Battle for Arnhem.... (2 Viewers)

[panda1gen]

Taking heavy losses We broke out of the bridgehead on 29 March, and we fought a running battle with stubborn and fanatical rearguards, slinging mortar and spandau fire at us. We fought our way through Sinderen and advanced to Varsseveld, where we ran into strong opposition, so we waited until nightfall. Then we took the place, without getting into too much trouble. We woke up in the morning after about an hour's sleep, and got put straight onto transport, which took us to Ruurlo. On the way we had a small fight over a Red Cross building, and then we advanced to Lochem.





My section was given a house right on the edge of the town, almost the first house. We had to attack over a cornfield, and as we crossed the barbed wire fence I got caught, and I reckon it saved my life because by the time I got myself free the others were all dead. Killed by sniper fire, I had been in full view but did not get shot. I ran back and got a tank to fire at the trees where I thought the Germans were, then out they came, 30 odd Germans.
I went among them, looking for the sniper badges, I don't know what I would have done had I found any.





Brutal reality I then went over to the house we had to capture originally. The tank crew were already there having a cup of tea, and suddenly there was a ping as a bullet came through the window killing the tank driver. It could have been me or Johnny Martin, who was nearby, but it was his turn. The tank crew were very upset as they had been together since Normandy. We put the body on the tank, and went back to company headquarters, and stayed there for a couple of hours and had a hot meal and a drink.



It was 1 April, and four years to the day since my wife brought my call-up papers to me in bed in London. Then I was secure in a nice house, young son and a caring wife. Now they had been bombed out and lost everything, and I was a long way from home, in a ruined farmhouse with the five bodies of my friends being taken away for burial, it was a brutal reality.

Last days of war
By the next day the town had been taken and we were on the way to Haarlo, where we rested for a few days, then on to Hengelo for four days. While we were there we found the headquarters of the local SS headman. We smashed every single thing in that house, not one thing of any use or value remained. I remember having a lot of fun in there. We also found an egg packing plant and we put out the word for everyone to come and help themselves. We had them, boiled, scrambled, even raw, and every which way. We all had wind for a few days, which gave us all a laugh. We then moved on to Oldenzaal as reserves. I don't remember much at this time as I was stilled dazed by the events at Lochem. We moved on through the countryside, but we no longer had contact with the Germans, and when ever we did catch them it seemed that someone else got the job of dealing with them, so apart from some shelling, and the odd bit of sniping, life had become fairly quiet, and we eventually got to Bremen.

The battle for Bremen wasn't particularly hard for us, and we took no casualties. From there we were supposed to take Bremerhaven, but Monty said stand down, and that was the end of the war, it all felt a bit strange. When we heard for sure that it was over, Tommy Handley said to me 'Come on Dick, lets have a service', but I said 'No mate, you take one if you want, but I'm going for a walk.' And I took myself off to be alone. There were only four boys left who had started out anyway, and I wanted to remember the mates I had lost in my own time. We were posted back to Celle and life was good, it was very relaxing, and all we had to do was guard duty, keeping the Germans safe from the Poles, but that's another story.

Richard Henry William Brew 2 August 1915 - 13 August 1997

 

[Louis Badolato]

Great first hand account, Kevin!^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool Thanks for posting, and for your excellent illustrations.:salute::

 

[panda1gen]

Great first hand account, Kevin!^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool Thanks for posting, and for your excellent illustrations.:salute::

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/83/a2228483.shtml

Thanks Louis.

It is possibly one of the longer accounts off the BBC people's war.

By repeating them, it is just a small way of my trying to honour these men.

 

[panda1gen]

More 'depot' shots as the fight for the 'Island' hots up and every tank is needed ...

 

[panda1gen]

return to the fight in Arnhem

 

[joyjoy22]

Your collections look amazing, and so as the the information that you have along side this post.

 

[panda1gen]

Your collections look amazing, and so as the the information that you have along side this post.

Thank you, this is not my collection, however. I have been fortunate in photographing several superb collections.

For example, the following shot was of collections of a number of British collectors, to try to make a column of 30 Corps trying to reach Arnhem in time.

 

[panda1gen]

Panzer grenadier at the depot, preparing .............

 

[panda1gen]

By the second week of September 1944, the rapid and unopposed breakout run after the August Normandy battles was ending, as the British 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Army advanced further into Belgium, coming into contact with more Germans defending more difficult terrain.



A British column dashes to liberate Belgium.



On 10 September 1944, armoured cars of A Squadron, 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Household Cavalry (2/HCR) were leading the Guards Armoured Division advance on a five mile front from the Beringen bridgehead towards the Escaut canal.



Staghounds, shown above, tended to be used to command the Troop due to the roomier interior.


Against significant opposition 2/HCR was to locate the enemy and a path to a suitable crossing of the significant water obstacle that was the Escaut Canal. The Division’s advance had been so rapid that bridging stores were scarce – they needed an intact bridge or a repairable partly blown bridge.



