Battle for Arnhem.... (2 Viewers)
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panda1gen
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Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook
The parachute-dropping zone to be used, DZ-Y, was Ginkel Heath, which was completely open heath land ......
...... with thick woodland on three sides.
The main Amsterdamseweg leading to Arnhem – more than eight miles away — lay on its northern side.
In addition to the King's Own Scottish Borderer companies which had been attempting to keep the Germans away from the heath, Lieutenant Hugh Ashmore's platoon of the Independent Company had set up its beacon and marker panels .....
... and the advanced parties of the 4th Parachute Brigade were ready to set off different-coloured smoke canisters at their respective rendezvous points on the edge of the heath.
All of these men had been forced to wait without news for four hours since the expected time of the second lift arrival.
The parachute-dropping zone to be used, DZ-Y, was Ginkel Heath, which was completely open heath land ......
...... with thick woodland on three sides.
The main Amsterdamseweg leading to Arnhem – more than eight miles away — lay on its northern side.
In addition to the King's Own Scottish Borderer companies which had been attempting to keep the Germans away from the heath, Lieutenant Hugh Ashmore's platoon of the Independent Company had set up its beacon and marker panels .....
... and the advanced parties of the 4th Parachute Brigade were ready to set off different-coloured smoke canisters at their respective rendezvous points on the edge of the heath.
All of these men had been forced to wait without news for four hours since the expected time of the second lift arrival.
Terp152
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In the 1970s, yes I'm that old, I flew with the 314th Tactical Airlft Wing, which traced it's lineage to the 314th TCG. And we flew out of East Anglia, RAF Mildenhall. This was 30 yrs after the war and you could still the outlines of scores of airfields even though many had been returned to agriculture and the runways removed.
panda1gen
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Thank you for your input on this and for your service. I looked the station up and was going to copy elements of the text, but feel that the web reference (should anyone be interested) was more appropriate, as it is so comprehensive. I found it an interesting read, thanks.
RAF Mildenhall - Wikipedia
A good example of UK/US cooperation over the decades?
panda1gen
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Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook
German forces were also in the vicinity. Probably they did not know that this area was to be used for the coming parachute drop but believed that the British activity around the heath was part of the eastward defence of the first day's landing area.
The Dutch SS battalion's HQ and two of its companies were at the north-east corner of the heath, where the King's Own Scottish Borderers had been forced away from the dropping zone.
The engines of the C-47s were heard approaching, and the first parachutists, men of 156 Battalion, started to jump.
The 10th Battalion's Advance Party under Lieutenant Sammy Carr started to move towards the German-occupied Zuid Ginkel Cafe near their battalion's RV.
In the woods at the southern end of the heath, men of HQ and Support Companies of the KOSB started a sweep through the trees to clear the Germans there who had opened fire on the parachutists. It was a fierce fight.
The Germans hit some of the parachutists and set the heath on fire with mortar bombs.
German forces were also in the vicinity. Probably they did not know that this area was to be used for the coming parachute drop but believed that the British activity around the heath was part of the eastward defence of the first day's landing area.
The Dutch SS battalion's HQ and two of its companies were at the north-east corner of the heath, where the King's Own Scottish Borderers had been forced away from the dropping zone.
The engines of the C-47s were heard approaching, and the first parachutists, men of 156 Battalion, started to jump.
The 10th Battalion's Advance Party under Lieutenant Sammy Carr started to move towards the German-occupied Zuid Ginkel Cafe near their battalion's RV.
In the woods at the southern end of the heath, men of HQ and Support Companies of the KOSB started a sweep through the trees to clear the Germans there who had opened fire on the parachutists. It was a fierce fight.
The Germans hit some of the parachutists and set the heath on fire with mortar bombs.
panda1gen
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The KOSB Support Company commander, Major Henry Hill, was killed. This brought to two officers and at least thirteen men the KOSB's fatal casualties in their attempt to keep the dropping zone clear of Germans.
The first men jumped at 3.09 p.m., and the entire drop would be over in nine minutes, because the American formations had closed right up. Seven men would not be able to jump because they were injured in their aircraft, became entangled in static lines or fell over as some of the American pilots weaved to avoid the ground fire.
The best estimate of the numbers of men who actually jumped is 1,914.
It was an opposed drop.
Several planes were hit by small-arms fire; the SS were aiming at the doorways of the C-47s, hoping to hit the first man in the stick there, so that the remainder could not jump.
They also fired at the descending parachutists, spraying the air with bullets.
Getting orders to deploy ...
The first men jumped at 3.09 p.m., and the entire drop would be over in nine minutes, because the American formations had closed right up. Seven men would not be able to jump because they were injured in their aircraft, became entangled in static lines or fell over as some of the American pilots weaved to avoid the ground fire.
The best estimate of the numbers of men who actually jumped is 1,914.
It was an opposed drop.
Several planes were hit by small-arms fire; the SS were aiming at the doorways of the C-47s, hoping to hit the first man in the stick there, so that the remainder could not jump.
They also fired at the descending parachutists, spraying the air with bullets.
Getting orders to deploy ...
panda1gen
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Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook
Here is a selection of experiences:
Private Jock Keenan of 156 Battalion:
The Second Lift
We could see the tracer coming up; possibly some of it even hit our plane, but no one was hurt. The tracer was quite close when we were in the air, and you could see some of the Germans on the edge of the trees. We had been told that it was going to be a quiet area, and it was a surprise to find them on the DZ.
While I was in the air I could hear that one of the men further along, probably in my stick, had been hit. I went to help him when I landed, but Sergeant-Major *** told me to leave him and join my platoon - or words to that effect. Soon afterwards I heard that Sergeant Bill Walmsley had been killed, and his body was hanging in a tree. I had known him very well; we had knocked about together in India when we were friends there.
