Battle for Arnhem.... (3 Viewers)

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Re: battle for arnhem....

NIGHT SKY

The silvery moon moves out from behind a mass of thin cloud, making it semi-transparent.

"What little light filtered down to me seemed to change now and then in intensity and I amused myself by thinking this must be due to cloud cover. It's amazing what you can find to think about when you have to."

Back in THE TRENCH tomb. Underground. Dark.

"Time passed in an indeterminate manner, broken sometimes with sudden awakenings. I became bitterly cold and unusually thirsty. I tried to move my fingers but without much success and as my left arm was bent over my body and the right was under me, it was hardly surprising. Eventually, what remaining light filtered under the brim of my helmet disappeared and there was total blackness. Fits of panic came over me but there was nothing I could do except wait for them to subside. I knew that if I was to ever get out of this hole, panic would not be the answer."

Wednesday 20th September

UNDERGROUND - DARKNESS

Moss' face. Eyes closed. More light on him than before.

The distant thud of mortars signals that dawn has come.

A Centipede crawls into view, twitching and testing with it's creepy feelers. The insect starts to crawl up Moss' nose and his eyes open wide.

Snort. He blows the Centipede out with a gust that leaves a glistening blob of mucus on his upper lip.

He tries moving his head but groans in pain, the sound muffled by the compacted soil. However, it moves a bit - just a bit.

"Throughout the day as I knew it came the constant concussive thuds of the mortar fire. Occasionally I tried with my left hand to clench a fist and I found that I was getting some movement back".

Left hand. Twisted and dirty. His fingers twitch. Not much, but it's a start.

Moss smiles with relief at the progress. Rome wasn't built in a day.

"The coldness seemed to wear off and then return again when I least expected it. Despair came in waves and hope dwindled. How I survived that day and the succeeding night I shall never know. Having started to turn my head gradually left and right I had managed to compress some of the soil and gained some movement."

We see him making slow progress rocking his head from side to side, compressing the soil.

"However, I brought down some loose soil that almost blocked my nose and while I gained some more light, the night passed interminably slowly."

His eyes close.

Thursday 21st September

UNDERGROUND - DARKNESS

Moss' face. Eyes closed.

More light on him than before.

Those mortars carry on thudding and Moss wakes up with a start and a muffled shout from his delirious ramblings.

"That was how it continued for a while. It seemed that I would become elevated from my body and I would be back somewhere in England with people that I knew. I would relive things that I'd done and then with a jolt I'd be brought back to the harsh reality of my predicament."

When it becomes apparent that he's still trapped Moss starts to whimper and weep.

"I had been down here a day and a half. I was desperately thirsty and wracked by pangs of hunger. How I longed for a piece of chocolate."

Something slithers across his face. Another insect of some kind. Adeptly he opens his mouth and sucks it in, quickly crunching and chewing down whatever it is.

"I started to try and move the fingers of my left arm again and found that I could practically open and clench my fist."

His hand flexes, the fingers move.

"But I couldn't raise my arm. I tried pulling my arm towards me but the pain in my chest was agonising, so I contented myself at intervals by opening and clenching my hand and found that the soil was loosening."

On his thumb, moving. Scraping at the soil.

"I started using my thumb as a lever, pushing the soil away, endeavouring all the time to get my forearm towards me. There was something solid above my waist and I tried using this as a fulcrum for my fingers. A gap below the object manifested itself as if whatever it was had prevented the earth from consolidating below it. This was a glimmer of hope. I worked on. After a while I could now turn the whole of my forearm. This may not seem like much to you, but to me it was everything. Hope surged within me and I began to use my forearm and hand like a shovel, picking up dirt and depositing as best I could, compressing it where possible to give more scope to my hand."

Having rested, Moss begins to work away again with his hand.

"This was exhausting work at first as my movements were so limited. But in between fits of pain, exhaustion and a creeping paralysis, eventually the breakthrough came in an unexpected way."

His hand now free of the restrictive object, Moss is able to use it and the forearm in a rotating movement, back and forth.

"As the earth loosened and fell below my elbow my arm moved higher and higher. It was getting much easier."

