A part of the superb Operation Market Garden series, this episode charts the gradual formation of the Oosterbeek Perimeter by the 1st Airborne Division, from Tuesday 19th to Friday 22nd September. It starts by summarising the withdrawal, thoroughly described in previous chapters, of the threadbare elements of the 1st and 4th Parachute Brigades, and looks in detail at the key engagements of the first few days at Oosterbeek, particularly around the critical Westerbouwing Heights and Lonsdale Force areas. In the process it draws attention to the command and control problems, not just the well-documented ones of the British, but the lesser known German difficulties as well. Moving further afield, the courageous efforts of the RAF to drop supplies are included, as is the landing of the Polish Brigade at Driel and the attempts of XXX Corps to reach them as they advanced beyond the Nijmegen bridgehead against increasingly stubborn resistance. As with all Battlefield History TV documentaries, highly informed historians walk the ground and, with the assistance of several veterans, re-enactors and archive footage, discuss each phase of the Battle as it unfolded, all of which helps to give a vivid sense of the ferocious, close-quarters fighting which took place.

Pegasus Archive - Mark Hickaman