Abundance of Valor: Resistance, Survival, and Liberation: 1944-45 - Softcover

Irwin, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803240686 ISBN 13: 9780803240681

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2012

Synopsis

The operation known as “Market-Garden”—made famous in the book and film A Bridge Too Far—was the largest airborne assault in history up to that time, a high-risk Allied invasion of enemy territory that has become a legend of World War II even as it still invites criticism. Abundance of Valor re-creates for the first time the full adventures of the bold “Jedburgh” paratroopers, whose exploits were equally risky and heroic.
Kicked off on September 17, 1944, Market-Garden was intended to secure crucial bridges in Nazi-occupied Holland by a parachute assault conducted by three Allied airborne divisions. Jedburgh teams—Allied Special Forces—were dropped into the Netherlands to train and use the Dutch resistance in support of the larger operation. Based on new firsthand testimony of survivors and declassified documents, Abundance of Valor concentrates on the three teams that operated farthest behind enemy lines, the nine men whose treacherous missions resulted in deaths, captures, and hairbreadth escapes.
With piercing criticism of the mission’s failure through faulty use of intelligence, Abundance of Valor is a brutally honest and truly inspiring account of fighting men in a noble cause who did their jobs with extraordinary honor and courage.

About this title

About the Author

Will Irwin retired from the U.S. Army in January 2000 after a career of more than twenty-eight years, half of that in Special Forces. He is the author of The Jedburghs: The Secret History of the Allied Special Forces, France 1944 and currently works as a defense consultant in Tampa, Florida.

Review

“All the elements of good, readable history are here: triumph and tragedy, heroes and villains, the few against the many. Irwin needs no special effects wizardry to weave a captivating story of desperate fights in desperate times.”—America in World War II Magazine (America in World War II Magazine 2011-09-26)

“A gripping account.”—Washington Times (Washington Times 2011-09-26)

“A thoroughly enthralling book for serious students of World War II, this is the labor of love of a Special Forces veteran with a rare talent for writing and research. . . . For exhaustive studies of little-known episodes that add much to general WWII knowledge as well as provide enthralling reading, this book is hard to beat.”—Booklist (Booklist 2011-09-26)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0803240686
• ISBN 13: 9780803240681
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432