SURFACE - DAY

We're at ground level. All around is mud and grass and churned up earth. After a few moments the ground bends and breaks as muddy fingers break through. They seem to stretch and taste the air greedily with relief.

"At last my hand broke through the surface but my elation was short lived. I wondered 'what now'? My upper arm was still trapped and I had no way of getting my head clear. How I longed to be able to breathe properly again."

His hand starts clawing at the earth, pulling it away and compacting it, making a clear space.

"Oblivious now to everything else I concentrated on moving my forearm in a circle at the wrist. As the soil compacted it gained more freedom. Now I could move it backwards and forwards some six inches or so. Loose soil dropped down around my elbow and it seemed my elbow was moving higher and higher as the loose earth compacted underneath it."

Back UNDERGROUND.

We can see more of what he's doing.

"Then I started to thrust my hand towards the right using my body as a fulcrum. It seemed to take hours, stopping and starting because of the pain it caused, but what spurred me on was the increasing movement. With one tremendous effort I pushed the whole of my arm upwards and out."

On the SURFACE

Moss' forearm pushes up and out of the ground, a disembodied limb, falling limply on the surface.

"I knew that success was now within my grasp but the effort had been so great and the consequential pain so huge that I once again passed out."

Later...

UNDERGROUND

Moss' face. There's more light coming in through the hole his arm has made and we can see him better.

He's moving his arm, scraping away at the earth up above.

"When I came to again a feeling of elation swept through me and I set about acquiring my freedom as best as I was able. I began to liken my hand to the mechanical claw you see at the fairground."

SURFACE

His arm works as described.

"I couldn't see what I was doing at this stage and at first I tried to shovel earth away in a sweeping motion but this didn't seem to be having much effect. Then I resolved to use a grabbing action, compressing handfuls of soil and trying to deposit the lumps as far away as possible."

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/32/a1979832.shtml

UNDERGROUND

Later...

"As I worked away for what seemed to be hours, the breakthrough that I had been striving for came."

Soil tumbles down past his face causing him to spit and blink.

"The soil around my face began to fall away and I was finding it easier to use my arm from the shoulder. Frantically I scraped my face clear and I felt an enormous feeling of relief as fresh air touched my skin."

Moving his head with new light on his face, Moss breaks out into a big grin taking in a lung-full of fresh air. This is a happy moment.

"I spat foreign material from my mouth and even the ensuing pain couldn't dispel the pleasure of being able to appreciate a few gulps of fresh air."

Later...

He's now making real progress. It still involves a lot of fumbling and groping in dark confined spaces but at least he can move.

"Progress was still slow but I was now able to clear material around my upper torso. Eventually, having cleared as much from my chest area as was necessary I worked on the area of my right arm. All the while I was compressing handfuls of soil and was now in a position to be able to hurl them forwards. I cleared as much from my right arm as I could but I was still not able to turn. I then began to investigate where my left hand had initially been."

Moving his hand down into the darkness, Moss finds the barrel of a rifle which he explores.

"Removal of the soil in this area started to expose the breach of a rifle. Further excavation began to release what appeared to be the German rifle I had with me at the time of my entombment. Following along the length and loosening the soil as I went, I discovered that the barrel was bent at the spout where it was forced into a wall."

His hand pulls, grabs, digs and grapples with the rifle barrel eventually clearing away enough material to get it free.

"Working solely around the muzzle I at last managed to get my hand around it and pull it towards me. This brought a further avalanche of soil down, but the loosened earth was much easier to deal with than the compacted type."

An area of soil caves in around the freed rifle but it's easier to work with so he can make faster progress with his digging.

"I thought that initially I might work the rifle up and out but then I realised that I could use it as a lever of some kind. This rifle had been the only thing that had been holding me back."

We see him moving the rifle into position and doing as he describes, albeit with difficulty in the confined space.

"Placing the rifle butt at my left side and the barrel away from me, I found that I could get my left shoulder higher and higher. Resting at intervals, loose earth was now falling back behind me, increasing my posture into a more upright position from the waist."

