THE CAULDRON

by Zeno ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1967

This novel won the Arthur Koestler Prize in 1965 for its boiling account of the nine days of the Battle of Arnhem, a town in the East Netherlands. In several ways it is more interesting than Cornelis Bauer's The Battle of Arnhem (reviewed in the non-fiction section), though that of course is nonfiction. Zeno, the author, is the pen name of a man now serving a life sentence in a British prison. His account is mainly worm's eye and firsthand, while sketching in the overall strategy of the operation called MARKET GARDEN Arnhem was a disaster brought about by bad planning, snafud communications and, at the end, bad weather. It was, however, the largest airdrop in history and was intended by Field Marshal Montgomery to spearhead Operation Berlin and quickly end the war. Eisenhower, meanwhile, disagreed and kept pressing the entire front forward throughout Europe rather than striking at Berlin. The objective of the platoon in the novel is to take and save a bridge in Arnhem, but the group is frustrated right from the start by having been airdropped six miles out in the country instead of near the bridge. Page by page the characters are killed and drop out of the story... A bloody book, to be read with rubber gloves.

Pub Date: March 15, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION