September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far

by John C. McManus

Overview

Acclaimed historian John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die, explores World War II’s most ambitious invasion, Operation Market Garden, an immense, daring offensive to defeat Nazi Germany before the end of 1944.

August 1944 saw the Allies achieve more significant victories than in any other month over the course of the war. The Germans were in disarray, overwhelmed on all fronts. Rumors swirled that the war would soon be over.

On September 17, the largest airborne drop in military history commenced over Holland—including two entire American divisions, the 101st and the 82nd. Their mission was to secure key bridges at such places as Son, Eindhoven, Grave, and Nijmegen until British armored forces could relieve them. The Germans, however, proved much stronger than the Allies anticipated. In eight days of ferocious combat, they mauled the airborne, stymied the tanks, and prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine.

September Hope conveys the American perspective like never before, through a vast array of new sources and countless personal interviews to create a truly revealing portrait of this searing human drama.

Includes Photographs

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451239891
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	88,163
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John C. McManus earned a Ph.D. in American History and Military History from the University of Tennessee, where he served as assistant director of the Center for the Study of War and Society, helping oversee a project collecting the firsthand stories of American veterans of World War II. He is currently associate professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he teaches courses on the Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, U.S. Military History, and Modern American Combat Experience. He also currently serves as the official historian for the United States Army’s Seventh Infantry Regiment.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Part I The Leap

Prologue: Into the Blue Dutch Sky 9

Chapter 1 A Big Idea 15

Chapter 2 Plans and Schemes 26

Chapter 3 Foreboding 44

Chapter 4 Rumblings 68

Chapter 5 Drop Day 86

Chapter 6 Objectives 121

Chapter 7 Frenzy 168

Chapter 8 Landing Zones 206

Chapter 9 Euphoria and Desperation 233

Chapter 10 Resolve 262

Chapter 11 Resolution 288

Part II The Fall

Chapter 12 Self-Deception 337

Chapter 13 Road Killing and Ridge Holding 344

Chapter 14 Opheusden 364

Chapter 15 Stalemate 383

Chapter 16 Timberwolves 404

Chapter 17 Off the Line 431

Acknowledgments 438

Select Bibliography 444

Notes 449

Index 490

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A riveting and deeply moving story of uncommon courage.” —Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Longest Winter

“A testament to men assigned the impossible who, through sheer willpower, almost pulled it off.”—The Wall Street Journal

“McManus’s extensive research allows him to tell the story with verve and authority.” —Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An Army at Dawn

"McManus mines a rich and too-long-neglected vein of stories, many revealed here for the first time.”—Mark Bando, author of 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy

“An absolutely riveting and vivid narrative that captures the full extent of the heroism of America’s troops in Operation Market Garden...Military history at its finest. ”—Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines

“McManus’s crisply written book tells of the campaign as seen through the eyes of the privates, sergeants, and captains who jumped into the Netherlands and the air crews who got them there.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Editorial Reviews

A riveting and deeply moving story of uncommon courage.” —Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Longest Winter

“McManus’s extensive research allows him to tell the story with verve and authority.” —Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An Army at Dawn 

“A testament to men assigned the impossible who, through sheer willpower, almost pulled it off.”—The Wall Street Journal

“McManus mines a rich and too-long-neglected vein of stories, many revealed here for the first time.”—Mark Bando, author of 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy

“An absolutely riveting and vivid narrative that captures the full extent of the heroism of America’s troops in Operation Market Garden...Military history at its finest.”—Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines

“McManus’s crisply written book tells of the campaign as seen through the eyes of the privates, sergeants, and captains who jumped into the Netherlands and the air crews who got them there.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

From the Publisher