Grasp Urquhart Of Arnhem: The Life Of Major General R.E. Urquhart, CB, DSO Crafted By John Christopher Malcolm Baynes Released As Text

is a very balanced biography of the man who led thest British Airborne Division at Arnhem in,
Robert “Roy” Urquhart was not a natural choice to lead an Airborne Division, An infantry officer who had been decorated for gallantry in North Africa, he had no airborne experience, when he was appointed to command the Division in early.
He has been roundly criticised for some of the failings at Arnhem, As the author points out, many of the failings were as a result of the “must do” nature of the operation and other factors outside Urquharts control.


Such as the refusal of the American pilots to fly two drops on the same day and the distance between the landing zones and the objective Arnhem Bridge.

The author describes Urquharts experience at Arnhem in some detail and presents the arguments for the operations failure in a balanced and measured way.
Urquhart left the Army as a major general shortly after a particularly difficult albeit successful tour as GOC Malaya in the early years of the Emergency in the earlys.
The author points out that Urquhart was not rewarded for his work there, when a knighthood or further promotion would have been a just reward for his efforts.
One cant help but wonder whether the spectre of the failure at Arnhem still hung over Urquhart
The most interesting part of the book for me was Urquharts transition into civilian life and a job in the Sheffield steel industry.
Given a “chief bottle washer” role initially, he was faced with universal scepticism as to what a retired Army general could add to a commercial business.
He soon proved his worth, ending up running the Glasgow branch, Over the course of nextyears, Urquhart turned it into a highly efficient operation, Using his personality, quiet firmness and empathy, he injected a sense of purpose, and esprit de corps into the workforce, The glowing testimonies of fellow employees from that period were fascinating and a great tribute to Urquharts leadership qualities,
Overall, Bayne has written a balanced biography, heavily weighted towards the Arnhem operation but also a fascinating account of his life more generally, One can only wonder whether Urquhart would have gone onto greater things and higher rank in the Army if the operation at Arnhem had been a success.
Major General R. E. Urquhart is best remembered for his part in the Battle of Arnhem, during which he commanded thest Airborne Division in one of the bitterest battles of World War II.
Betweenandhe was also significantly involved in the successful campaign against the communist terrorists in Malaya, laying the foundations on which General Templer was later able to build his reputation as saviour of the country.
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