After all the wriggling he gives it one last big heave ho and hauls himself partially upright in the newly excavated space.

"My right shoulder was freeing itself at the same time and with one last desperate heave on the rifle, I was sitting partially upright and my right hand was free. I waited for a bit of life to flow back into my right arm and eventually braved everything by putting hands down and pushing upwards. Raking soil behind me now was giving my back support."

DISSOLVE:

Later...

Resting, he's dirty, sweating but has managed to excavate more of the soil and make more free room.

"The pain in my chest racked me with almost every movement but I became immune to it."

On his lap rests the small back pack he was wearing when imprisoned.

"I managed to free my small pack from my back with some difficulty, but much to my delight and amazement the entrenching tool was still in place."

A small smile comes to his weary face when he finds that the entrenching tool is still there. He checks it over like a small child unwrapping a Christmas present.

"This meant that the contents were probably untouched too. I opened the pack and found that there were two twenty four hour ration packs with my mess tins."

Inside the pack are some foil-wrapped rations packs. One is already open and he tears into it greedily.

"Frantically I opened one that had been used previously and sampled the most delicious piece of chocolate that I had ever tasted. Even the accompanying grit couldn't dampen the taste. A piece or two more and I began to make headway with the entrenching tool which consisted of part pick axe and part spade at right angles to the shaft."

Using the entrenching tool he starts to hack away at the soil.

Later...

We see him work as described.

"I had now reached a stage where I could clear soil from above my legs, compacting some with both hands in great balls and throwing it outside. I also continued to push more backwards, building up a rest for my back."

As he digs Moss uncovers his water bottle and as soon as he realises what it is, he grabs at it greedily. Pulling off the cap he takes one gulp of water to swill out his mouth and then drinks the second one down. That tastes good.

DISSOLVE:

Later...

Now working with increased intensity and freedom he's scrapped away all the soil so that now only his legs, feet and ankles remain firmly buried.

"I kept hacking away spurred on by the thought of freedom until only my feet were trapped. I still couldn't bend my knees and I was worried about this, but I was also worried about the prospect of another tank or half-track coming by and putting me back to square one."

DISSOLVE:

Later...

NIGHT

It's now well into the small hours and Moss is still hacking away at the ground with the entrenching tool.

There's not much light. Eventually Moss slumps back to take a rest and quickly falls into a deep sleep.... exhausted.

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

Friday 22nd September

TRENCH - DAWN

Light streams down through the top of the slit trench and the distant thud of mortars tells us that it's morning.

Moss wakes up with a start and quickly realises where he is.

Only his feet are now still trapped.

"I knew that the end was in sight and with a little more work I would be free, but I was hungry and weak and oh so tired. He takes a sip of water and attempts to bite a hard tack biscuit which nearly breaks a tooth."

Starting work with the tool again he drags earth away from around his knees. When he's cleared a space big enough he places both hands under his knees in the gap and pulls upwards as hard as he can.

Both legs and feet come away with a mini-avalanche of loose soil. Free at last.

Moss rolls over and rubs his legs, assuming the foetal position and laughing to himself, smiling with relief.

"As much as I wanted to be out of my tomb I knew that if I stood up straight away I would probably fall over. I had no idea what was waiting for me outside and I was just so ****ed tired that it felt good to just lie there and rub some life back into my legs."

DISSOLVE:

Later...

Pulling the belt from under his body, Moss finds that his Colt pistol is still in place. After giving it a quick check, he places it with his back pack.

Deep breaths. Steadying breaths.

"Eventually, after two days and three nights in my earthen prison I was at last ready to move."

He begins to heave himself upwards and out of the dank tomb.

Dragging the pistol belt and backpack behind, they become engulfed in the falling dirt.

TRENCH - DAY

Grass sways in the wind.

His fingers appear first, then very slowly Moss sticks his head up just over the lip of the trench. He scans the area.

MOSS' P.O.V

About two hundred yards away a German King Tiger tank lies up under heavy foliage, similar to the cover which is all around him. He sinks back down into the trench, obviously deflated at this set-back.

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

Then, having decided there's nothing else for it, he slips up over the edge of the trench and crawls away like a snake towards some nearby woods.