Private George Taylor of the 10th Battalion was the youngest soldier in his company:
“Because it was my first time in action and there was all this noise and the firing around the DZ, I came down any old how and got tangled up in my lift webs and hit the ground hard. My platoon sergeant said later that I had come down, 'like a bundle of ****'.
It was nice dropping on a training jump – an adventure - but when it was the actual thing, well, frankly, I was scared stiff. After I landed I lay down and cried, but then I got myself untangled and nipped over to the RV. I was OK after that”.
Signalman Arthur Winstanley of the Brigade Signal Section:
Among the varied paraphernalia attached to my person was a carrier pigeon in a box with a little bag of corn tied to it. However, there was only the half of the box with the bag of corn left, so I presume that the bird got a flying start at anywhere between 350 feet and the ground, hopefully getting back to England some seven months quicker than myself. I was about fifty feet from the ground and preparing myself for a landing when what must have been a light-calibre mortar bomb exploded ahead and to the right of me, killing another man just as he landed.
I came down awkwardly on a patch of ground that was on fire. My rigging lines became entangled with the handle of my entrenching tool and I had difficulty getting free from my 'chute; one of my colleagues came and cut me free, despite the fact that a burst of automatic fire tore up the ground between him and me. During my efforts to join up with my section, I witnessed two of the infantry lads who, in spite of the rubbish that was flying about, were busily engaged in trying to shoot a large hare that was bounding all over the place, no doubt with a view to supplementing their compo rations.
Corporal Fred Jenkins of the 10th Battalion:
There was smoke all around me and about five machine-guns firing; they sounded like German Spandaus - too sharp to be ours. Everything looked chaotic - a whole brigade moving off to about four different rendezvous points, but I couldn't see anybody I knew.
The bullets didn't seem to be coming my way, and anyway I couldn't crawl off the DZ, so I just pushed along in a crouching run as fast as I could. I saw a 'chute in flames and went to see if anyone was on it. There wasn't anyone there, but just then the heat proved too strong and fierce for the safety of a mortar bomb which was lying nearby. It exploded, and I ducked, **** quick. Lucky as usual. The man next to me shouted. I went along and found he'd had his nose blown off. I eased his equipment off and put a dressing on the wound. He could still talk and walk, so I dragged him along with me - had to hustle because there were more bombs lying about and they looked well toasted. My charge was a sergeant-major from 11th Battalion, and I handed him over as soon as I could.
Here is a selection of experiences:
Private Jock Keenan of 156 Battalion:
The Second Lift
We could see the tracer coming up; possibly some of it even hit our plane, but no one was hurt. The tracer was quite close when we were in the air, and you could see some of the Germans on the edge of the trees. We had been told that it was going to be a quiet area, and it was a surprise to find them on the DZ.
While I was in the air I could hear that one of the men further along, probably in my stick, had been hit. I went to help him when I landed, but Sergeant-Major *** told me to leave him and join my platoon - or words to that effect. Soon afterwards I heard that Sergeant Bill Walmsley had been killed, and his body was hanging in a tree. I had known him very well; we had knocked about together in India when we were friends there.
Private George Taylor of the 10th Battalion was the youngest soldier in his company:
“Because it was my first time in action and there was all this noise and the firing around the DZ, I came down any old how and got tangled up in my lift webs and hit the ground hard. My platoon sergeant said later that I had come down, 'like a bundle of ****'.
It was nice dropping on a training jump – an adventure - but when it was the actual thing, well, frankly, I was scared stiff. After I landed I lay down and cried, but then I got myself untangled and nipped over to the RV. I was OK after that”.
Signalman Arthur Winstanley of the Brigade Signal Section:
Among the varied paraphernalia attached to my person was a carrier pigeon in a box with a little bag of corn tied to it. However, there was only the half of the box with the bag of corn left, so I presume that the bird got a flying start at anywhere between 350 feet and the ground, hopefully getting back to England some seven months quicker than myself. I was about fifty feet from the ground and preparing myself for a landing when what must have been a light-calibre mortar bomb exploded ahead and to the right of me, killing another man just as he landed.
I came down awkwardly on a patch of ground that was on fire. My rigging lines became entangled with the handle of my entrenching tool and I had difficulty getting free from my 'chute; one of my colleagues came and cut me free, despite the fact that a burst of automatic fire tore up the ground between him and me. During my efforts to join up with my section, I witnessed two of the infantry lads who, in spite of the rubbish that was flying about, were busily engaged in trying to shoot a large hare that was bounding all over the place, no doubt with a view to supplementing their compo rations.
Corporal Fred Jenkins of the 10th Battalion:
There was smoke all around me and about five machine-guns firing; they sounded like German Spandaus - too sharp to be ours. Everything looked chaotic - a whole brigade moving off to about four different rendezvous points, but I couldn't see anybody I knew.
The bullets didn't seem to be coming my way, and anyway I couldn't crawl off the DZ, so I just pushed along in a crouching run as fast as I could. I saw a 'chute in flames and went to see if anyone was on it. There wasn't anyone there, but just then the heat proved too strong and fierce for the safety of a mortar bomb which was lying nearby. It exploded, and I ducked, **** quick. Lucky as usual. The man next to me shouted. I went along and found he'd had his nose blown off. I eased his equipment off and put a dressing on the wound. He could still talk and walk, so I dragged him along with me - had to hustle because there were more bombs lying about and they looked well toasted. My charge was a sergeant-major from 11th Battalion, and I handed him over as soon as I could.