Battle for Arnhem.... (4 Viewers)

[panda1gen]

You can feel for the locals with the emotional turmoil they must have been experiencing with the rapid changing events and the fact they were at the mercy of any outcome. Always amazes me Kevin, how you are able to continually source the figures and vehicles to align with the narrative. Robin.

Thank you Robin, very kind. It is sad just posting these kind of tales, but war is unforgiving.

As for the photos, I have been doing it for 20 years and have a few spare.

German troops set off towards Wolfheze, leaving two wounded soldiers to attempt to swap stories.

 

[panda1gen]

Page	Date	Arnhem Thread Contents
73	18 Sept 1944	Brief overview of US Paras positions and 2nd lift.
73	18 Sept 1944	British VIII and XII Corps forge bridgeheads across Meuse-Escaut Canal – heavy fighting.
73	19 Sept 1944	With the arrival of Panzer-Kompanie Mielke on the 19th September 1944, coordinated combined arms attacks could be employed against the British forces at the bridge. AFVs and infantry worked close together and would blast British strong points. Kampfgruppe Knaust would employ everything in their arsenal including small arms, MGs, Panzerfausts and Panzers to remove the ‘Red Devils' from the bridge.
73	19 Sept 1944	At 4:30 a.m., before dawn, the 1st Parachute Brigade began its attack towards Arnhem Bridge, with the 1st Battalion leading supported by remnants of the 3rd Battalion, with the 2nd South Staffordshires on the 1st Battalion's left flank and the 11th Battalion following beaten off with heavy losses.
73	19 Sept 1944	Frost under pressure with shortage of ammo – especially PIAT bombs. SS Sturmbannführer Brinkmann and Major Knausts’ units ceaselessly bombarded Frost at the bridge.
		I have tried to create an index of this thread, it is going slowly at the moment, but here is another installment with the page reference on the 'new' thread. Eventually, if I ever finish it I shall try to post the the whole together.

 

[panda1gen]

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

The Germans did not attack Wolfheze that evening. Except for Captain Queripel's force being attacked north of the railway, there was no further serious action on that day of dramatic event for the 4th Parachute Brigade. Except for those bogged down near the tunnel, all of the vehicles came safely south of the railway.




B Company of the KOSB was still present; finding his battalion departed from the agreed meeting point, Major Forman decided to remain in this area overnight.




The 4th Parachute Brigade, which with the KOSB had been at nearly full strength twelve hours earlier, now consisted of considerably less than half of that strength and had come to rest in Wolfheze and in the woods to the east of the village. An estimated fifty-four men had been killed during the day's actions; this figure includes the KOSB casualties but not a further seventeen killed in the 11th Battalion and the anti-tank troop fighting in Arnhem on that day. These were the heaviest single day's brigade casualties of the entire Arnhem battle. More than half of the dead - four officers and twenty-five other ranks were from the 10th Battalion.

A large proportion of the brigade was out of action, wounded or cut off and left behind to become prisoners. Brigadier Hackett's proud command was virtually broken only forty-eight hours after its arrival.

 

[panda1gen]

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

An interesting point should be mentioned here. It has been described how the main part of the King's Own Scottish Borderers was easily able to reach the divisional area at Oosterbeek. Brigadier Hackett made no move to bring the remainder of his brigade into Oosterbeek, and units would suffer severely when they tried to come in the next day after the Germans attacked the area in strength.

I (Middlebrook) was several times asked by some of the keen local experts in Holland why Hackett had not brought his units into Oosterbeek that night; there is no doubt that most could have got there in reasonable safety.




Hackett's diary records that this was considered:

I discussed at some length with Div by RT advisability of moving during the night towards our final location. I wanted to get integrated into the Div area. I was quite happy to stay but would have preferred to move to a villa near final location at say 2300 hrs; by then 10 Bn would be fit to do so in good order. Div deprecated a move but said I was to send recce parties in by night and follow at first light. I saw nothing to be gained out of recce parties in the dark and it was agreed in the end that I should move the Bde at first light.

There was a substantial British force still at liberty back in the woods near Wolfheze. This was Major Michael Forman's B Company of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. His men had seen much action since the start of this operation, defending the most exposed sector of the second lift's dropping zone at Ginkel Heath on Monday, defending part of the Polish glider landing zone and then providing part of the rearguard cover in the withdrawal to Wolfheze the previous day.






After waiting all of this morning at the Hotel Wolfheze for contact with someone from his battalion, Major Forman decided to move out south-westwards towards the Rhine, hoping to find British troops there. The only information he had about the main division was a BBC broadcast heard at the hotel that the 1st Airborne Division was fighting north of the river; he had never heard any mention of Osterbeek.