An Arnhem Odyssey

Private Jim Longson was a Vickers gunner with the 1st Battalion the Border Regiment, which landed at Arnhem on the first day, 17th September 1944. The plan was for 1st Airborne to hold their bridgehead for 48 hours, untill XXX Corps could link up with them by road. It never happened; despite the almost fanatical courage of the British and Polish airborne troops, who held out, virtually unsupported, for almost ten days, most of the division was captured. Of 10000 or so men who had flown into the battle, fewer than 2000 were to escape over the Lower Rhine, and the numbers of killed and wounded were equally terrible. This is the story of Jim Longson, and what befell him and his comrades during those awful ten days. Although suffering many casualties, the Borders fought on in an ever-decreasing perimeter, lacking almost every kind of supply including, most important of all, ammunition. It is a story of remarkable courage and discipline. This personal account of men in battle is illustrated with a large number of photographs, many of them only rarely, or never before, published.
The book provides an insight into both the battle and the men who fought it at its most important level - that of the infantrymen on the ground.