In September 1944 the Western Allies mounted an audacious attempt to seize a crossing over the Rhine into Germany in a bid to end the Second World War quickly. Yet despite the deployment of thousands of American, British and Polish airborne troops, in conjunction with the efforts of ground forces to link up with them, ultimately at Arnhem in the Netherlands, the plan failed spectacularly and the war continued well into 1945. Famously depicted in the blockbuster film A Bridge Too Far (1977) the operation, code named Market Garden, has attained iconic status and is the subject of countless books, documentaries and articles, and is subjected to more speculation than almost any other Allied operation of the war.

After 70 years it is time to reevaluate the importance, impact and outcome of Market Garden, alongside a wider reappraisal of the fighting in the Low Countries in the autumn of 1944. This collection of essays addresses such questions as:
• Why did Market Garden take place?
• Why did it fail?
• What were the consequences of the operation?
• How did it impact on the experience of war in the Low Countries in 1944?
• How and why has it been depicted, studied and commemorated in the years since 1944?
• How did Market Garden fit into the overall campaign in the Low Countries in the autumn of 1944?

Operation Market Garden: The Campaign for the Low Countries, Autumn 1944: Seventy Years On is the result of a major international conference held at the University of Wolverhampton in September 2014. The contributors are drawn from a body of historians, military professionals and researchers who met to reevaluate these questions after the passage of 70 years. It highlights many new areas of interest and forces us to rethink our understanding of this pivotal period of the Second World War.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Notes on Contributors
• Series Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Learning to Lose? Airborne Lessons and the Failure of Operation Market Garden
• Chapter 2: Market Garden and the Strategy of the Northwest European Campaign
• Chapter 3: Operation MARKET GARDEN: The Manpower Factor
• Chapter 4: A Week Too Late?
• Chapter 5: Allied Close Air Support during Operation Market Garden: A Lesson in Planning
• Chapter 6: Mission Impossible? The Mobilization of the German Replacement Army and its Role in the Thwarting of Operation ‘Market Garden’, 17-18 September 1944
• Chapter 7: “Dangerously Overexposed?” – Divisional Operations on the flanks of MARKET GARDEN, September to December 1944
• Chapter 8: The Viktor Graebner Assault, 0900 hrs Monday 18th September 1944
• Chapter 9: Taking the Nijmegen Bridges: Personal Stories from the Cornelius Ryan Collection
• Chapter 10: The Defence of the Most High: The Role of Chaplains in the Battle of Arnhem
• Chapter 11: A Medical Bridge Too Far: Medical Support to Operation Market-Garden, September 17-26, 1944
• Chapter 12: Exploiting “Market-Garden”? Operation “Gatwick” – The Offensive That Never Was
• Chapter 13: Starvation and Sacrifice: The Reality of MARKET GARDEN
• Chapter 14: Crossing Water Obstacles in the Low Countries: The First Polish Armoured Division’s Forcing of the Axel-Hulst Canal 16-19 September 1944
• Chapter 15: Command, Control, Co-Ordination and Communication at Westkapelle in November 1944 – Operation Infatuate II
• Chapter 16: A Return to Static Warfare: The New Brunswick Rangers and the Breskens Pocket
• Chapter 17: Shadows of Arnhem: British Airborne Forces and the Aftermath of Operation Market Garden