Urquhart of Arnhem - The Life of Major General RE Urquhart CB, DSO

As Commander of the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem in 1944, Roy Urquhart's name will forever have its place in military history. Urquhart's role in operation MARKET GARDEN was to secure the vital bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem. Expecting relief within 48 hours, the 1st Airborne Division remained pinned down under a relentless and seemingly endless attack by the enemy for nine days.

Here John Baynes gives an objective assessment of the battle and Roy Urquhart's performance throughout - the sheer quality of which is reflected by General Sir John Hackett, who commanded one of Urquhart's brigades at Arnhem:

General Roy Urquhart, that great, brave, imperturbable fighting Scot, the best battlefield commander I fought under in all the war years...'

Yet, historic though that brief episode in a very active life may have been, it is important that Arnhem should not obscure the solid contribution Urquhart made throughout his distinguished military life. Never a showman, he was a man whose integrity, professionalism and deep humanity inspired confidence in his men and his superiors alike. Urquhart's role in the desert campaign with the 51st Highland Division, his leadership of the Malta Brigade in Sicily and Italy in 1943, and, much later, his tenure as General Officer Commanding Malaya from 1950-52 represent very different phases in his career, during which his impressive qualities came to the fore. On leaving the army he forged a new and successful living as a director of Davy & United, one of the biggest heavy engineering companies in Britain.

John Banes' sympathetic account of Roy Urquhart's life reveals a man who was a born - leader, immensely popular and courageous, and whose whole life reflected all that is best in the traditions of service in the British army.