Battle for Arnhem.... (2 Viewers)

[panda1gen]

Another excellent post on the subject. Thank you.

Cheers,
Grey

Kevin the chaos and confusion continues unabated, aptly conveyed in your narrative. Robin..

Thank you Grey and Robin, but Middlebrook, especially with the veterans' stories, really enabled this part of the narrative.

 

[panda1gen]

Despite stubborn resistance, the German tanks and infantry steadily subdued all opposition that they met and continued to overcome the paratroops in western Arnhem.






This ground had been captured at great cost in casualties, so a necessary retreat was only reluctantly started, but orders were given, that any troops not immediately threatened by the advancing Germans should start leaving as best they could, either by vehicle or on foot.




By now, those troops trapped in houses by the German advance would most likely be taken prisoner. They became the third large haul of prisoners taken that day. Of the personal accounts reported by Middlebrook (Ref: Arnhem - 1944: The Airborne Battle by M. Middlebrook), who says the following was fairly typical.

Private Fred Morton of the 3rd Battalion's Machine-Gun Platoon, reported:

"There were nine of us, under a corporal. We had fortified a pair of terrace houses, knocking out the wall between them, awaiting orders which didn't come. We had a good view of the road, and there, coming up it, was a full company of Germans marching on either side of the road, a bit cocky and supported by a Tiger tank.



We decided that we would take full advantage of the fact that they didn't know we were there. We waited till the very last moment and then we opened fire with everything we had. We caught them napping, and at least seven or eight went down at once, but they were soon off the mark and getting into cover.

Unfortunately the heaviest weapon we had was a Bren gun; we did pretty well but had nothing to hit the tank with. We had one Gammon bomb, and one of the chaps threw it at the tank from an upstairs window. The tank was right outside the house, but the bomb hit the railings of the house and went off with a big bang. The tank was so close to the house that it couldn't use its gun, but his machine-gun was coming right through the doors and windows, so we retreated upstairs. One man remained at the top of the stairs, covering the front door. The rest of us took up positions at the windows of the bedrooms and bathroom - four windows in all.

Everything went quiet for a bit. I don't think they knew our strength. There was a lot of shouting, and they surrounded the house. Then they opened up on us, and we replied again; we had a fair amount of fire-power. We held out for about an hour, but things were getting tight then. Two of the chaps decided to get out by the back way, hoping to get down to the river, which was about a hundred feet away over the garden - but they didn't make it. We saw both of them go down. Three of the men in the house were wounded by then – badly wounded, one in the shoulder, one in the leg and one in the stomach. We decided that enough was enough.

The tank officer spoke good English. He told us we had fought well and that we would be treated well if we surrendered. 'For you the war is over.'

We came out of the front door but had to step over two Germans we had killed. Their mates didn't take that too kindly. The man ahead of me was hit across the head with a rifle butt, and I got it across the arm. I think it was the tank officer who stopped that. We asked if we could go back for our wounded, but they said they would send their own men in for them.

 

[Grey Heron]

Thanks again for another interesting chapter of this remarkable battle.

Cheers,
Grey

 

[jason foote]

Great photos and narrative. The last photo with the effect if the setting sun is great

 

[panda1gen]

Thanks again for another interesting chapter of this remarkable battle.

Cheers,
Grey

Great photos and narrative. The last photo with the effect if the setting sun is great

Thank you.

I have almost finished this part and shall soon return to the XXX Corps advance (after their battles around the Son Bridge and at Best with the 101st ).

I covered these earlier, finishing on page 151.

As the 1st Airborne paras grimly hung on .........

XXX Corps had been engaged .....

with 101st around Son Bridge and at Best .......

The tanks were hoping to roll on soon .....

But the advance was still mainly limited to the roads due to the terrain .....

 

[panda1gen]

By mid-afternoon however, the active military British presence in western Arnhem was ended and the remaining paras were forced to surrender ....




Others were wounded ........




Some men managed to hide (and were later helped to escape capture by the Dutch).

Although there was no active line unit, the medical officers and surgical teams of 16 Field Ambulance were still working in St Elizabeth Hospital. Throughout the fighting, the Germans had allowed Red Cross jeeps and walking wounded to enter the hospital grounds.

The mood of the Dutch in the hospital was lowered and some were very down-hearted. They had experienced being 'liberated' on Sunday night, occupied by Germans on Monday, liberated again on Monday night and now re-occupied by the Germans.

Corporal Arthur Hatcher described what happened to the medical orderly prisoners after the Germans re-occupied the hospital again:

About half a dozen of those Germans came strolling into the front entrance. Some of them were SS; they were doing the ordering about. I had seen Germans before, in Africa, Sicily and Italy, but never SS before. They were full of arrogance, as though they were the best in the world and we were just rabble.

Nobody knew what was going on, and we still thought this was only another small set-back. We weren't frightened; it all happened so quickly there wasn't time for that.

They said they wanted all the able-bodied personnel to be collected. We had got some unwounded paras in there by now. They herded us all into a corridor but then they had to wait for a lull outside before they could move us out. We were all sat down, about fifty or sixty of us, with guards standing over us, and somebody started singing, 'There'll Always Be an England', and everyone joined in. We were still full of confidence and thought we would be relieved any minute and we would be top dog again. The Germans didn't like it, but they didn't stop us.

Then we were marched out and found that there were other groups of prisoners being rounded up from the fighting nearby, all being marched away with their hands clasped on their heads.

- It was then that I realized things had gone wrong; it wasn't going to be a forty-eight-hour job after all.



The paras had failed to break through to Frost's force at Arnhem Bridge and the Germans controlled western Arnhem.

 

[Grey Heron]

Thank you for your great work in telling the story chapter by chapter.

Cheers,
Grey

 

[Louis Badolato]

Great photos and text, Kevin!:salute::

 

[panda1gen]

Thank you for your great work in telling the story chapter by chapter.

Cheers,
Grey

Great photos and text, Kevin!:salute::

Thank you. All the best.

 

[panda1gen]

The battalions’ remnants retreated away from Arnhem and towards Oosterbeek. Of the two main routes, some used the main upper road, Utrechtseweg, but most used the lower road. Along these roads came jeeps loaded with men.






Some towed anti-tank guns.




They were joined by the last evacuees from an Advanced Dressing Station, which had been set up in a warehouse. Medical orderlies from the 1st and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Battalions had operated there until mortaring became too heavy.




There were also dozens of weary men leaving on foot. They were retreating, singly or in groups. Some were without weapons. The personal accounts include phrases such as,
'orderly disorder', 'like a crowd of men leaving a football match', 'little groups running like the devil'.

 

[panda1gen]

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

The railway tunnel at Oosterbeek Laag Station was guarded by a few glider pilots ....




The men on the lower road passed for the last time,




..... through an outpost of the divisional area where the hoped they would be safe.




Five battalions and one brigade headquarters had gone into Arnhem. Of more than 3,000 men, only about 700 were still fighting, under Lt Col Frost, two miles away at the bridge.

Of the other two thousand or so, no more than 500 returned to Oosterbeek. The 1st Airborne Division had lost one-fifth of its total strength in those streets and open spaces beside the Rhine in Arnhem.

About 120 of those missing had been killed, leaving nearly 1,700 men as prisoners (many wounded) or being hidden by Dutch people.



Two majors, one captain (slightly wounded) and one lieutenant each commanded the remnants of the four battalions that returned.

That railway embankment between Arnhem and Oosterbeek represented a boundary, between the hell of the fighting in west Arnhem and the comparative calm, until now, of Oosterbeek.




This also marks the end of this description of that desperate phase of the Arnhem battle, ending on the Tuesday.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Fantastic account of the battle, wonderfully illustrated with your photos, Kevin!:salute::

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Truly some beautiful photography and scenes within this thread. Most enjoyable to look through this amazing collection. Just a few that stand out to me:

 

[Romeovhc]

I wish war only existed in movies. It's traumatic when it happens to any country. No one wins in such a war.

 

[Terp152]

I wish war only existed in movies. It's traumatic when it happens to any country. No one wins in such a war.

Fortunately the Allies did win.

 

[panda1gen]

Hitler prioritized sending reinforcements to Holland ..... some of the build up ......

 

[Louis Badolato]

Kevin,

Nice photos! :salute:: I especially like the one through the window. My son Alec and I will be coming to Great Britain in early August (I think the 5th through the 13th). I hope to see you, and Clive, and Martyn, and all my other friends on the other side of the pond.

 

[villagehorse]

You have so many cool vehicles Kevin, no doubt collected over many years. Robin.

 

[panda1gen]

At #1490 on page 149 I left the story of the 101[SUP]st[/SUP] at Best (and Pvt Mann’s posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor) to focus more on 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Airborne at Arnhem.

The 101st had overcome the Germans in that area, supported by British tanks of 15/19 Hussars.




I should now like to return to the story of the advance up Hell’s Highway.

Whilst the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Battalions of 502 PIR of the 101[SUP]st[/SUP] Division were sucked into the fighting at Best, the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Battalion advanced north of DZ B, towards the bridges over the River Dommel, at St Oedenrode. Although the river was not large, it was a obstacle to tanks by virtue of its shallow but boggy river valley.

Lt Col Cassidy was in command.




His plan was for Company C to advance and secure the town’s two bridges, followed by Battalion HQ. Two Company B platoons were to secure a footbridge at the east side of the town. The third Company B platoon was guided by the Dutch resistance, to investigate reports of enemy sightings at Nijnsel. Company A would follow the Battalion HQ as a reserve.

Company C were soon halted by small arms fire....




but were able to overcome the rear echelon Germans, with support from their battalions’ mortars, in a fire fight.




They advanced and found two Panzer IV tanks blocking the road.




If they had been intact the paratroops might have been in trouble. However, they had been knocked out earlier by the P51s and Spitfires that were tasked with covering the drop. The leading tank still had the engine running although it was blocking the road. The dead commander was hanging out of the hatch, so they decided to drag him off and drive the tank off the road. It was reported that,

‘Stockhouse was up on the tank with someone trying to help him pull the German out. Whatever the foot of the dead German touched or hit, it caused an explosion. Private Stockhouse was blown off the tank by the blast, which drove his barber’s tools through the pockets of his jacket and they protruded through his body. He was dead.’

 

[Louis Badolato]

Another terrific post, Kevin!:salute:: It was great seeing you!