In the summer of 1944, plans began for a complex operation to seize a Rhine river bridge at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The American portion of the airborne mission was to employ two divisions of the US XVIII Airborne Corps to seize key terrain features that otherwise might delay the advance of British tanks towards the bridge. The 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions succeeded in their tasks of capturing the vital bridges at Eindhoven at Nijmegen in the face of fierce German resistance. However, events elsewhere lead to one of the Western Allies' most costly defeats of World War II. Contemporary photographs, maps and detailed color artwork complement extensive archival research that reveals the successes of those American airborne missions, laregly overshadowed by the failure of the operation as a whole.

Includes maps of: Void - Pursuit to the German Frontier, 26 AUG-11 SEP 1944; Hornet's Nest - German Dispositions in the Netherlands, 16 SEP 1944; 101st Airborne Division Landings, 17-18 SEP 1944; 82nd Airborne Division Landings, 17-18 SEP 1944; Waal River Crossing, 19-20 SEP 1944; Capture of the Nijmegen Highway Bridge, 20 SEP 1944; Black Friday on Hell's Highway, 22 SEP 1944; Market Garden Concludes, 26 SEP 1944.

Introduction -- Chronology -- Opposing commanders -- Opposing forces -- Opposing plans -- The campaign : The southern sector : 101st Airborne Division landing -- Operation Garden : XXX Corps -- The Nijmegen sector : 82nd Airborne Division -- German reactions -- Nijmegen Bridge: the first attempt -- The demolition of the Nijmegen bridges -- Groesbeek attack by Korps Feldt -- Cutting Hell's Highway -- Reinforcting the Nijmegen Bridge defenses : September 18 -- Battle for the Nijmegen bridges : September 19 -- Battle for the Nijmegen Railroad Bridge : September 20 -- Battle for the Nijmegen Highway Bridge : September 20 -- Defending the Groesbeek perimeter : September 20 -- On to Arnhem? -- Black Friday : cutting Hell's Highway -- German re-assessment -- Relieving the 1st Airborn Division -- Hitler's counteroffensive : September 28- October 2 -- Aftermath -- The battlefield today.