Battle of Arnhem - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The progress of the battle was widely reported in the British press, thanks largely to the efforts of two BBC reporters (Stanley Maxted and Guy Byam) and three journalists who accompanied the British forces. The journalists had their reports sent back almost daily – ironically making communication with London at a time when Divisional Signals had not. The division was also accompanied by a three-man team from the Army Film and Photographic Unit who recorded much of the battle – including many of the images on this page.

In 1945 Louis Hagen, a Jewish refugee from Germany and a British army glider pilot present at the battle, wrote Arnhem Lift, believed to be the first book published about the events at Arnhem. In the same year filming began for the war movie Theirs is the Glory, which featured some original footage and used 120 Arnhem veterans as extras in many of the other scenes. Theirs is the Glory was released in 1946 and was followed in 1974 by the publication of Cornelius Ryan's book A Bridge Too Far, which did much to bring the battle to a worldwide audience and then by Richard Attenborough's film of the same name in 1978, which used Frost and General Urquhart as military consultants.