The bridge to war: Dan Harvey's new book looks at the Irish who went a bridge too far

The epic battle for the bridge at Arnhem, as depicted in the blockbuster 'A Bridge Too Far', saw the Allies aim to end the war by Christmas 1944, but failed as a huge airborne assault force failed to take the last bridge across the Rhine. In an extract from his latest book 'A Bloody Week', Dan Harvey tells the story of one of the hundreds of brave men from Ireland who gave their all to the Allied campaign

Coming in over Arnhem, Holland, in his Dakota, Cork-born David ‘Lummy’ Lord was wondering how long more his stricken aircraft would keep flying. Down to about 500ft, the starboard wing was already well on fire. For now, he was managing to maintain lift, keeping the nose of the Dakota above the horizontal horizon on his instrument panel and sustaining level flight.

He and his crew were all too aware this could cease to be the case at any second, the wing (might) crumple completely under pressure and suddenly collapse and with its disintegration, flight would instantaneously unfold and they would immediately fall to earth.