This is the second volume, but the last to be published of a trilogy
— the other volumes being Smashing the Atlantic Wall and The Battle of the
Bulge.
The book begins immediately after the Normandy invasion, with the euphoria
surrounding the belief that the War would soon be won. However, it was not to be
as easy Monty hoped. The book covers the difficult next few months as the allies
slogged through France and
Belgium fighting stern and skilled
Nazi resistance. However, the centrepiece of the book is Operation Market-Garden
– Monty’s bold plan to cut through the German defences via the eight bridges
which spanned the Dutch / German border.
The book deals with the plan, its execution and aftermath in rigorous
detail. Had Market-Garden gone to plan, it might have led to an end of war
before the end of 1944. As it was, it was the Russians that entered Berlin first in May 1945.
Nonetheless, this period remains one of the boldest and most exciting of the
war.
