During Operation Market Garden, the attempt to capture several bridges over the Nederrijn in and around the town of Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1944, the Allied forces parachuted in, and the Hotel Hartenstein was chosen as the temporary headquarters of the British 1st Airborne Division. Although the plan was to hold the captured bridges for two or three days until relieved by ground forces, this relief did not materialise, and as the Germans attacked, the hotel became the centre of the British defensive position. After several days of hard fighting, the allies could not hold their ground and the Germans recaptured the bridges, the hotel and everything else. The operation had been an attempt to quicken the pace toward Germany, but it ended in failure.
Although Italeri have made several very fine sets of figures for World War II, they tend to rely on their Esci back catalogue for many of their battlesets, and this one is no exception. The two sets used in this box are, predictably:
In addition to the figures, the following plastic kits are also included in the set:
- 1 of Italeri Sturmgeschütz III (7522)
- 1 of Italeri Willys Jeep 1/4 Ton 4x4 (7506)
- 1 of Italeri Battlefield Buildings (6130)
The British paratroops are perfectly reasonable for this setting, but the uniforms of the old Esci German infantry set are rather more for the early part of the war than for the last few months, although not the worst choice. The Sturmgeschütz was one part of the German armour used during the action, and the British did use jeeps, flown in by glider, but we thought the components in the Battlefield Buildings set were of little relevance to this particular battle, and indeed they hardy make an appearance in the mock-ups done by Italeri for the box art.
The set contains the usual large MDF laser-cut building accessory, which naturally is the hotel itself. As seen above, this looks like a very faithful recreation of the original, based on photos taken at the time, and with so many windows and balconies, it would make a pretty decent 'fortress', which is probably how it will mainly be used, even if this is hardly appropriate to mid-20th century warfare. Nevertheless it makes an interesting backdrop to the battle, which was immortalised in the film 'A Bridge Too Far' (1977).
As always, Italeri have commissioned a really nice diorama based on the contents of the set, which has been used for many photographs on the box. Again as always, the modeler has added other elements such as trees and a nicely done base, and of course everything has been nicely painted too. They have chosen to show the British surrendering at the front of the building, but still fighting at the back, though this has meant some changes to the figures, most of whom are actually fighting poses. The complete diorama shows what can be achieved, with the necessary skill and extra modelling materials, but if it inspires modelers to take on such a project then it has done its job.