Arnhem, 1944

On Sunday 17 September 1944, over 2,000 transport aircraft lifted off from airfields across England and set a course for Holland. They were the first wave of the largest airborne operation in history, codenamed Operation Market Garden. Their task was to open a sixty-mile corridor for Allied ground forces from the Belgian border to Arnhem on the Lower Rhine. The bold objective of Field-Marshal Montgomery's plan — to end the war by Christmas 1944.

Nine days later, the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division were evacuated from a precarious foothold seven miles west of Arnhem. 1st Airborne took just under 12,000 men into Arnhem, the most far-flung of the airborne objectives. Less than 4,000 were evacuated, and the failure and subsequent destruction of the Division effectively put paid to Market Garden. In the years since 1944, 1st Airborne's defeat has been attributed to a number of causes, ranging from underestimation of German resilience, delays caused by poor weather and the unexpected presence of two SS Panzer divisions refitting near the town, to tardiness by the relieving ground forces.

However, whilst these and other factors are relevant to understanding what happened at Arnhem, more fundamental factors have gone unremarked to date. William E Buckingham's startling account, based on new research, unearths the real reasons why the daring attack really failed.