Battle for Arnhem.... (1 Viewer)

[panda1gen]

Although the paras were getting more organised,




so were the Germans.

 

[panda1gen]

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.

 

[Terp152]

The advancing trooper is my favorite shot

 

[Terp152]

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


The plan for the second lift, as far as Arnhem was concerned, was that the balance of the 1st British Airborne Division, mainly the 4th Parachute Brigade Group, would be flown in as early in the day as possible. Take-offs were planned for soon after 7.0 a.m. Unlike the first lift, the American parachute aircraft would fly in first — 123 C-47s and three C-53s. These would be provided by the 314th and 315th Troop Carrier Groups based at Saltby and Spanhoe respectively.

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Most of the RAF's 38 and 46 Groups would be dispatched once again; 296 aircraft would tow 281 Horsas and 15 Hamilcars (see below) ......

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...... containing the balance of the division's guns, vehicles and infantry, including twenty-five glider loads from the first lift that had force-landed in England the previous day.

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Also from the glider lift were ten Horsas from Manston carrying the first element of the Polish brigade to fly to Arnhem - mainly an anti-tank troop - and four Horsas from Harwell with the two RAF radar warning teams aboard.

Thirty-three further aircraft, Stirlings of 295 and 570 Squadrons from Harwell, would carry out the first of the daily parachute resupply drop for the units already landed at Arnhem.

It would be another day of massive air operations, with nearly 2,500 aircraft involved in Operation 'Market' flights. It is an interesting point that, while the Polish brigade was still waiting to fly to Arnhem, 110 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 8th US Air Force were flying that day from England in a last attempt to drop supplies to the dying Warsaw Uprising, in support of which the Polish brigade had originally been raised.

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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.