Glancing back over his shoulder, the tank looks quiet and still. There are no German voices, no shots, no pursuers.

Once into the dense woodland he scurries in a low crouch until a safe distance away.

COPSE - DAY

Taking a few moments to breathe deeply and sample the air, Moss leans back against a tree. He smiles when the sun hits his face and starts to strip off.

Shaking all the mud and dirt free, Moss uses some water from his canteen to clean his face and hands. In his small pack are some socks which he changes into.

After some chocolate and water he lights up a cigarette and nearly chokes on the first drag of smoke. Looking around nervously he puts the cigarette out rather than risk giving his position away.

There seems to be distant activity in all directions. Gun fire of all kinds. Smoke.

Taking his combat knife, which mysteriously has one third of the blade missing, he cuts the two compass buttons off his smock and couples them together.

Gathering up his gear, he heads off towards the south west.

However, he's barely gone thirty yards when through the undergrowth he sees an approaching helmet. Allied.

Moss sticks his hands up in the air and stands motionless. A man moves forwards, rifle at the ready and the expression on his face soon shows that he recognises Moss. It's Vulliger.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/32/a1979832.shtml

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/41/a1979841.shtml

Vulliger looks dirty, as if he'd been on the move for some time. He’s on a recce for Divisional H.Q which is some miles back the way Moss had came. Vulliger explains that situation has turned into something of a shooting gallery with the British as the targets. Most of their reinforcing supplies have been falling into enemy hands and they’re all very short of food and ammo. Vulliger also says that he passed a six pounder anti-tank gun a while back which appeared to be abandoned.

Moss suggests that they should spike the barrel to stop it from falling into enemy hands. The two men slip off in single file, Vulliger leading the way. They go back to the place where he'd been imprisoned in the collapsed trench.

There's no sign of the tank. They stop and crouch down behind a low wall.

They scurry away...

LEAFY LANE

...about fifty yards beyond the trench lies the six pounder, sandbagged and ready for action, partially concealed. The muzzle and shield of the gun are covered in camouflage netting as well as bits of foliage. Inside the shield are many bullet ricochet marks and blood splatters.

As Moss and Vulliger slip down behind the gun they spot the stationary form of the King Tiger tank, parked further up the leafy lane. Moss has a quick root around amongst all the empty six pounder shell casings and ammo boxes. All the shells are spent.

Moss cautiously peers over the top and sees that the turret hatch on the tank has opened. No one has appeared at it but German voices are wafted in their direction on the wind.

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

Carefully, Moss opens up the six pounder gun's breech and much to his surprise an unfired discarding SABOT shell springs out into his hands. Quickly he rams it back into the breech.

Moss orders Vulliger to traverse the centre line on the tank's gun — Vulliger thinks he’s mad and wants to go. Reluctantly Vulliger does as he's told while Moss jiggles with the elevation control. He presses his face against the eye piece.

MOSS' P.O.V - THROUGH SIX POUNDER GUN SIGHT

The gun cross-hairs move jerkily and line up on the tank's gun barrel and turret. Dead centre.

Back on Moss.

He sets the eyepiece to 250 yards range and readjusts the elevation, almost beside himself with excitement.

He then takes out his last grenade, pulls out the pin and holds it in his left hand.

Both men look at each other. He checks once more through the eyepiece. Seven second fuse.

Moss squeezes the trigger and the gun bucks against his shoulder. KERBOOM! The barrel roars, spitting flames and smoke. The smoking shell casing is ejected out the back. Moss shoves the grenade up the breech.

Both men get up, turn and flee in a crouched stance. As Moss turns he sees that the six pounder shell has wrecked the King Tiger's cannon.

However, through the smoke a shape rises out of the open tank turret.

The Paratroopers run, legs pounding.

The grenade explodes wrecking the six pounder while machine gun fire rains down on the metallic shield.

Zig-zagging left and right, both men run towards a small area of woods as gun fire from the tank wooshes after them.

Moss is having a job keeping with Vulliger, but despite this is laughing to himself and singing " Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man"

Eventually the two men disappear into some woods and all is quiet.

