September Hope The American Side of a Bridge Too Far

August 1944 saw the Allies achieve more significant victories than in any other month over the course of the war. Soviet armies annihilated more than twenty German divisions and pushed the hated enemy from Russia to deep inside Poland. General Eisenhower’s D-Day Invasion led to the liberation of France. Encouraged by these triumphs, British, Canadian and American armored columns plunged into Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. The Germans were in disarray, overwhelmed on all fronts, losing soldiers by the thousands as Allied bombers pulverized their cities. For the Third Reich it seemed the end was near. Rumors swirled that the war would soon be over and that everyone would be home for Christmas.

Then came September, and Holland.

On September 17, the largest airborne drop in military history commenced—including two entire American divisions, the 101st and the 82nd. Their mission was to secure key bridges at such places as Son, Eindhoven, Grave and Nijmegen until British armored forces could relieve them. The armor would slash northeast, breech the Rhine and go wild on the north German plains. However, the Germans were much stronger than the Allies anticipated. In eight days of ferocious combat, they mauled the airborne, stymied the tanks and prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine.

 For the first time, using never-before-seen sources and countless personal interviews, September Hope reveals the American perspective on one of the most famous and decisive battles of World War II.

 “In September 1944 the Allies' heady advances ground to a bloody halt all along the Western Front. John C. McManus's superb September Hope takes us to the heart of some of the most intense and dramatic combat of the entire war. A riveting and deeply moving story of uncommon courage.” —Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Longest Winter “A fine account of one of the Second World War's most fraught and frustrating battles. John C. McManus's extensive research allows him to tell the story with verve and authority.” —Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn “In September Hope, John McManus continues his mission to document the experiences of American GIs on the western front of World War II. Focusing on the US Airborne operations in the Netherlands, McManus mines a rich and too-long-neglected vein of stories, many revealed here for the first time. September Hope details the valor of American soldiers—in this case Airborne forces—who routinely and decisively defeated the vaunted elite of the Wehrmacht, including SS and parachute troops.” —Mark Bando, author of 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy “John C. McManus’s September Hope is an absolutely riveting and vivid narrative that captures the full extent of the heroism of America’s troops in Operation Market Garden. What McManus does especially well is weave together the tense deliberations of the Allied generals in their headquarters with the blow-by-blow experiences of the soldiers battling their way through enemy territory. This is military history at its finest. ” —Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters  and Behind the Lines  “McManus' crisply written book tells of the campaign as seen through the eyes of the privates, sergeants and captains who jumped into the Netherlands and the air crews who got them there.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A testament to men assigned the impossible who, through sheer willpower, almost pulled it off.”—The Wall Street Journal

“McManuss extensive research allows him to tell the story with verve and authority.” —Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn

"McManus mines a rich and too-long-neglected vein of stories, many revealed here for the first time.”—Mark Bando, author of 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy

“An absolutely riveting and vivid narrative that captures the full extent of the heroism of Americas troops in Operation Market Garden...Military history at its finest. ”—Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines

“McManuss crisply written book tells of the campaign as seen through the eyes of the privates, sergeants, and captains who jumped into the Netherlands and the air crews who got them there.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

August 1944 saw the Allies achieve more significant victories than in any other month over the course of the war. The Germans were in disarray, overwhelmed on all fronts. Rumors swirled that the war would soon be over.

On September 17, the largest airborne drop in military history commenced over Holland—including two entire American divisions, the 101st and the 82nd. Their mission was to secure key bridges at such places as Son, Eindhoven, Grave, and Nijmegen until British armored forces could relieve them. The Germans, however, proved much stronger than the Allies anticipated. In eight days of ferocious combat, they mauled the airborne, stymied the tanks, and prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine.

September Hope conveys the American perspective like never before, through a vast array of new sources and countless personal interviews to create a truly revealing portrait of this searing human drama.

Includes Photographs