Books with author John Slight

The epic battle of the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem in 1944, has been told many times, but so far the story of how they were evacuated across the Rhine River has only been merely touched upon. This is the story of how the Royal Canadian Engineers not only supported the Royal Engineers, but ferried the lion's share of the Airborne troops across the flooded river under less than ideal conditions.One unit in particular, the 23rd Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers would find fame because of their expert handling of the Storm Boats and for their bravery. Unfortunately, glory came at a high cost to a unit that would soon earn the nickname, `The Storm Boat Kings'.This article tells their story during Operation Berlin and is the second story in the book, `Boats at Arnhem and Other Stories'. The paperback version contains maps and photographs. Also, the full version of the story is, `Storm Boat Kings: the 23rd RCE at Arnhem 1944' and is available in paperback.

This work is a snapshot of one of the engineer units that took part in Operation Market Garden, the 35,000 man airborne assault into The Netherlands to capture a series of bridges that would lead around the West Wall and into the heart of Germany. If all had gone well, Montgomery’s 21st Army Group probably would have beaten the Russians to Berlin and ended the war before Christmas 1944. This epic battle has been told many times from an overall view and has been the subject of many debates as to why the operation failed. This will not be repeated here. Instead, I offer a worm’s eye view of a small specialized group of men who did everything that was asked of them and more; losing twenty-four men during their time in The Netherlands. Compiled from personal accounts, war diaries, reports and a selected bibliography, this is the story of the U.S. 326th Engineer Battalion during the nine days of Operation Market Garden. A story that focuses around all of the bridges in the fifteen mile stretch of highway with which the 101st Airborne Division was entrusted. Around these bridges is where the majority of the action occurred for the members of the 326th Engineer Battalion. Probably the most famous of their actions centers around the Bailey bridge at Zon. However, as you will read, this was not the only bridge that the battalion focused on during the battle.

"In their own way, Mark, Katherine and Roger like gardening." Mark gets overzealous and mows down the flower bed. Roger likes watering, and watering...and watering. Katherine's idea of helping is to stick her spade into the ground and rest on it comfortably with a good book to read as Mark digs, and digs...and digs. He slowly disappears into the hole as the text progresses until the last page, all we see is his spade throwing up dirt!

Brigg lives in a small, grey room in a large, grey city. When he finds a book in the library labelled 'Do Not Read', he cannot resist taking it home. In it, he comes upon pictures of bright, vibrant objects called flowers. He cannot find flowers anywhere in the city, but stumbles instead on a packet of seeds. This sets off a chain of events which bring about unexpected results, continuing to grow and bloom even after we have turned the last page. John Light's enigmatic story is told with utter simplicity, but resonates long after we finish reading this book. His increasingly optimistic vision is hauntingly captured by Lisa Evans's beautiful and whimsical illustrations.