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

OOSTERBECK - DAY

The sound of exploding mortar shells, artillery fire and machine guns drifts all around us on the wind.

In less than 72 hours the place has been reduced to a shambles. It's a ravished and raw landscape. There's rubble and charred wood everywhere, slit trenches have been dug in the ground, and in the windows of abandoned buildings, tattered curtains blow in the breeze.

Spent cartridges glitter ankle deep in places like so much Fool's Gold. Roads are barricaded with burned out vehicles and debris - jeeps, German tanks, trucks, doors and bath tubs. Bodies of soldiers lie stacked everywhere mixed with civilians.

Moss and Vulliger trudge wearily along the road with a few other stragglers and men separated from their units

Near the Church in Lower Oosterbek in the Deer park around the Hartenstein Hotel, hollow-eyed Paratroopers man positions, tiredness etched in their faces.

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

HARTENSTEIN HOTEL GROUNDS - OOSTERBECK - DAY

Moss and Vulliger stagger into town with other motley looking collections of men. They head towards the Hotel where German POW's are kept under guard in some tennis courts surrounded by a chain link fence.

The two weary soldiers drop into a trench near some other soldiers who are brewing up and cooking food.

Vulliger is rummaging through his jacket taking out scraps of paper on which he's written all kinds of observations and intelligence.

The two men look at each other and then across at the next trench where the sound and smell of cooking food wofts across.

They stand up in the trench and start to climb out when...

KERBOOOOMMMMMM!

A horrendously loud explosion takes place nearby although there's no sign of an impact. Then a mortar bomb goes off fifteen yards away throwing both men back into the trench violently.

A huge black cloud of dust goes up into the air. Several soldiers have been killed. Blood and limbs rain down everywhere.

On Moss.

Eyes wide, he looks dazed.

In pain, he feels for the top of his head. Clumsily his hand slaps on his helmet. He can’t feel his head and thinks the top of it has been blown off. He looks across at Vulliger whose eyes are wide, staring and glazed. He just sits there, head in his hands, making no noise. Moss shakes him, trying to get a response. He's catatonic.

Moss takes off his own helmet and there's a wide metal line impressed in his forehead. The explosion pushed it into the skin. Tentatively reaches onto his head and feels around. It's still there.

A soldier scurries past, pausing to look down into the trench, kneeling.

Soldiers and Medics start to appear and deal with the wounded.

Moss hauls Vulliger out of the trench and help him towards the hotel in search of medical aid.

"Someone in authority spoke to us both that day and realising we were from the same battalion arranged for us to go on the trailer of a seventeen pounder, complete with gun, to see if we could join what I now know was called the Lonsdale Force. This was a motley collection of the remnants of those batallions, which had sustained such heavy losses from the advance into and the withdrawal from Arnhem, they could no longer operate in their original form. However, our attempted escape was short lived as we met heavy German armour and had to turn back."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/41/a1979841.shtml

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

TRENCHES - HARTENSTEIN HOTEL GROUNDS - DAY

Moss and Vulliger are cooking some food with a few other soldiers near some slit trenches.

"We spent the rest of the day in Divisional H.Q in comparative peace. We managed to have a brew up using tea cubes which formed part of our ration packs and were made from compacted tea, sugar and milk. We also had some hot soup into which hard tack biscuits were dunked. To me it felt better than a picnic at the Riverside Inn."

NIGHT

Moss is huddled in a small trench on his own, shivering and trying to sleep.

Occasionally his face is lit up by a parachute flare fired up into the sky.

"Night fell but two in a trench doesn't make for pleasant dreams. Even the night seemed to hold an indefinable menace as silence was broken occasionally by small arms fire and the darkness relieved by small parachute flares. So it was that I drifted restlessly into Saturday when dawn was heralded once more by the thud of mortar fire."

Saturday 23rd September

HASTERSTEIN HOTEL GROUNDS - DAWN

A light mist has settled on the area but the dawn silence is broken by the distant thud, thud, thud of German mortar fire.

