Island: Nijmegen to Arnhem

My family lived in Berg en Dal during WWII. This book does an excellent job of reporting the action and the behind-the-scenes military movements and tactics. It has cleared up many uncertainties and misconceptions I had about what really happened there on Sept. 17-22, 1944.

One of my favorites this book provides Maps Photos showing the routes of attack and defensive positions, for British and German units locked in a death embrace for the "Island".The writing puts you in the front lines up close . So close that you begin to imagine you hear that dry unemotional British Narative cracking with fear and the bone tiredness that only the walking dead infantry know,Yet rising in defiant waves and carrying the lads to final victory. Filled with comments of Participents BUY IT.

Even readers familiar with the tragic events of Operation Market-Garden in September 1944 can learn quite a bit from this thin Battleground Europe volume entitled The Island. Betwe Island was located between the Rhine and Waal Rivers in Holland and had the final stretch of highway that led from Nijmegen to Arnhem. The island was the scene of intense fighting in the final stages of Market-Garden as the British XXX Corps frantically tried to batter its way through the German units that were threatening to overwhelm the British 1st Airborne Division located on the north bank of the Rhine. Tim Saunders, a veteran Battleground Europe author, brings his usual flair for battle narrative and military analysis to this account. The strength of this volume lies in its coverage of many important but oft-neglected facets of actions that contributed to the Allied failure in Market-Garden. Since Saunders covers events on the island between 21 September and 7 October 1944, it also demonstrates that the fighting in this area did not cease with the evacuation of the British 1st Airborne. The Island consists of ten narrative chapters, beginning with a short background to the Operation Market-Garden plan. Chapter two covers the failed effort by the Irish Guards to reach Arnhem on 21 September. Chapter three covers the Polish parachute drop near Driel and XXX Corps fire support to the 1st Airborne on 21 September. Chapter four covers the 43rd Wessex Division attack on Oosterhout and the "dash to Driel" on 22 September. Chapter five covers the various efforts on 23-24 September to reinforce 1st Airborne across the Rhine, including the disastrous crossing of the 4th Dorsets. The evacuation of the 1st Airborne is covered in the sixth chapter. Chapter seven covers the "high water mark" of XXX Corps, with the final attacks on Elst on 23-24 September. Chapter eight covers the German bridgehead on the island at Randwijk and subsequent British counterattacks during 27 September - 10 October. Chapter nine covers the Battle of Aam-Bemmel, the final British 50th Division attacks on 4-5 October. The final chapter covers the activities of the US 101st Airborne Division on the island during the period 4-7 October, including the Battle of Opheusden. A short section on touring the battlefield follows the campaign narrative. Saunders provides an order of battle for the British XXX Corps and the US 101st Airborne, but not for the Germans. Saunders does a great job showing how the British were unable to exploit the spectacular American capture of the Nijmegen Bridge on 21 September and sprint the final distance to Arnhem. The British spearhead - the Guards Armored Division - had become a very blunt instrument by this phase of the operation due to logistic problems and the diversion of forces to deal with German counterattacks on the exposed flanks of the salient. In modern terms, XXX Corps culminated at Nijmegen and had insufficient combat power remainin