As featured on World War II Today

WW2 Today

The authors overall take is that the successful German defence against Operation Market Garden gives us a great example of the continued tactical and operational proficiency of the German army, alongside its ability to win battles against the odds. At the same time, it demonstrated that the German army had wider strategic failings which meant not convert the success of Operation Market Garden, into a wider advantage over the Allies.  That said, the author makes very clear that this was a German victory, and an important one at that.

Jon Sandison

What I enjoyed most about the book was the way it was laid out, in that it gives you the events as they happened but then also the events from both sides as to how it played out, the book then looks at a number of the situations that occurred and then eventually comes to a conclusion which I found very balanced. Supporting the book is about 20 black and white photographs with great detailed descriptions that comes with them, a great addition to the book. An excellent piece of work by the author and a book I would highly recommend.

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UK Historian

It brings fresh-light on a wartime episode that continues to fascinate.

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Phil Curme

This is a thoroughly readable book, helped by the numerous case studies, and Bates has given students of Operation Market Garden much to think about.

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Beating Tsundoku

This is a well-researched and extensively referenced analysis of Operation Market Garden in 1944, from the German point of view. We've all read the books and seen the films from the British perspective. This is the view from 'the other side' and the last so-called German victory of the Second World War. The 20 photos in this well-balanced account all have comprehensive notes and set the tone for what is a recommended and scholarly study of this failed allied initiative.

5 stars

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Paul Nixon

Superbly told account of Operation Market Garden, one of the most spectacular allied failures during WW2.

Books Monthly

It is a first-rate study that gives us not just a new perspective on Operation Market Garden, but provides a model for why military culture matters.

David Stahel, from the foreword

The subject of German military doctrine in WW2 is I think a much overlooked element in explaining the ability of the Wehrmacht soldier to achieve incredible success in the face of overwhelming odds. True, the Allied superiority in almost every aspect of total war prevailed eventually but time and again the doctrine of auftragstaktik enabled disrupted German units to reassemble in various pragmatic forms and to succeed at a tactical level. The story of how the German units in and around Arnhem succeeded in holding and delaying the various elements of the Market Garden plan has been dissected and explained by the author in a magnificent book that properly counters the usual ‘Allied failures’ and rightly concludes that the Germans won through better tactical doctrine and better tactical weapons that allowed local junior commanders (including NCO’s) to take decisions and make a difference. In what appears to be his first book, Aaron Bates has produced an absolute gem that cohesively draws together an alternative insight into Market Garden.

Michael McCarthy. Battlefield Guide

Michael McCarthy