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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Arnhem
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Town in the Netherlands, on the north bank of the lower Rhine, which was the target of an ambitious operation in *World War II. The allied forces under *Montgomery, pushing north, needed to capture the Rhine bridges. On 17 September 1944 paratroops and gliders of the British 1st Airborne Division were dropped beyond the Rhine to seize the north end of the bridge. But the main army, pressing up from the south, failed to reach them in time. On September 25 Montgomery ordered the advance troops to pull back across the river; only some 2400 of the original 10,000 had been able to do so before the remaining survivors were captured. The campaign was the subject of the film A Bridge Too Far (1977).
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