German soldiers were rapidly leaving Holland in retreat. RetreatĪ Bridge Too Far began by looking at the chaos in the German ranks during July and August. A number of obstacles slowed the progress to failure. Airborne operations would jump in and seize the bridges and a ground attack would move in mass to secure the final objective.

This was a 64-mile trek into enemy occupied territory along a narrow roadway. The overall plan was to make a push from Belgium into Holland to Arnhem by seizing and securing a series of bridges. Ryan has broken A Bridge Too Far down into five parts: Retreat, Plan, the Attack, the Siege, and Der Hexenhessel. He interviewed Dutch, Polish, German, English, and Americans. He spent seven years writing the book and interviewed hundreds of participants in the battle from military to civilians and even underground resisters. There are now specific places that I want to see, places that Ryan describes.Ī Bridge Too Far is 492 pages long and full of detail. I am confident that the next time I visit this battlefield I will be able to get my bearings. Each time, I gain a better appreciation of what transpired. Since that time, I have toured different parts of the battlefield as I traveled throughout Holland. It gave us a glimpse of the traffic jam that occurred during the operation. We watched in admiration and awe for four hours of bumper to bumper traffic.

Each of these WWII vehicles carried soldiers who fought in this famous battle. Ryan’s book helped to fill in a number of answers I had while watching the movie.ĭuring the 50th anniversary of Operation Market-Garden, my wife and I stood along Hell’s Highway watching vehicle after vehicle drive by. This time, I have more understanding of the battle after reading the Band of Brothers series and reading Cornelius Ryan’s book that inspired the movie, A Bridge Too Far. Just the other night, I watched the movie again. Many, many years ago, I watched the movie A Bridge Too Far.

A bridge too far by cornelius ryan