The First Allied Airborne Army launched an attack into the German occupied Netherlands on September 17, 1944. Eventually over the 41,000 troops went in by parachute and glider. The idea was for this huge airborne force to seize nine bridges stretched across 64 miles of the Netherlands. Seizing these bridges would allow the British Army’s XXX Corps to advance rapidly across the rivers and into Germany. It was a bold plan that ultimately failed. Cornelius Ryan explains why in “A Bridge Too Far”.