Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
Devil's Birthday, Paperback / softback Book

Devil's Birthday Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Out of Stock - We are unable to provide an estimated availability date for this product

Description

The Devil's Birthday, one of the most celebrated accounts by a British writer to tell the full story of the Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt in 1944 to seize three major river crossings - including the road bridge at Arnhem, the famous 'bridge too far' - and thus secure a back door into Germany.

It has achieved the status of a classic; it is now republished with corrections, additions and amendments by the author, who himself fought at Arnhem.Arnhem was the heaviest Allied defeat of 1944.

Casualties, especially British, were appalling ; the brave and enduring Dutch people suffered catastrophically in the aftermath; German morale was strengthened at a time of ebbing fortunes; The British 1st Airborne Division - more than 10,000 strong, of which less than one quarter got back to safety - was virtually destroyed; the war in Europe went on for another eight months.If there is such a thing as a glorious defeat, then the Battle for Arnhem must be one of the finest examples. What is especially tragic, though, is that two important victories have been largely forgotten: the triumphs of the American airborne divisions involved; and the manner in which 1st Airborne's morale was sustained, and even strengthened, during the final battles in and around the devastated perimeters.This new edition, besides being a superb history, is above all a record of quite extraordinary courage - of commanders, ordinary soldiers, pilots and aircrew; Dutch civilians; of hard-pressed German troops, fighting to save their country from invasion; and most of all, of the British, Americans and Poles who made up the Airborne Forces.

The Devil's Birthday is unlikely to be superseded as the standard work on a bold, gallant, yet doomed, undertaking.

Information

Other Formats

Save 15%

£14.99

£12.65

Out of Stock - We are unable to provide an estimated availability date for this product
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information