Bounce the Rhine

In September 1944, Field Marshal Montgomery predicted that his armies would easily ‘bounce the Rhine’ to strike a final, killing blow at the exposed heart of Hitler’s Reich. Over the next eight months, nearly twenty major attempts would be made to breach the ‘Fatherland’ – beginning with the disastrous Allied defeat at Arnhem – only to be repulsed by an exhausted but resilient Wehrmacht. Montgomery’s words seemed a hollow boast until, in April 1945, the hard-fought goal was finally achieved … at the staggering cost of thousands of British and American lives. From the foxhole to the command tent, here is an in-depth and personal account of the last great Allied assault of the Second World War – an unforgettable story of extraordinary courage and military folly, when strategic considerations took second place to the glory-seeking of top commanders.