ARNHEM THE LAST VICTORY OF THE GERMANS

On September 17, 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of the German airborne forces, suddenly heard a deafening roar from aircraft engines. He immediately stepped out onto the balcony of his office, which overlooked the flat geography of southern Holland, and beheld the "air flotilla," made up of Dakota transport planes and gliders, transporting a British and two American formations: the 1st, 101st, and 82nd Airborne Divisions. Student was astonished, yet impressed, by the magnificent sight of this massive gathering of Allied airborne forces.

Operation Market Garden was a plan that aspired to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to and across the Lower Rhine. It was a bold endeavor; the Americans even thought it might be overly ambitious for Field Marshal Montgomery's standards. However, was there ever the slightest chance of success? The cost of its failure was devastating, particularly for the residents of Holland, who risked everything to aid the Allies. The German reprisals, characterized by brutality and savagery, continued until the end of the war.

The British attempt to portray the operation's failure as a heroic defeat shrouded the true story of Arnhem in a veil of myth and mystery. Antony Beevor draws his information from various sources, many of which had been sidelined, and refers to Dutch, British, American, Polish, and German archives. The author's aim is to represent, with the utmost accuracy, the horrific reality of this battle, which General Student himself referred to as the "Last Victory of the Germans." However, written in Beevor's unparalleled and gripping style, like all his books, it does not limit itself to the surface details of the dramatic conflict but succeeds in delving into the essence of the war itself.