The Last Para

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Summary

READ THE FINAL FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF ARNHEM BRIDGE FROM FORMER PARATROOPER JOHN HUMPRHEYS, AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR STUART TOOTAL

'The last of the legends. A gripping, visceral and immensely moving read. Courage beyond measure, coupled with humility to act as a lesson to us all. No more fitting tribute – we remember them' Damien Lewis

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A powerful and authentic account of one soldier's war from Tobruk to Arnhem and all points in between.

John Humphreys was just a boy soldier in the Royal Engineers when war was declared in 1939. By the war's end he had jumped into Arnhem with the Parachute Regiment to spearhead the attack on the bridge. For days Humphreys and the rest of his squad held on, outnumbered and outgunned by the German army fighting to the last bullet and refusing to surrender.

But the Bridge Too Far is only the climax of Humphreys’ remarkable war. Twice captured as a prisoner of war, he twice escaped from the enemy to make his way back to Allied lines in order to rejoin the fight.

Aged 101, Humphreys began to pen his extraordinary story, with the help of bestselling author and former paratrooper Stuart Tootal. The Last Para is Humphrey’s parting gift, and the final time we will read an account from a soldier of our Greatest Generation bearing witness to the heroism and sacrifice of this legendary action – told with incredible honesty and irrepressible spirit.

About the authors

John Humphreys

John Humphreys OBE, 101, was a boy-soldier joining the Royal Engineers aged 14 in the mid-1930s. He served in the UK, West Africa, North Africa, was wounded and captured at Tobruk in June 1942, escaped from a POW camp and walked hundreds of miles to reach the British lines in autumn 1943. Back in the UK, he joined the engineer unit attached to the airborne forces and parachuted into Arnhem in 1944. He fought alongside John Frost's 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA), the only unit to make it to the all-important bridge over the Rhine. Captured again, he led a small group of men and escaped in a stolen boat and made it back to friendly lines at Nijmegen. John finished the war in Norway. Post-war, John continued in the Royal Engineers before he joined the SAS. A long and distinguished career saw him rise to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. John Humphreys passed away in 2024.

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Stuart Tootal

Stuart Tootal is an ex-Parachute Regiment colonel, a best-selling author, former corporate global head of security, and currently runs a change management consultancy. He served in Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Iraq, and let 3 PARA into Afghanistan in 2006.