Moss walks along holding three metal mugs of steaming tea bought from a temporary canteen erected outside. Men queue up at it longingly waiting to be served.

Moss slips down into a trench where Vulliger sits, staring blankly at the wall. He has to put the cup into Vulliger's hand before he acknowledges he's there. He's withdrawn, almost taciturn.

Moss opens up his untouched ration pack and watches a SHELL-SHOCKED PARATROOPER wandering around with a dazed expression on his face. He's trying to talk to the dead, wounded or anyone that will listen.

He bends down and kneels over a corpse, whispering into the dead man's ear "Have you got faith?"

A TRAUMATISED PARATROOPER breaks from his trench nearby and runs in panic into a wooden shed, shouting and shooting. He locks himself inside. Several Paratroopers run after the soldier.

He starts firing from inside the wooden hut, bullets exploding outwards through the planking. The pursuing Paratroopers take cover.

Silence. The shooting and shouting ceases.

A single shot rings out.

Soldier starts pouring out of their trenches as American C-47's appear low over the horizon. Pretty soon they're whooshing overhead, their engines growling as Paratroopers wave and shout.

Crates, drums and cylinders with flowering parachutes start to drop out of the back, but they're all falling in enemy held territory. The cheers of the Paratroopers soon fall silent when they see what's happening — they’re dropping the supplies on the Germans.

CELLAR - HARTENSTEIN HOTEL - DAY

It's gloomy, dank and resembles a medieval dungeon with wounded, bloodied, bandaged bodies lying in every conceivable place.

It's hard to tell where it starts but SOMEONE starts singing the classic hymn "Abide With Me". It's a lone voice at first but soon the singer is joined by a few more. Then, before you know it the whole room is singing.

HARTENSTEIN HOTEL GROUNDS - DAY

Grim-faced men, weary mud-stained men start to take notice, their ears pricking up as the strains of "Abide With Me" filter up and out of the Hotel building.

Some men in a trench join in, followed by the men in the trench next to them and pretty soon everyone is singing "Abide With Me".

When the singing ends, when the last words are sung, the silence is deafening. Men in trenches look at the comrades next to them with new heart.

A mortar shell whizzes over and explodes nearby, causing everyone to duck.

TRENCH - HARTENSTEIN HOTEL GROUNDS - DUSK

Night is falling. Moss and the taciturn Vulliger are resting in a slit trench, checking their weapons.

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

Saturday 23rd September

FARMHOUSE - OOSTERBEK - DAY

As part of a small column of men, Moss and Vulliger march towards a large farmhouse which is the centre of much allied activity. It's been fortified with slit trenches, machine gun posts and anti-tank emplacements. Signs of extensive shelling and mortar bombardment are evident everywhere.

"Later that day we were taken to join a contingent of the South Staffordshire Borderers who were situated in the north west of the perimeter. The H.Q was a farmhouse which housed the customary cellar. This was being used as a first aid post and was littered with bodies."

A British Typhoon fighter plane flies low overhead rockets mounted under each wing in racks. There have been precious few Allied aircraft around lately and it attracts much attention and a few cheers.

From the farmhouse a lane runs northwards slightly downhill. Both sides of the lane are lined with trees to a width of ten feet or so. It's finished off on both sides with a hedge some five or six feet high.

"My head still hurt from the mortar blast, the pain in my chest only eased when I was still and my back and right leg gave me problems when I was mobile. Yet despite all this I knew that I had been luckier than some."

Moss slips down into a trench with a BRITISH BREN GUNNER.

"I got into a trench by the house which held a Bren gunner and tried to strike up a conversation but he didn't appear at all friendly. It was as if people were at the end of their tether. Rations were low, water was scarce and there was a general feeling of depression. I gave up trying to illicit information and tried to settle down. I don't remember a lot about the remainder of that day or night come to that."

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

Sunday 24th September

FARMHOUSE - OOSTERBECK - DAY

We're at the end of a country lane. A few hundred yards away the old farmhouse is under German mortar fire.

Moss and Vulliger are in a trench together watching the shells explode. Nearby in several other trenches backing onto some low walls, more soldiers take cover from the mortar fire.

