Book Review: A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan

The middle book in Cornelius Ryan’s celebrated World War Two trilogy – which includes The Longest Day and The Last Battle – tells the story of the fateful Operation Market-Garden, conceived by British field marshal Bernard Montgomery as an audacious and quick end to the war in Europe.

It opens in early September 1944, when the German Army is on the run from Holland and seemingly retreating back behind their own borders in disarray. Convinced that their enemy is on it’s last legs and out of steam, the charismatic and popular Montgomery devises a plan to drive British tanks and infantry into the Ruhr, the industrial heart of Germany. Occupy the Ruhr, and the Nazi war machine grinds to a sudden halt.

Ryan tells the story of Montgomery’s idea to drop British and American paratroopers in the vicinity of a group of vital bridges in Arnhem, and then to roll British armour down a narrow highway, and across those crossings, held open by the paratrooper force – the air drop was the largest in history – and roll into Germany basically unopposed.

The inception of Operation Market-Garden is ultimately part of an ego battle between Montgomery and his chief competition, General George S. Patton. Both men, who dislike the other, want to be the one to capture Berlin. This is Montgomery’s plan to steal headlines and thunder from his American colleague, and to ensure that Great Britain is remembered as the country whose forces first penetrated Germany.

Prior to the mission launching, General Browning of the British Airborne suggested that they might be going ‘a bridge too far’, and indeed they were. The Arnhem Bridge was the furthest from the tanks and guns of XXX Corps, and would have to be defended for the longest time. Making matters worse, Arnhem had, during the chaotic German retreat of early September, become home to a refitting German Panzer division. Far from the ‘old men and boys’ that Allied intelligence suggested were guarding the bridge, these were veteran and capable soldiers.

What unfolded next was a tragedy, and right from the outset there were problems for the Allies – more German strength than anticipated, bad paratrooper drops, misguided supply dumps, and vast communication issues.

Capturing the Arnhem bridge fell to the red devils of the British Airborne, and particularly to Colonel John Frost’s men, who held out against overwhelming opposition for much longer than they probably had any right to – it is undoubtedly one of the great feats in British military history, which is truly saying something – but there were far too many problems further up the line that prevented the XXX Corps tanks from getting through, and thus the battle was a failure, and a costly one, that delayed the end of the war for months.

As with The Longest Day, Ryan, a former war correspondent, paints a vivid picture of the battle from the Allied, German and Dutch perspectives, examining all manner of political and military difficulties on both sides, and does so from multiple angles. Ultimately, he brings the flow of the vast and desperate battle to life with the flair of a novelist. The best parts are where Ryan tells the story of the besieged British airborne.

Maybe it isn’t as forensic an analysis of a battle as we have become used to from Antony Beevor in more recent times, but the unfolding disaster is expertly laid out by Ryan, often using direct quotes and anecdotes from men and women who were there.

Ryan’s work is a fitting tribute to all those involved in Operation Market-Garden – on both sides, Allied and German, and those, Dutch, caught in-between.