Battle for Arnhem.... (1 Viewer)

[Louis Badolato]

Tremendous photos, Kevin, as usual!:salute::

 

[panda1gen]

Tremendous photos, Kevin, as usual!:salute::

Thanks Louis.



Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook

I shall post more photos later, but present here just some 1st Battalion accounts from Middlebrooks excellent book. These include those of:

Private Bryan Willoughby:

“Every now and again someone was hit, further depleting our numbers as we kept moving in battle formation. Stopping to give help to those hit was unfortunately out of the question. A little further on we were joined by another company. Here we were stopped abruptly by a very determined Spandau machine-gun. I heard an order given by an officer from the newly joined company - 'Take that gun out!' There was a pause; nothing happened; then a rush accompanied by shouts of 'Waho Mahomed!' followed by complete silence. No more machine-gun.

I was glad not to be involved in that. However, I got my turn very shortly after this incident - not in any way sought after, I must add. We were being annoyed by fire coming over an embankment between houses on our left. Two of us were sent up to see to it. To complicate the situation, a gun on the right, over the river, kept thudding shells into the embankment. At the top we could see the Germans across a square filing into the houses, so we were able to take some pot shots at them.

On coming down from the embankment, I was sent as Company Runner to tell the remaining platoons to close up for another push forward. There weren't many men left. Just a handful with one officer moved out into the open ground to move finally on to the bridge. We didn't get far. The last thing I remember was firing at anything that moved at a house straight ahead and then seeing the company commander, Major Timothy, giving the 'Close on me' signal outside one of the houses far away on our left. I didn't quite make it, however. I ran into a shower of hand grenades coming from the upstairs windows of the houses in the row and was taken prisoner”.


Sergeant Frank Manser:

“After about an hour and a half I reached nearly to the houses at the end of the open area. I was fired on there, but for the first time I could see where the fire was coming from. They were about ten yards away in a sandbagged position, possibly a section position with several different weapons. I could see their helmets. I was completely on my own and in completely open ground. I fired back. I had a Colt .45 and the Tommy gun, but I ran out of ammunition, and that is when they hit me. I had lain down with my arms covering my head. I felt them shoot off the haversack on my back, then I was wounded in the left arm and under the heart - two separate shots.

I think the Germans retired from that position, because I was able to get up about ten minutes later and go back to the river side. I was sitting there, nursing my arm and with the pain under my heart, when along came Major Stark waving a revolver. 'Come along, Manser; we've got to get to the bridge.' But I was too far gone. He went on, but I don't think anyone got much further than that”.


One group probably advanced further than any other and Private James Shelbourne recalled:

“Many men fell in the early phase of that attack, at least one of them, a young, recently married officer, cremated by his own phosphorus grenades. I saw German machine-gunners blasted out of their sandbagged emplacements with hand grenades, endured a lively strafing from a brick factory across the river, and engaged a few shadowy targets among the trees of the escarpment immediately to our left. But opposition diminished to occasional sniper fire after we drew level with the museum high above us. In effect we had breached the enemy line and were now well forward of the South Staffords, who were stalled on the upper road between St Elizabeth Hospital and the museum. Eventually our advance was blocked by the entrance channel to a dock several acres in extent. We could only wheel left, up the escarpment and into a row of houses”.


Private John Hall:

“There were now only a few of us left, and one of the few NCOs left gave the order - 'EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!' My intention then was to get to the river bank, using what cover I could. I planned to make my way along the river and try to swim across. I threw the Bren gun into some bushes; pack and ammunition pouches followed. This left me in my smock, which would give me some camouflage, I thought.

I made it to the river bank, how I don't know, as we were still being fired upon. Using what cover I could from the shrubs I managed to make some headway, but then I came across a para who was shot in the foot. He asked if I could help him. I removed his boot - a bloody mess, I thought – then I gave him a morphine injection. As I started to bandage him up, I suddenly heard a voice. Looking up, I saw a German SS, a light machine-gun pointing at me. I honestly thought I was going to die there and then; we sometimes did not take prisoners, so I did not expect them to either. Perhaps he thought I was a medical orderly and spared me. I didn't ask”.

