Air war market garden - Martin W. Bowman

The third volume of this four-part series on Operation Market-Garden in September 1944 draws on many individual soldiers and airmens narratives to tell the story of the ongoing fight to keep the Hells Highway open to relieve 1st Airborne at Arnhem, and the brave attempts to re-supply them from the air. - - First Allied Airborne Army dispatched 4,852 troop-carrying aircraft successfully to their destinations, of which 1,293 delivered paratroops, 2,277 gliders and 1,282 resupply. Altogether 164 aircraft and 132 gliders were lost. USAAF IX Troop Carrier Command suffered 454 casualties, RAF 38 and 46 Groups a further 294 casualties. 39,620 troops were delivered by air to their targets (21,074 by parachute and 18,546 by glider) with 4,595 tons of stores. However, only 7.4 per cent of the stores intended for 1st British Airborne actually reached it. A further 6,172 aircraft sorties were flown in support of Market-Garden; more than half of them by 8th Air Force, for the loss of 125 aircraft. - - This volume tells of the Allied effort to retain supremacy of the skies. Individual tales of gallantry work to humanize the account, rooting the action very much in the human experience of conflict. Such tales include the never to be forgotten story of the Angel of Arnhem and the acts of chivalry that existed on both sides - even among battle hardened units such as the SS Panzer Grenadiers. All are unique in the annals of war. These and the other personal recollections of Allied soldiers and airmen and their German adversaries tell of extreme courage, camaraderie and shared terror under fire. And they are complemented by the authors background information that puts each narrative into wartime perspective. -