Rare identified airborne equipment, documents and artifacts from the D-Day Experience Museum\u2019s collections and local collections are spread throughout the book.<\/p>\n
Although the authors\u2019 intentions were to compile a pictorial history, extensive research in American and British archives also lead to a better understanding of why Operation Market Garden ultimately failed in its mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cBridges are Ours<\/strong>\u201d begins when “Burning Bridges” stops, with the fight for the Nijmegen bridges. Roughly, five different attacks took place and each is dealt with in great detail. The main attacks on September 19 and 20, when the 2nd\u00a0Battalion of the 505th\u00a0Regiment, supported by British tanks, attacked both the railway and the road bridges from the south are discussed in detail. When the German defenders would not budge, the 504th\u00a0Regiment was ordered to cross the Waal River in small boats, an action called by many one of the most heroic actions of WW2. De Trez and Hendrikx untangle the decision-making process of the Waal crossing and provide a detailed description, illustrated with many artifacts. After the 82nd\u00a0Division accomplished all its missions, the last regiment is inserted in the fight. The 325th\u00a0Glider Regiment was delayed for many days due to bad weather and dangerous planning. However, in the defensive battles that followed, the 325th\u00a0Regiment played an important role.<\/p>\n \u201cBridges Are Our<\/strong>s\u201d continues with the defensive battles of the 504th, 505th\u00a0and 508th\u00a0Regiments and its supporting artillery battalions. The activities of the glider pilots, members of the Air Force who were called upon to perform as infantry, are also covered. Many newly discovered photos tell a story of danger and misery. Units of the Division Headquarters, such as the Military Police, the Signalmen and the Medical Battalion are also well documented in \u201cBridges Are Ours\u201d. The final chapter provides a critical assessment of the leading commanders of Operation Market Garden and their roles in the decision-making process and the execution of the operation. Sources in British and American archives shed new light on the historiography of Operation Market Garden.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Michel De Trez and Peter Hendrikx have compiled the complete pictorial history of the 82nd\u00a0Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden and its aftermath. \u201cBurning Bridges\u201d (volume 1) and \u201cBridges Are Ours<\/strong>\u201d (volume 2) are the culmination of 35 years of airborne history research and contains 976 pages and over 1,600 photographs, most of which have never been published before. All photos are identified either by date, location, name of individual soldiers, equipment, or historical context. Often all these leads have been identified. This resulted in erudite and extensive captions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[22],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-219","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-hollande","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n