 

[panda1gen]

It only took another hour, until 07.30, for those who had taken shelter in the houses to also be forced to surrender.




A tank fired shells at point-blank range into the house .........




...... whilst all the exits were covered by machine-guns.



Hardly any of the 140 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Battalion men who carried out the attack returned to safety that day. Nine were killed, including an officer and two sergeants.

The rest were either wounded and taken to St Elizabeth Hospital ........



....... or taken away as prisoners under SS escort.




Only a few evaded capture or escaped later.

 

[Louis Badolato]

It only took another hour, until 07.30, for those who had taken shelter in the houses to also be forced to surrender.

View attachment 289830


A tank fired shells at point-blank range into the house .........

View attachment 289831


...... whilst all the exits were covered by machine-guns.

View attachment 289832

Hardly any of the 140 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Battalion men who carried out the attack returned to safety that day. Nine were killed, including an officer and two sergeants.

The rest were either wounded and taken to St Elizabeth Hospital ........

View attachment 289833

....... or taken away as prisoners under SS escort.

View attachment 289834


Only a few evaded capture or escaped later.

The two middle photos bring back some great memories, Kevin!:salute::

 

[panda1gen]

The two middle photos bring back some great memories, Kevin!:salute::

Indeed they do! Happy days.

I remember that Tiger being one of K&C's first, but I can't remember, is it wooden?

 

[Louis Badolato]

Indeed they do! Happy days.

I remember that Tiger being one of K&C's first, but I can't remember, is it wooden?

Yes. That is the original wooden Tiger, if I remember correctly it was made in China.

 

[panda1gen]

The even weaker 3rd Battalion had attempted to support the attack, but they too were unsuccessful. John Fitch's primary intention was to set up fire positions from which he could support the 1st Battalion advance. They deployed into the bushy bank between the two roads, but they were quickly spotted by the Germans.




The Germans then systematically quartered the area with machine-guns and mortars, which prevented both forward movement and the establishment of the intended fire support.




Alan Bush described the end:

“The Colonel called an O-Group with myself, the Adjutant - Charles Seccombe - and the IO. We were about 250 yards from the pavilion. The Colonel was sitting with his back to the German mortar fire, which was coming down steadily, foot by foot, along the bushes. I could see it coming and said we must get out of there. He told me to get the men back; most of them were behind us; the Colonel was as far forward as anybody.

I moved back and found about thirty of our men and told them to run straight back to the pavilion. One or two were badly injured in the arms or shoulders, and I told these to go straight up the slope to St Elizabeth Hospital. I don't know whether they made it; with any luck they should have done. I expected to see the Colonel and the other officers in the pavilion soon after, but they didn't arrive”.




Private George Marsh, one of the battalion signallers, described what happened to the Adjutant:

“We hadn't gone more than 200 yards in the attack when Captain Seccombe stopped me and said, 'Get the BBC on your set and see if there is any news of Second Army's progress towards us.'

I said, 'Sorry, sir, I am on battalion net and can only call on the hour, every hour, to conserve batteries.'

He said, 'I am giving you an order; do it now.'

While I was getting the BBC, Captain Seccombe walked about thirty yards away. I had the earphones on but could still hear a large explosion behind me. A mortar bomb had fallen and blown his legs off. I was sickened by the sight but ran over the road on which the 20-millimetre gun was firing and found some medics, who brought a stretcher. It was here that one of my friends lost his arm to a 20-millimetre shell”.




(Captain Seccombe - described by his friend Alan Bush as 'known as Good-time Charlie; he liked his beer and was always laughing' - later had the remains of both legs amputated at the hip by the Germans. His girlfriend, a war widow, remained loyal and married him after the war.) The Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Vedeniapine, came back, badly wounded with mortar splinters in his back and chest and reported that Lieutenant-Colonel Fitch had been killed by the same mortar bomb that had wounded him.

Major Bush went forward again to make sure that Fitch was not still alive and to fetch back any survivors, but he was cut off by the now advancing Germans and forced to hide. So ended the last battle of the 3rd Battalion as a formed unit.




Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook

 

[panda1gen]

The Attack of the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment

The main attack along the Utrechtseweg in front of St Elizabeth Hospital, started half an hour late, at 04.30. D Company of Lieutenant-Colonel Derek McCardie's battalion lead off, B and A Companies followed, with C Company in reserve. Together with the Battalion HQ, there were about 340 men.

These were all glider-borne troops, but immediately in the rear was a complete parachute battalion, the 11th, ready to support the Staffords' attack.

Unfortunately however, many of the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] S. Staffs’ support weapons were still at the rear, as they had been unable to effectively deploy them in the darkness and in the urban surroundings.




Lieutenant David Russell and four of his men of the 2nd Parachute Battalion's C Company, had been taken prisoner the previous day, but later escaped. They now voluntarily joined in the South Stafford’s attack, hoping to rejoin their own (Frost’s) battalion at the bridge.

St Elizabeth Hospital was currently well-lit and displayed a large Red Cross flag. This added to the strange feelings of the S. Staffs as they advanced along the wide main road in front of the hospital.

In his book, Middlebrook refers to accounts of men passing a wrecked tram with a dead German, believed killed the previous day, lying in the roadway next to it.

David Russell:

'As we moved over to the south side of the road, we could see big fires near the road bridge, an awesome sight with a church tower silhouetted against the flames and the greying sky.'

They were unsure of the German dispositions. Hence, the Staffords advanced cautiously and took cover as they did so, behind garden walls, bushes, corners of buildings, lamp-posts, trees, wherever they could.




The Germans fired long bursts of machine-gun fire, from both along the road from their positions ahead and across it from side streets and passages on the S. Staffs’ left. The Germans had plenty of ammunition and it was a standard German tactic in the dark to fire bursts at irregular intervals in such a manner.




Sergeant Norman Howes:

'It was totally unlike any other action. We had spent months and months practicing battalion attacks on a 400 to 600 yard front, and the battalion finished up attacking up a street no more than fifty yards wide.'

Even though this was not yet the main German line, there were Germans in some houses and the advance was several times held up. The leading company lost 40 per cent of its strength in casualties within half an hour and only managed to advance about 300 yards, to just past the hospital. The company C.O., Major John Philip, was shot through the stomach. Two other officers were killed.

One of them was Captain 'Oscar' Wyss, who was reported as last seen leading his men,

'waving his walking stick and shouting, "Come on, lads!", as if it was only an exercise on Salisbury Plain'.




B Company was led by Captain Reggie Foote until Major Robert Cain joined later in the morning. You may remember that his glider had force-landed in England on the first day. B Company was also now engaged in the fighting, but the battalion account became confused at this point. As a result, it is unclear how far B Company actually progressed. It was estimated that this advance was not much further than the museum, an advance of about 650 yards from the start line and short of the point reached by the 1st Battalion. They were fighting at the bottom of the steep slope which fell away from the museum area to the river.

The main reason for the lack of progress was the presence of tanks among the houses 150 yards ahead.

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook


Derek McCardie sent his third company forward to consolidate the current gain and provide a firm base for an advance if they could outflank the strong opposition ahead. Major T. B. Lane's A Company was then at full strength as they advanced past the dead of the earlier attack and past the hospital.




Company HQ and one platoon deployed in the museum itself, the three other platoons set up in and around houses on the other side of the road. However, here the battalion's attack faltered. It was now light and the Germans directed mortar fire onto the men who were in the open near the museum. Tanks also came forward and added their fire.




When the supply of Piat bombs was exhausted, the German tanks closed to almost point-blank range. They also began firing into the A Company positions in the museum and nearby houses. Any attempts by the S. Staffords to either show themselves at windows or to move in the open drew immediate fire.




The Germans were building up their forces for a counter-attack, with more self-propelled guns and infantry.

 

[jason foote]

Awesome storytelling in miniature. Absolutely cool

 

[panda1gen]

Awesome storytelling in miniature. Absolutely cool

Jason

Thank you, I am glad that you like it. It has so far taken much longer than I expected.

I have covered the XXX Corps breakout and advance past Eindhoven in liaison with the 101st. I also covered the 101st fight for Best.






After I have done a bit more with 1st Airborne, I hope to return to the XXX Corps and the 82nd. Also, I have not forgotten the Germans.