Smoke drifts across the scene from exploding smoke shells, laying down a thick cover.

"The day began with the usual dawn chorus and continued for some time while we took up positions in some trenches at the end of the lane. When dark came we had orders to withdraw back to the farmhouse. In the meantime we waited for an attack."

Every so often the mortar shelling stops and strange noises drift along, carried with the smoke on the breeze. These include German chatter, weapons being readied and an odd pop-pop-pop noise.

"We must have been quite near to the enemy as we could hear the sounds of German chatter and weapons being readied. I kept hearing what I thought to be the sound of a single cylinder long stroke motor cycle engine and wondered what it was. As time passed the noise seemed to move and emanate from different directions. Several times we were warned that an attack was imminent but none came and we stood down. For some time the majority of our supplies had been dropped in enemy territory and it's possible the Germans were firing our own mortar smoke not knowing what it was. When no attack came I did one of the most stupid things that I have ever done."

Moss slips into an adjacent trench which is outside the hedge and in the open.

It's not very big. Making himself small Moss brings both knees up, his back propped against one end, feet against the other. There's no more than fifteen inches between his knees and face.

After a very short while he starts to doze off.

Across the way, in the trees, a three man GERMAN MACHINE GUN team run into position. Carrying an tripod mounted MG 34 with fixed lines, they set up to fire downwards from an elevated position.

These guns fire 900 rounds per minute and are effective killing machines. They unleash 50 round belts which can be coupled up to 250 rounds in length before the barrel gets hot and needs to be changed

Muttering amongst themselves, they've clearly seen Moss asleep in the trench and lock and load.

After a few moments...

The German Gunner is ready go. He's tapped on the helmet by his colleagues. He takes aim, squeezes the trigger and fires.

The barrel spits fire and sounds like ripping paper.

In the trench.

Moss dozes.

We hear the sound of ripping paper and bullets tear through the earthen rampart on one side of the trench before they impact with the far wall.

Moss freezes in fear, watching the foot wide cone of fire rip through the fifteen inch gap between his body and legs.

He tries to push himself lower in the trench but there's nowhere he can go, nothing he can do.

It's working its way down.

Then, as abruptly as it began, the assault stops.

In fear and panic Moss leaps out of the trench like a grey hound. The Germans are reloading.

He and scrambles head first back into the other trench with Vulliger. Moss' hands are shaking in fear. He looks pale and drawn.

"The rest of the day passed uneventfully towards evening but now it was firmly reinforced in my mind that there people out there trying to kill us. Back at the farmhouse we scraped together what supplies we could but hunger was a thing of the past, a luxury we could ill afford. Bits of hard tack, a smidgen of soup finished off with a cigarette if you were lucky. Chocolate was now non-existent. We spent another night huddled together not knowing what the next day would bring or how much longer the farce would continue."

 

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Re: battle for arnhem....

Monday September 25th

TRENCHES - FARMHOUSE - DAWN

Behind the farmhouse, at the end of the lane, a group of soldiers are brewing up shielded by a hedge and low wall.

Moss boils some water in a tin helmet over a low smoking stove while the others mutter amongst themselves and pool their rations. Adding some tea cubes the boiling water turns a purple colour. He pours the liquid out into mugs and offers it around — the tea is purple.

That sound drifts by on the wind again - the one that appears to be a single cylinder long stroke motor cycle engine. Off in the distance. Moving slowly.

They listen. The sound drifts in and out on the wind between distant mortar shelling.

Suddenly a heavy mortar bombardment begins. KERBOOM!

There are loud explosions as the shells detonate nearby, throwing up huge clouds of dirt and smoke.

The men scramble for their trenches. The sound of small arms fire rings out.

Through the trees and down the lane German soldiers start to scurry, their dark shapes making ominous forms through the foliage.

The mortars stop. Silence.

Then...

The Germans start a ferocious assault on the trench positions, firing on the British positions with MG 32's, small arms and grenades.

Moss and a Polish paratrooper are in a trench together. They ready their weapons and check their ammunition.

