He is the author of over 30 books on various aspects of World War II. Ken now lives in Southampton.

Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, specializing in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK.