A Drop Too Many

Mike lent me this book to add a bit extra to the Holland'44 game we are playing.  It is by Major General Frost (as he became) of Arnhem bridge fame, although the book covers his wartime career which included time in the Middle East, active service in Tunisia and Italy, before the battle for which he is famous.

I really enjoyed it once I got used to his style.  I've noticed with a few books I've read by people actually involved in what they write about, rather than professional historians using first person sources, that they often have quite a challenging writing style.  Sometimes this is sentence structure, other times it is use of terminology or slang.  With this book it was just enough to make it interesting (as in you had to think about what you were reading), but also make it notable.  We can't all be great writers, but we all have a story to tell.  It is just that some people's stories are more interesting or relevant than others.  Major General Frost's is very much in that latter category.

His time in the Middle East, specifically Iraq, was very interesting, although I did find it mighty peculiar the attention given to the hunt.  The world has certainly changed and it is impossible to imagine the troops presently deployed to Iraq managing packs of hounds and taking off to hunt local wildlife.  LOL I might be wrong, but I hope not.

He returned to England and joined the airborne.  He makes frequent comments about what he perceives as the correct use of airborne forces (such as the seizure of Pegasus bridge on D-Day) rather than having them used a leg infantry (as what happened in Tunisia and Italy).  The amount of planning required for an airdrop was significant and in some locations the front was too mobile to allow this to happen.  Add in the weather and it would be a major challenge.

All in all an excellent read.