The airborne battle for the bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem ranks
amongst the Second World War's most famous actions - inspiring
innumerable books and the star-studded 1977 movie. This book, however,
is unique: deeply moved, the author provides a fresh narrative and
approach - concentrating on the tragic stories of individual casualties.
These men were killed at different junctures in the fighting, often
requiring forensic analysis to ascertain their fates. Wider events
contextualize the author's primary focus - effectively 'resurrecting'
casualties through describing their backgrounds, previous experience,
and tragic effect on their families. In particular, the emotive and
unresolved issue of the many still 'missing' is explored.
During the course of his research, the author made numerous trips to
Arnhem and Oosterbeek, travelled miles around the UK, and spent
countless hours communicating with the relatives of casualties -
achieving their enthusiastic support. This detailed work, conducted
sensitively and with dignity, ensures that these moving stories are now
recorded for posterity.
Included are the stories of Private Albert Willingham, who sacrificed
his life to save civilians; Major Frank Tate, machine-gunned against the
backdrop of blazing buildings around Arnhem Bridge; family man Sergeant
George Thomas, whose anti-tank gun is displayed today outside the
Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', and Squadron Leader John Gilliard DFC,
father of a baby son who perished flying his Stirling through a hail of
shot and shell during an essential re-supply drop. Is Private Gilbert
Anderson, who remains 'missing', actually buried as an 'unknown', the
author asks? Representing the Poles is Lance-Corporal Czeslaw Gajewnik,
who drowned whilst escaping the hell of Oosterbeek, and accounts by
Dutch civilians emphacize the shared suffering - sharply focussed by the
tragedy of Luuk Buist, killed protecting his family. The sensitivity
still surrounding German casualties is also explained.
This raw, personal, side of war, the hopes and fears of ordinary men
thrust into extraordinary circumstances, is both deeply moving and
revealing: no longer are these just names carved on headstones or
memorials in a distant land. Through this thorough investigative work,
supported by those who remember them, the casualties live again, their
silent voices heard through friends, relatives, comrades and unpublished
letters.
So, let us return to the fateful autumn of 1944, and meet those fighting
in the skies, on the landing grounds, in the streets and woods of
Oosterbeek, and on the 'bridge too far' at Arnhem.
Now, the casualties can tell their own stories - as we join this
remarkable journey of discovery.
