''A Bridge Too Far'' (1974) by

Cornelius Ryan Cornelius Ryan (5 June 1920 – 23 November 1974) was an Irish-American journalist and author known mainly for writing popular military history. He was especially known for his histories of World War II events: '' The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D- ...

gives an account of

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, ...

, a failed Allied attempt to break through German lines at

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

by taking a series of bridges in the occupied Netherlands during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Ryan named his book after a comment attributed to Lieutenant General

Frederick Browning Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague "Boy" Browning, (20 December 1896 – 14 March 1965) was a senior officer of the British Army who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He was also an Olympic bobslei ...

before the operation, who reportedly said to Field Marshal

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...

, "I think we may be going a bridge too far." But

Antony Beevor Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works on the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. Early life Born in Kensington, Beevor was educated at tw ...

disputes this, saying that Browning had supported the operation, especially in view of receiving more resources. Secondly he did not appear to have encountered Montgomery that day. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Ryan documented his account of the 1944 battle with pictures and maps. He included a section on the survivors, “Soldiers and Civilians – What They Do Today”. He addressed tactical mistakes made in planning the operation. Until Ryan's book, Market Garden had been a classic example of victors writing the history; that is, popular accounts of World War II tended to overlook the battle or to accept Field Marshal Montgomery's spin on it as being a "partial success". The 1974 book was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

in New York and by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which w ...

in London. There were frequent later editions, and a film based on it was released in 1977. B: Book has no page numbers/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge Too Far, A 1974 non-fiction books Non-fiction books adapted into films History books about World War II A Bridge Too Far (book) Simon & Schuster books Works about battles and operations of World War II