It Never Snows in September

On 17 September 1944 the historic Battle of Arnhem began with the massed parachute drop of thousands of Allied troops. Their mission was to create a bridgehead from which operations could be conducted against German forces in the Ruhr. Ten days later, the British were forced to withdraw. They would not return for six long months...

Despite a plethora of books on the MARKET-GARDEN operation, most notably Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far, the German perspective has never been fully examined. It has taken over 45 years for a comprehensive account to emerge. Exhaustive research of the few remaining German archival documents, corroborated by numerous eye-witness and diary accounts, including much previously unpublished material, means that this new book is certain to stimulate renewed debate concerning one of the most controversial engagements of World War II.

Why did the German soldiers fight so doggedly in Holland when the war was clearly lost? How was the Arnhem bridge so easily captured by the British? These and other crucial issues are examined through the eyes of the German participants themselves, and a wealth of new comment and information brings the German perspective of the 'Witches Cauldron' to life.

A number of historians have felt that a revision of some parts of the Amhem legend is long overdue. 50 years after the foundation of the Parachute Regiment, its part in earning its most prestigious battle honour can now, at last, be viewed from 'the other side of the hill'. A major work of military history, 'It Never Snows In September', and the events it chronicles, has much relevance for the study and conduct of warfare today.