A Humber A/C probes the defences





They had also outrun their map coverage, so were currently dependent on small scale road or school maps.

 

[panda1gen]

2/HCR faced determined resistance and the country was difficult, especially for tanks.






Nevertheless, they identified an unmarked road on their map that was newly constructed and surprisingly undefended. It also by-passed the enemy.




Lt Creswell’s troop lead the way,


“I was well aware of the opposition which was being experienced by the Grenadier Group on the main road, for several ‘A’ Squadron Troops were also engaged there and I could hear their reports on the wireless.

 

[panda1gen]

For this reason I could not bring myself to believe that the enemy would be so foolish as to leave an alternative route uncovered and in fact I stressed in my orders to the Troop the fact that we must expect opposition.



Nevertheless, although we drove tactically and with due caution, we covered a distance of 12km to within 3km of the bridge at de Groote Barrier, having seen but one German standing in a field and demanding to be taken prisoner.”




The bridge was cautiously approached via the canal bank. The enemy was outflanked, but any further advance would probably expose the armoured cars.

They hid in a factory where they could observe the high level, wooden trestle type bridge. The bridge had replaced the one blown by the Belgian Army in 1940.




Lt Creswell and an NCO called Cutler, borrowed two bicycles, and set off at dusk to the factory, to the hastily hushed applause from a growing crowd of cheering Belgians.

The two cyclists were currently the spearhead of the British 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Army.


Creswell and Cutler reached the factory,






climbed to the roof and were rewarded with a view of the enemy defences below. He noted approaches to the bridge before he was chased off his excellent OP by a burst of MG fire.

 

[panda1gen]

Creswell and Cutler returned to their armoured cars and radioed their information to Division.



They noted that the bridge was intact but strongly held.






Eight miles to the rear, both the Grenadier and Irish Guards Groups were ordered to the bridge.

 

[panda1gen]

The Grenadiers were held up on the main road,






but Lt Colonel J.O.E. Vandeleur with 3/IG (infantry) and 2/IG (tanks) and a troop of Honeys (M5 light tanks) were on an open eastern flank





Vandeleur lead No.1 Sqdn with infantry from No.2 Company along the undefended road where he dismounted well away from the bridge to see for himself and make a plan of attack.

 

[panda1gen]

From the top of a slag heap, he could see three deadly 88mm guarding the bridge on the northern side,



as well as dug in infantry with MG34/42’s.




He deduced that the guns could easily penetrate and kill his armour and an infantry attack would be stopped by the machine guns.

To make matters worse, he had advanced so fast that he was out of contact with his Brigade HQ and Artillery.

 

[panda1gen]

Boldness was the order of the day, he decided. They must rush the bridge, using speed of attack and surprise, to reduce casualties.

Two tanks were chosen to rush the bridge (from Major David Peel’s unit), these, together with the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Battalion made their way along the main road, supported with covering fire from the rest of the Shermans near the factory.

 

[panda1gen]

A so far unrecognised 88mm gun was knocked out on the south side of the canal and its half track tow was knocked out whilst attempting to cross the bridge to the north side, together with an ammo trailer.





Captain Hutton recalled,

“The exploding shells made the attack even more hazardous, while the flames lit the whole area of the bridge, and doubtless added to the confusion of the defenders.

Three other 88mm guns were positioned near at hand covering the northern end of the bridge,



supported by infantry with Spandaus, who fired almost continuous bursts,



whilst over our heads and to our right, the supporting tanks poured out a curtain of fire”.

 

[panda1gen]

A green Verey light from the infantry, now in position only 100m from the bridge, initiated the attack.





They were followed by the two tanks, advancing under covering fire from eleven tanks of No.1 Sqdn.




A red Verey light meant the infantry and two tanks had crossed and that the main tank force should charge to join them.

 

[panda1gen]

Despite the lack of artillery support, short range tank fire had helped overpower the surprised defenders of the Herman Goering Division.






The rapid advance from Normandy meant there were few engineers available, but Captain Hutton and his small group, including some untrained ‘volunteer’ Guards infantry, managed to defuse around 2000 pounds of explosive, that would have been more than adequate to destroy the Bridge.

 

[panda1gen]

The attack was successful with much lighter casualties than expected.

Infantry PIAT team advances cautiously

4.2" mortar lends support

J.O.E.’s plan had surprised the defenders, especially the bridge demolition team who thought the noise was support from their own armour.

some defenders take a rest

 

[panda1gen]

The bridge garrison had been kept informed about the main defensive block, which was still holding on around 10km up the main road.

a PaK40 lies in ambush - hard to spot!


Guards Division finds it hard to advance against stubborn resistance

Panzershreck team gets into position

Grenadier prepares for an infantry fight


They did not expect an attack and they had not expected the bridge to be outflanked. There were now a lot of Germans cut off, but still hoping to cross JOE's Bridge.