The First Allied Airborne Army launched an attack into the German occupied Netherlands on September 17, 1944.\xa0 Eventually over the 41,000 troops went in by parachute and glider.\xa0 The idea was for this huge airborne force to seize nine bridges stretched across 64 miles of the Netherlands.\xa0 Seizing these bridges would allow the British Army\u2019s XXX Corps to advance rapidly across the rivers and into Germany.\xa0 It was a bold plan that ultimately failed.\xa0 Cornelius Ryan explains why in \u201cA Bridge Too Far\u201d. \xa0