Military Model Scene

Title: Airborne to Arnhem, Vol.1
Author: Grant R. Newell
Publisher: Helion & Co
ISBN: 978-1-804510-39-1

Personal reminiscences of the Battle of Arnhem, Operation Market Garden, 17-26 September 1944, this being the first of three volumes telling the story of this famous airborne operation through the words of the men who fought there. A 40 year project for author Grant Newell, finally taking shape in these new books. This first volume is a large 461-page hard-cover book.
This first volume starts with an introduction that goes over the basic plan for the assault on Arnhem, while what follows are the stories of some of the 150 veterans whose individual accounts are featured across these books. This first volume includes accounts from Officers, NCOs, and troopers from units within the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Brigades, including many specialist, such as signallers, Royal Engineers, Ordnance team members, surgeon, REME personnel, HQ units, anti-tank gun crews from the Royal Artillery, so many varied points of view across the board. Some accounts include their boarding in the UK, their flight to Holland and their experiences on landing, some good, others less so. Plenty of the accounts spread across their 10 days in Arnhem, including their trip to the river on the night they managed to leave the bridgehead and make their way back over to XXX Corps troops. Others were wounded or otherwise taken at POWs so their fight did not last the full 10 days. A few of them manage to cross-reference each other, as they came across others they knew as they moved around the city, attempting to reach those who had managed to reach the road bridge, their main objective. While they clearly knew their objective, once embroiled in the fighting, their view of what was happening was largely restricted was what they could see in their immediate vicinity.
I found this a fascinating read, including stories from men who experienced some of the actions that we have come to know from books and the famous film of 'A Bridge Too Far'. Communications problems happened and hindered the command & control of the action. There is also a lot of respect between the opposing sides, with aid given to the wounded of both sides. There is also consideration of how 'snipers' and 'Tiger Tanks' were so often quoted even though there were few of them. Most tanks were Pz III or IV, along with Stug III assault guns, and only a small number of Tigers were in action in Arnhem. Many references to snipers were actually simply rifle shots from a standard infantryman. Snipers tended to be fewer, but usually very accurate. The urban fighting was tough on both sides, and this is made very clear. There are a large number of archive images throughout the book, most of which I had not seen before, plus plenty of maps which greatly assist the understanding of the many roads and locations mentioned in the text. This is an account that genuinely grabbed my attention, and made me want to keep on reading. Having read this first volume, I am keen to read volumes 2 and 3 as well.
Thanks to Helion & Co for the review copy.

Robin