It was supposed to be all over by Christmas.

It was September 17 1944, the tail end of World War Two, and the Germans were in retreat.

The Allied soldiers were to bypass the most heavily defended areas of Germany by heading north through Belgium and into the Netherlands and crossing the Rhine at the bridges near Arnhem.

The troops were optimistic. The enemy wouldn’t be expecting an attack from that direction, and wouldn’t be ready for them. They’d soon reach Berlin and the war would be ended within three months.

But the Battle of Arnhem turned out to be a tragic failure. Most of the Allies were either killed, taken prisoner or died from their injuries.

It is remembered in the name of one of the large buildings in the outer courtyard at Carlisle Castle. They each bear the names of significant campaigns – Arnhem, Alma, Ypres and Gallipoli.

The battle is also commemorated in some of the artefacts in the Museum of Military Life, housed in the Alma building, including weaponry and uniforms.

It was the subject of the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, directed by Richard Attenborough.

It features in the book When Dragons Flew, a history of the First Battalion of the Border Regiment during World War Two, co-authored by veteran Alan Green, former soldier Charles Gray and museum curator Stuart Eastwood and published by the museum.

And it’s back in the spotlight now. For on Tuesday it will have been exactly 75 years ago since it began.

In the three quarters of a century since, most of the veterans who came home have died and Stuart knows of none from Cumbria who are still alive.

But as part of recent history and as part of the story of the Border Regiment, forerunners of today’s local Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, Stuart believes it is a story worth telling.

And he adds: “The feeling in that part of Holland is that remembering is important.”

After the invasion of Normandy, on D-Day in June that year, the Allied forces had swept rapidly through northern France, liberated Paris and reached Belgium, pushing the Germans back.

The next move was to invade Germany. But a route straight through Belgium would bring them into the Ruhr area, Germany’s industrial heartland. It would be very heavily defended, and heavy losses would be inevitable.

So the solution was codenamed “Operation Market Garden”. There would be swift advance into Holland instead, allowing ground forces and airborne troops from Britain, America and Poland to enter Germany over the River Rhine. The Polish air force had been based in Britain since the fall of Warsaw to the Germans, which had triggered the war in the first place.

Operation Market Garden was supposed to be relatively quick and easy and General Bernard Montgomery – and the troops – thought the war would be over by Christmas.

But there were more Germans there than they had bargained for. And they put up more of a fight than expected.

There are some reports that the Dutch Resistance had warned the Allies what was in store, and their warnings were ignored. “There’s a whole debate about what they knew or didn’t know,” Stuart says.

“But the Germans were very good at adapting to things. There was a lot of optimism among the Allies, but none of the veterans I ever met were under any illusions that the Germans wouldn’t put up any resistance.

“The resistance was phenomenal. Our troops would soon realise who they were up against.

“Even when they were badly knocked about, the Germans could cobble something together. They were very capable. There was bound to be a pretty serious scrap.”

Those who have seen the film may get the impression that the Allies were trying to take control of one road bridge – the one that proved too far – but Stuart explains: “There was also a two-track railway bridge, a pontoon bridge and west of Arnhem, in the town of Oosterbeek, there was a little roll-on, roll-off ferry. There were different options.”

The aim was to establish a three-mile bridgehead along the northern bank of the Rhine from Oosterbeek to Arnhem. A small contingent of Allied troop reached the road bridge but were unable to secure both sides of it.

By September 21 they were low on ammunition and supplies and surrendered to the Germans.

A thumb-shaped area of the northern bank was defended successfully but on September 25 troops were withdrawn from there.

In total, 115 men were killed or died from wounds, 392 were taken prisoner and 283 came home.

Among officers, 10 died, 29 were taken prisoner and 11 got back.

And by the end of the conflict, a quiet place that had until then been unscathed by the war was in ruins.

“Oosterbeek was a residential area, maybe about the size of Penrith,” Stuart estimates. “The Germans had gone straight for Rotterdam and Amsterdam and the war hadn’t touched the area.

“The Germans had cleared out all the Dutch civilians and when they came back they found a town that was wrecked.”

The First Battalion of the Border Regiment used gliders to transport troops and equipment to Holland.

It wasn’t the first time Cumbrian flyers had used the light aircraft – but gliders hadn’t proved to be a success story. They had been used in the invasion of Sicily but about 60 per cent hadn’t landed where they were supposed to. Many ended up in the sea, with the loss of many lives. And after the war the forces ceased using them.

And yet there were no shortage of volunteers for them. “The esprit de corps in the battalion was very good,” says Stuart. “A lot of the men had been together a long time.

“It hadn’t been compulsory – it was entirely voluntary. Volunteers from other battalions and other regiments had joined.

“Once they had flown the glider they were to fight as infantry. You parked the glider and off you went.”

Besides, Britain was winning the war by this stage, and Operation Market Garden aimed to bring victory earlier. “The standards of training and of physical fitness were very high. The greatest fear wasn’t fighting, it was that they wouldn’t make the grade.”

The Battle of Arnhem is still making its presence felt many years later, with commemorations there every year. And since the 1980s the bodies of five servicemen who died in the battle have been discovered.

The most recent had a local connection. A body unearthed during building work in Oosterbeek in 2003 was identified through dental records as Arthur Foster, who was from Bolton but whose wife was from Stanwix. His niece attended his reburial at the military cemetery in Arnhem in 2005.

It is also commemorated in the badge of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. Arnhem was a defeat – yet it was still marked with battle honours worn on the Border Regiment uniforms, and inherited by their successors.

After every war commemoration, whether an anniversary or a Remembrance Day ceremony, there are those who question the value of it, and ask whether the past should be left as the past.

“If you look at all the TV programmes about Hitler, you might think: ‘Haven’t we exhausted it all?’” says Stuart. “But the history in the museum isn’t about the politicians. It’s about people, the people who served.

“We shouldn’t dwell on it, but we should be mindful of that part of our history.”

When Dragons Flew normally retails at £25 but the museum is offering it a discount of only £10 between Tuesday, September 17 and Wednesday, September 25. All the proceeds will go to the museum, which is a registered charity.