German soldiers start moving forwards and are immediately met by a barrage of British rifle and machine gun fire plus a hail of grenades. It's an intense firefight, albeit short lived.

Moss fires, cocks his rifle to eject the spent smoking shell casing, and fires again. Beside him the Pole throws a grenade.

Something wooshes overhead and explodes amongst the Germans, sending up a plume of smoke and dirt. From nowhere a Cabbage hits Wosia on the back of the head and falls to the bottom of the muddy trench.

They look behind and see TWO PARATROOPERS manning a six pounder anti-tank gun in a field of cabbages. As they fire another round, the low flying shell sucks up a line of cabbages in its path, throwing them all over the place.

A German half-track tries to move up the road but soon explodes in flames when hit by a PIAT round. Screaming and burning the German soldiers inside try to escape.

Under intense fire, the Germans foot-soldiers fall back briefly to the woods to regroup.

The remaining men in the trenches call out their names so they know how large their force is. There's maybe two dozen of them at most. Not much with which to resist a determined attacker.

Moss hears that sound again. The stuttering pop, pop, pop of a single cylinder engine. Only this time closer.

Moss peers out of the trench and looks back towards the farmhouse where a German Tiger tank fitted with a flame thrower is belching fire on the building. It's also raking the area with a machine gun.

The Free Polish soldier turns back, eyes wide with horror. Men on fire run from the farmhouse only to be machine gunned down.

They look back across to the woods where they can see the Germans regrouping and lining up some mortars and MG 34's.

A mortar shell whooshes through the air and explodes nearby as Paratroopers flee from their trenches back towards the farmhouse and rear positions.

The Pole and Moss stay in their trench, laying down covering fire. Moss' rifle is out of bullets. He throws it down and draws his Colt pistol.

He looks across to one side and sees a GERMAN GUNNER and his GUNNER'S MATE running up with an MG 34 and several cans of ammunition.

Taking aim with the pistol he first shoots the Gunner dead and then the Gunner's Mate.

The trench is then raked with gunfire from another mobile MG 34 team forcing both Moss and the Pole to take duck down behind the earthen ramparts.

The Pole tells Moss to fall back — he’ll provide covering fire. When Moss is safe he must provide covering fire for him. The two men look at each other and quickly shake hands, nodding. This could be the last few moments for both of them.

Moss leaps up out of the trench and starts running for the trees, dodging this way and that, avoiding shell holes, corpses and low bushes.

Mortar shells explode all around along with MG 34 gunfire from German positions, rifle fire, pistols - everything you can imagine is being shot at him. Bullets explode into the ground, ripping branches off shrubs and small trees.

Breathless, Moss arrives at a densely wooded copse and throws himself down while bullets whiz overhead.

Rolling over, not even looking, he shouts back down the hill towards the trench he just left...

Taking aim with his pistol to give covering fire, Moss looks up just in time to see several Germans leaping into the slit trench he left and bayoneting the Pole to death.

More gunfire sends Moss running away through the woods until he comes to trenches manned by British Paratroopers. He jumps down into one occupied by a BRITISH BREN GUNNER, who's firing sporadically.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/41/a1979841.shtml

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

Meanwhile, the German reinforcements were arriving all along 'Hell's Highway' and around Arnhem itself................

 

[The Lt.]

Re: battle for arnhem....

It's been great watching you play Kevin and please continue to do so on all the current threads your playing on....The Lt.

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

German troops were closing in on the paras around Arnhem..........

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

And troops were ferried to the Groesbeek heights...............near Nijmegen.

 

[sv288]

Re: battle for arnhem....

Very nice there Panda1gen.

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

Thanks. The Germans brought food forward to the troops around Arnhem......

 

[desk11desk12]

Re: battle for arnhem....

It was a shame about the weather and flak, as although air support would be available to some degree, the 'tiffies' of 3rd RAF Tactical and other allied airforces would not be as dominant as they had been at Normandy around Mortain and in the Falaise gap.

Great thread Kevin! I just love those planes on page 1 of this thread.

Carlos

 

[panda1gen]

Re: battle for arnhem....

Thanks Carlos, I enjoy seeing your pics of your dios too.