Discover new selections
$9.99 with 33 percent savings
Digital List Price: $14.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Martin W. Bowman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Build Up to the Beginning (Air War Market Garden Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Martin W. Bowman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
This is the first volume of a most impressive tribute and accurate four part work that uniquely presents a complete account of the air operations throughout Market-Garden in September 1944 when British, US and Polish airborne troops made a gallant attempt to seize and hold bridges across the Lower Rhine in Holland as a springboard for crossing into Germany. Market, the aerial side of the proceedings, was at the time the largest airborne operation in history. In this unprecedented and insightful account, the exploits of the First Allied Airborne Army are relayed in full detail; supplemented with historical notes regarding the ground operations, this is sure to offer an unparalleled account of the events as they unfolded in the skies above Holland.If successful, the war could be over by Christmas. What could go wrong? That it did and on such a massive scale is the underlying theme throughout this series. The action was at times very confused, so a narrative of events contained in sixteen timelines at intervals throughout this series cuts through the fog of battle to explain the situation from its over-optimistic beginning to the tragic conclusion.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 1 of 4
    Air War Market Garden
  2. Print length
    443 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Aviation
  5. Publication date
    January 19, 2013
  6. File size
    5.1 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Shop this series

 See full series
There are 4 books in this series.

Customers also bought or read

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  5. Air War Market Garden    4 books
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martin Bowman is one of Britain’s foremost aviation historians and has written many books and articles. He lives in Norwich.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00HESTCGO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Aviation; Illustrated edition (January 19, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 19, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.1 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 443 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Martin W. Bowman

Martin W. Bowman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
11 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • James J. Gillen
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fun filled read!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent addition to my ww2 library!!
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Bazza42
    1.0 out of 5 stars A mistitled, somewhat derivative, account of the early stages of the Battle for Arnhem
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This specific volume, despite its title, is a general account of the battle of Arnhem (not Market Garden) from the initial planning
    stage to the arrival at the Bridge of those elements of 1AD that made it there. So this covers the first 'British' lift, leaving
    the remaining lifts, and the subsequent battles around Oosterbeek to be covered, presumably, in the next three volumes.
    Unfortunately this book is so poor that there is little incentive to purchase these.

    This volume carries a hopelessly misleading title and purchasers should be warned.
    One might justifably expect, in a series entitles Air War: Market Garden, that the book would concentrate on the 'air war',
    such as it was. Whilst I may take issue with some of the conclusions drawn by Mr Ritchie in his book:
    "Arnhem: Myth and Reality: Airborne Warfare, Air Power and the Failure of Operation Market Garden", there can be no doubt that
    his emphasis is firmly on the air operations and planning. But, as indicated above, the last third of the reviewed book covers
    the actions of the units on the ground, both British and German, between the landing zone and the Bridge. Of 'Garden' there is
    nary a mention nor is reference made to the two US airborne divisions - apart from in the 'timelines' - but these, presumably,
    are covered in the next volume.

    The book lacks coherence and a natural flow, not assisted by much of it being anecdotal. The majority of the book contains short
    quotations from those actually involved, interspersed with the narrative. In many cases there is a short paragraph allocated to
    the many people quoted giving a few lines on their previous life, not necessarily military related. On page 155, for example,
    there is a twenty-one line paragraph devoted to Captain Frank MC. Of this paragraph six lines are devoted to his
    comments on the 'march' to the Bridge: the remainder notes his career at school, the school teams he captained etc. Whilst this
    may be of interest to some it would have been better as a footnote. The account of the actions is also interspersed with a
    'timeline', each of which can be up to several pages in length, which also breaks the flow of the narrative.

    The 'timelines', although disrupting the flow of the book, are probably the most useful information there. These give 'harder' data
    than the narrative, and are well presented, but as these cover about twenty pages in total the book cannot be recommended on this
    aspect alone.

    Whilst I accept this is a personal preference I believe that a large number of the very short comments by the people involved will
    not add to your knowledge of the battle. Whilst I can find books written from a personal perspective interesting they are inevitably
    limited to the, normally fairly narrow, areas in which the author was directly involved. When limited to a sentence or two the personal
    perspective is lost but the readers' understanding of the 'big picture' is only rarely improved. This is, of course, a criticism of the
    compilation of the book, rather than the individual's personal contribution. It appears, from the author's introduction that the
    comments may have been extracted from a related web site.

    The book is very derivative. There is no bibliography and many of the footnotes are extracted from 'A Bridge Too Far' by Cornelius
    Ryan which was first published in 1974. Whilst Ryan has written an extremely readable book, I suggest few would regard it as a source
    volume: many of the conclusions have become outdated as further research has been undertaken and more sources have become available.
    Again, to return tothe book under review, as is usual with Pen and Sword publications, the photographs have been seen many times before
    - I doubt that, to a knowledgable reader, there are any you have not seen before. There are a few 'sketch maps', which are hand drawn,
    that may assist the reader new to subject.

    The proof reading, which is poor, does not serve the author well. On page 88, I might (or might not) be fascinated to read that "He
    (Browning) was perched on an upturned Worthington's beer crate between the pilot's seats occupied by Chatterton and his co-pilot "Andy"
    Andrews". Whatever interest I may have had waned, when four lines later on the same page, I read that "Browning sat on an empty Worthington
    beer crate between the pilot and co-pilot". Unfortunately there are a number of similar 'repetitions' in this book which further detract
    from its 'value'.

    If you know nothing of Operation Market Garden then this book may be for you: but at a cost. With the four volumes, approaching £100 there
    are many better value purchases for the general reader. For anyone with even a modest knowledge of this operation I would recommend you
    stay well away.

    As I hope is apparant I have not read the final three volumes but, based on this book, I seriously doubt the publisher's claim of: "a meticulously
    researched four-part series".
    Report
  • Alec Marden
    4.0 out of 5 stars A book for reading
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I used this product as a book for reading
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report