The Race For the Rhine Bridges 1940, 1944, 1945 Paperback – 1 Jan. 2001

great history

A good overview of the three main attempts at crossing the Rhine, showing both sides of the arguments, and highlighting the importance of this river.

Another fantastic account of the battle elements of both the Germans, Allied as they Race across Europe for a Bridges into Germany. This is an action packed account of all the players as they looked for that one bridge to open the road into Germany.

Really good read.

If you love history with objectivity, then you'll love Alexander McKee. He doesn't succumb to the victor's disease of demonizing and vilification of the Wehrmacht or even the SS when evaluating their performance as combat soldiers. If you like to see military history through the eyes of both protagonists to get a more balanced perspective, then you'll thoroughly enjoy this book. This is my second McKee book. I plan on reading all of his books now. His anecdotes bring these battles to life.

I always enjoy Mr. McKee`s books and this one was no exception. Well researched and easy to follow it is a good companion piece to "Caen: Anvil of Victory". This documents some of the lesser known actions of WWII and his views on 1st Airborne at Arnhem came as a surprise to me. The legend of Arnhem had them pitted against elite SS troops, not the scratch team of oddments that they actually fought. A very interesting read.

As others have noted, a distinctily British bias. He lost me with "Eisenhower paid the price for his broad front strategy.” As most Montgomery fan boys always forget, there were TWO "broad front" strategies in WW II: Eisenhower's and Stalin's. Three of you include the Pacific campaign with Nimitz and McArthur attacking Japan from different directions. They won for the same reason Grant won the Civil War. No one can defend everything and making your enemy try always wins. It's always strange when historians forget this. And as Zaloga points out, even if they captured the bridge at Arnhem what was next? There was no obvious follow up. Many better works out there.