Robert J Kershaw

Robert Kershaw follows-up his best-selling account of the Battle of Arnhem from German eyes - It Never Snows in September - to focus on the experiences of the Dutch civilians and British and German soldiers in one street, fighting to survive at the heart of one of the most intense battles of World War 2. A Street in Arnhem tells the story of the battle of Arnhem in September 1944 from the perspective of what could be seen or heard from the Utrechtseweg, a road that runs seven kilometres from Arnhem railway station west to Oosterbeek, and which saw virtually every major event during Operation Market-Garden played out in front of its inhabitants.The book charts the heartbreaking destruction of a well established, exclusive and popular rural community through the eyes of the British, Polish and German soldiers fighting amid the confused and horrified Dutch locals. It portrays a collage of human fears and emotions as ordinary people seek to cope when their street was so suddenly, and so savagely, overwhelmed in a mighty battle not of their making. Robert Kershaw's new research reveals the extent to which most people in this battle, whether soldiers or civilians, saw only what was immediately happening to them and had virtually no idea of what was going on around them. Many original Dutch Dutch, German and English accounts have been unearthed through interviews, diary accounts and letters. Post combat reports have also been discovered charting the same incidents from both sides, as well as giving the Dutch civilian perspective.This gripping story is incredibly compelling and graphically portrays for readers the dramatic reality of having the street you have lived in peacefully for years engulfed in a major conflict.

Many books have been written about the Normandy landings, but Robert Kershaw brings a new perspective by drawing heavily on German and Allied sources little used in the standard accounts. The actual landings and the subsequent few days of battle often resolved themselves into a multitude of desperate small-scale struggles - for the next few yards of beach, to cross the next field, or to reach the next hedgerow. By looking at the battle at this level through the eyes of both Allied and German participants, the author is able to develop new insights into the successes and failures of both sides. He also shows why the battle for Normandy developed into the long and bitter struggle that has become so well known.The book features extracts from the German telephone log for Omaha Beach, bringing the landings to life. The author also analyses the failure by both sides to balance tank and infantry forces in the difficult Normandy terrain, and examines why the Allies, with local superiority in the early days, were unable to break out earlier or form a larger bridgehead.