A DROP too MANY

Signed on the title page by

Major-General John Frost CB DSO* MC

Cassell First Edition, 1980.   254 pages and well illustrated with photographs.

A Fine condition hardback book in burgundy boards with silver gilt titles. The dustjacket is in Near Fine condition complete, bright and unclipped but with sun fade to the red spine. 

Johnny Frost (1912-93) was one of the British Army’s first paratroopers and he recounts in vivid detail his service in the 2nd Parachute Battalion up to and including the Battle of Arnhem which took place in September 1944, 80 years ago.

No one who has read of Arnhem can fail to be inspired by gallantry of the 2nd Parachute Regiment, which held the north end of the key road bridge over the Rhine—the “Bridge Too Far”—not for 24 hours for which it was equipped, but for three days and four nights. Commanded by the then Lieutenant-Colonel Frost, (played by Anthony Hopkins in the film) they beat off repeated armoured and infantry assaults by far greater numbers, until forced out of the ruined and burning positions by losses, lack of ammunition, and the failure of the whole Arnhem operation. Their sacrifice stands as one of the most heroic defences of all time.

General Frost’s story is, in effect, that of the battalion. His tale starts with the Iraq Levies and goes on the major airborne operations in which he took part—Bruneval, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, Arnhem—and continues with his experiences as a prisoner.  It is a tribute to the spirit of the Paras, whom the Germans themselves nicknamed ‘The Red Devils’.

Though written with modesty and humour, the book is shot through with the fire and determination of the fighting solider and is a very scarce signed WWII memoir for any collection.