HMSO, 1945

By Air to Battle is the official account of the British First and Sixth Airborne Divisions during World War II prepared by the Ministry of Information for the Air Ministry in 1945.

So far I have included two chapters on this site – those directly relevant to the Battle of Arnhem.

Chapter 12 – mainly an overview of the entire Operation Market Garden:

Arnhem: the doorstep to Germany

• The river barriers of Germany
• A daylight operation is planned
• The objectives at Arnhem

Chapter 13 – the battle in Arnhem itself:

The struggle for the crossings

• Collision at the bridge
• The 3rd Battalion breaks into Arnhem
• The 1st Battalion fights through
• “Would you like to throw a bomb, sir?”
• The gliders arrive on schedule
• The second lift comes in
• Fighting to establish an outer perimeter
• A confused and bitter struggle
• Strange episodes of the battle
• The valiant defenders of the bridge
• The final stand at the bridge

An apology is due here for the quality of the maps in these pages – I wanted to include the originals from the booklet but it was difficult to get decent scans without damaging the document.