Burning Bridges (vol 1) - Pictorial history of the 82nd Airborne Division in the Holland Campaign

"Burning Bridges" (volume 1) and "Bridges Are Ours" (volume 2) are the culmination of 35 years of research on airborne history and contain 976 pages and more than 1,600 photographs, most of which have never been published before.

 All photographs are identified by date, location, the name of each soldier, equipment or historical context. In many cases, all of these elements have been identified, making it possible to write complete captions for each photograph.

Photographs of airborne equipment, along with rare documents and artefacts from the collections of the "December 44" and "DDay Experience" museums, enrich the book. Although the authors' intention was to compile a photographic history, extensive research in American and British archives has also shed new light on why Operation Market Garden ultimately failed in its mission.

 "Burning Bridges", in its introduction, explains in detail the decision-making process that led to Operation Market Garden. The following chapters cover the preparations in the assembly areas in England, the activities of the Pathfinders, and the boarding of all the parachute regiments and battalions. The glider routes are also covered thanks to newly discovered unpublished photographs. Then, "Burning Bridges" describes the jumps and drop zones and the first two days of combat. The jump of the 504th Regiment, the capture of the Grave bridge and the bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal are covered first. Hundreds of photographs, documents and artefacts tell the story of the capture of these bridges. The landings of the 505th and 508th Regiments on drop zones N and T at Groesbeek, east of Nijmegen, are then described. The Germans were overwhelmed and resistance was still negligible.

It was the calm before the storm.

The story continues in volume 2: "Bridges are Ours"