Arnhem: Myth and Reality

Airborne Warfare, Air Power and the Failure of Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden, often depicted as one of the most decisive military actions of the Allied campaign, offered an opportunity to conclude hostilities with Hitler's Germany before 1945 but its disastrous failure left the Allies facing another seven months of difficult and costly fighting. In this revised new paperback edition of Arnhem: Myth and Reality, Sebastian Ritchie demonstrates that the operation can only be properly understood if it is considered alongside earlier airborne ventures and reassesses the role of the Allied air forces and the widely held view that they bore a particular responsibility for Market Garden's failure. By placing Market Garden in its correct historical setting and by reassessing Allied air plans and their execution, this groundbreaking book provides a radically different view of the events of September 1944, challenging much of the current orthodoxy in the process.A groundbreaking book that provides a radically different view of the events of Operation Market Garden, September 1944, challenging much of the current orthodoxy in the process.The author places Market Garden in its correct historical setting and reassesses the Allied air plans and their execution. Of great interest to historians of World War II and anyone interested in Operation Market-Garden.Illustrated with 30 black & white photographs including one previously unpublished image for the paperback edition and 10 maps.Sebastian Ritchie is an official historian at the Air Historical Branch (RAF) of the Ministry of Defence and the author of numerous official narratives on RAF operations.A revised edition and new in paperback for 2019.