This 'interminable thread may creak on a bit longer.

All the best.

 

[Grey Heron]

Beautiful thread. Thank you for sharing your work and collection.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Kevin,

Enjoyed the call yesterday! You called while Morgan, I and three other buddies were having lunch at Bryant & Cooper, and we wished you could have been there with us, out-eating and drinking Morgan again! LOL:salute::

 

[panda1gen]

Kevin,

Enjoyed the call yesterday! You called while Morgan, I and three other buddies were having lunch at Bryant & Cooper, and we wished you could have been there with us, out-eating and drinking Morgan again! LOL:salute::

^&grin^&grin^&grin :wink2:^&cool

 

[panda1gen]

There was a hollow in the slope outside the museum, which provided some cover.




Major Cain managed to join his company and later wrote an account of this period:

We found ourselves being attacked by tanks; this was between 9 and 10 in the morning. Our mortars were trying to engage the Germans who were far too close to them. The mortar officer was removing the secondary charges in order to reduce the range of the bombs, and they were shooting straight up in the air.



Some tanks came in from the low road, between the river and the bulk of the town. They were firing with 88-mm guns up into the dell which we occupied. We had no anti-tank guns because we couldn't get them up the road, mainly because the pelting fire was so heavy.




We had, therefore, to use Piats to cope with the tanks. We held them for two or three hours. Lieutenant Georges Dupenois was in action with his Piat and Jock Buchanan and I were drawing the fire and trying to get ammunition for Georges, which we did. When a tank appeared, we got four Brens firing on it with tracers. That shut the tank up, because the commander couldn't stand up in the turret.




As soon as we let off a Piat at it, we'd move back, and then the German shells would explode below us. We were firing at 100 to 150 yards' range. Dupenois fired about ten to twenty rounds. Once, instead of hitting a tank, he hit a house with a Greek inscription on it which he read and which made him laugh. It was impossible to tell how many tanks there were and I don't think we ever disabled one, for we never saw the crew get out. All this lasted until about 11.30 a.m. Then the Piat ammunition gave out.




The tanks came up and were firing right into our dell and our men were just being killed one after the other. I saw one of our men with just his face showing, his eyes wide open. You could hear the call of 'Stretcher bearer' all the time. There was no effective fire going back to those beasts because we had no more ammunition.

The CO came up and told us to pull out of the dell, which was an absolute death trap. I remember seeing the whole of a bush blown out of the ground while I was talking to him. I put a rearguard with a Canadian officer and a dozen men with a Bren to cover our pull-out . . . This was the South Staffs' Waterloo.

(Unpublished account by Major Cain, Airborne Forces Museum, File No. 54)

Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook

 

[panda1gen]

Beautiful thread. Thank you for sharing your work and collection.

Thank you, glad you like it.

The photos in the thread are all mine, but I am grateful to other collectors as they include pieces from other collections.

All the best.

 

[panda1gen]

XXX Corps are on the way, but 'are a little busy'.

'OK, defended village ahead' ......



Recon - 'we can't go around it, we have to clear them out' ....


'Start by clearing that house, we will cover you' .....


'We have taken this one sir' ......


'House clearing!' - 'Wish it was just the furniture' ...

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook

Middlebrook states that the only other personal accounts available for this part of the battle were from men in the museum. There were about forty of them, plus Lieutenant Russell's 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Battalion party.

Russell had been asked by the Staffords to act as observers. He took his small party up to the top of the building, into what was probably the caretaker's flat. From there they were able to help direct the mortar fire outside (already described by Major Cain). They also reported various events and were sometimes able to fire directly on the Germans.

Middlebrook reported that David Russell described how the end came:

“I suppose it was about mid-morning when I saw the outlines of a large tank through the garden gate. I warned the company commander, who sent a Piat forward to cover the road; we stayed upstairs.



The tank milled around, treating the world in general to bursts of MG and big wallops of gunfire. We were, as yet, untouched. More tanks appeared to have arrived, as there was now gunfire from the bottom road up into the gully and another was reported on the top road. The Piat scored a hit on the extra side armour of one tank, but failed to put it out of action.

An assault gun moved slowly along the top road, blowing to pieces and setting on fire all the houses around the museum.




Up came another tank in our rear and started on our building, the first two rounds taking off the living room, which we had just left. I had a quick conference at the foot of the stairs with the Staffords' company commander and other officers; the ground floor was full of wounded.




Were we to fight on with small arms against tanks, try to break out, or surrender? We decided that as our object – to join those fighting at the bridge - was impossible and as the building was being systematically demolished and there was nowhere to break out to, we should surrender.




I chucked my Sten over a hedge, buried my pistol, and walked out with a handkerchief”.

 

[Grey Heron]

Excellent work. Really enjoying this story unfolding.

 

[panda1gen]

Sergeant Norman Howes was the platoon sergeant of the Staffords platoon in the museum:

“I went downstairs to check on the ammo supply and spoke with CSM Vic Williams. I can remember some tank and mortar fire, but nothing very local, so it was with a somewhat casual air that I remounted the wooden steps to the first floor to my platoon position. You might imagine my shock on seeing, instead of my platoon, German troops, two of them facing me as I entered the room, each with rifles in hand.

I could see others in the background. I weighed up the odds and threw myself back down the steps. At the bottom was an upright piano and, guessing what was following, I got down behind it. At least one grenade was thrown, and the two Germans then came down the steps to check me out. I shot the first; I am not sure if I hit the second as he got up the steps.

I shouted to the Dutch people who were there that the Germans were in the building and reported to CSM Williams in the corridor. Things were getting very noisy by this time, with tank shellfire being directed at the sides of the building and, it seemed, non-stop MG fire.

About six of our men then came running back down the corridor - all unarmed. I stopped them and sent them to the exit, to the Regimental Aid Post to collect arms and ammunition discarded by the wounded. I followed them. It was a maelstrom of confusion and noise. At the aid post, with the wounded and the dead, was the padre, Captain Buchanan; he saw me stopping there and shouted, 'Not here, sergeant; we have wounded’.


The Dutch people were the caretaker, Mr Berendsen, his family and the Van Loon family, who had been taken in by the Berendsens when their own home was requisitioned by the Germans. Mrs Van Loon later found a spent bullet in the blankets of her baby's pram. Also in the museum at some stage was a Dutch commando attached to the airborne men who calmly used the civilian telephone in the middle of this action to speak to his parents at Ede. Once the Staffords' Piat ammunition was exhausted, the German tanks and self-propelled guns were able to roam at will.

In addition, infantry had already entered the museum through a breach in the walls, so the end was nigh.

An A Company house, housing one platoon, was ablaze. Despite this, the men inside were still firing from where they could. Lieutenant-Colonel McCardie authorized B Company to retire from its more exposed positions, but only Major Cain and a few men managed to get away. As the tanks closed in, A Company started to surrender in increasing numbers. Battalion HQ was also overrun.


After his return from prison camp in 1945, Derek McCardie wrote to Major Cain:

“I still can't believe that I was taken prisoner. It was a thing I had vowed should never happen. I was trying to get to A Company, to find out why the hell they weren't shooting at those tanks, and I suppose that something must have fired at me. At any rate, I found myself under about two feet of earth with two Germans pointing Schmeissers at me”.


Large numbers of men became prisoners. The Medical Officer, Captain Brian Brownscombe, and possibly Padre Buchanan, managed to get to St Elizabeth Hospital, where they continued their work; but of the other officers only Major Cain managed to get away.


Middlebrook wrote that of the hundreds of men taken prisoner, only one, Sergeant Jim Drew, sent a contribution for his book, via the Staffordshire Regiment:

“A vehicle came up and down the street with a loud hailer shouting, 'Come out, you South Staffords, with your hands up. You are surrounded, and there is no way out.' We stayed in the cellar, where the firing was now very heavy. Eventually the cellar was kicked open, and a German threw an object on the cellar floor. We jumped to the other side, expecting a grenade to explode. After several minutes I looked and saw that it was a house brick. He was, indeed, the finest German that I had never met. We were then taken prisoner of war”.


The paras fought hard but their buildings were battered ......


German infantry gained entry in some ......


A German soldier is ready with a grenade ....


They blasted the paras into surrender .....


Medical staff were kept very busy ......

Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook