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by William F Buckingham


  9. For 08:00 timing see Ryan, p.461; for 08:45 timing see Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 08:45, 22/09/1944; for 08:50 timing see Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.155

  10. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 08:45, 22/09/1944; Cholewczynski, pp.153-156; Ryan, pp.460-461; and Verney, The Guards Armoured Division, p.110

  11. See WO 171/398 1 Airborne Division Signals War Diary, entry for 09:05, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 11:20, 22/09/1944; see also Urquhart, p.134

  12. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.155; and Ryan, p.461

  13. See Zwarts, German Armoured Units at Arnhem, p.53; and Verney, p.109

  14. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.155-156

  15. See Major-General Hubert Essame, The 43rd Wessex Division, p.124

  16. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 September’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div Breaks Through ‒ 22 Sep’; and Ryan, pp.461-462. Trooper Harold George Patrick Read of the Life Guards is interred in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 18, Row C, Grave 4

  17. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 09:00, 22/09/1944; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.150, 154, 156-157

  18. See Kershaw, It Never Snows in September, p.244; Reynolds, Sons of the Reich, pp.156-158; and Cholewczynski, p.158

  19. Testimony from Feldwebel Erich Hensel, Nachrichten Kompanie, unknown Division; cited in Kershaw, p.247

  20. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 10:00, 22/09/1944

  21. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.158-164. 2nd Lieutenant Richard Kresge Tice is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 34, Row A, Grave 13

  22. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.163

  23. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entries for 10:00, 11:00 & 11:30, 22/09/1944; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.158, 166

  24. See interview with former Obersturmbannführer Walther Harzer; cited in Kershaw, p.263

  25. See ibid., pp.263-265

  26. See ibid., p.230

  27. Quoted from Kershaw, p.265

  28. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, Appendix: Report of Operation ‘Market’; Part 1 Outline of Operations, entry for 22 Sep – 24 Sep; and Urquhart, pp.131-132

  29. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entries for 02:30 & 05:00, 22/09/1944; WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 02:00, 22/09/1944; WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944; and Kent, First In!, p.116. Private Maurice Langton May is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 28, Row C, Grave 8; the CWGC database cites his date of death as 21/09/1944

  30. See WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, Appendix I, entry for 01:30, 22/09/1944; strength cited in Faulkner-Brown, A Sapper at Arnhem, p.63

  31. See WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, Appendix I, entry for 04:00, 22/09/1944; and Faulkner-Brown, pp.61-63

  32. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entries for 01:00, 04:30 to 06:30 & 06:30 to 19:00, 22/09/1944

  33. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entries for 06:30 to 19:00 & 19:00 to 24:00, 22/09/1944

  34. See WO 171/589 1st Airlanding Brigade War Diary, Appendix F, entries for 07:30 & 09:00, 22/09/1944

  35. For testimony on the incident from CSM Fielding see Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, p.355

  36. See WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944; and Green, 1st Battalion The Border Regiment, p.58. Warrant Officer 1st Class Albert Pope is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 22, Row B, Grave 13

  37. See WO 171/1375 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary, entry for 22-25/09/1944; and ibid., Appendix: ‘2nd South Staffords at Arnhem 17-25 Sept 1944’

  38. See WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944; and Green, pp.58-59

  39. See WO 171/1244 11th Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944.; the War Diary refers to the new position being south of the ‘OOSTERBEEK WEG’ but no road of that name or similar was within the 1st Airborne Division’s perimeter by 22 September; for cancellation of the effort to retake the Heveadorp ferry terminal see WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 21:45, 22/09/1944; and W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix F, entry for 21:45, 22/09/1944

  40. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.173

  41. See WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 22/09/1944; WO 171/589 1st Airlanding Brigade War Diary, Appendix, entry for 16:00, 22/09/1944; and Green, p.59

  42. See Green, p.60; the problem was not highlighted in the unit War Diary until the following day; see WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944

  43. For aircraft numbers and cancellation see WO 171/2177 HQ Air Despatch Group RASC War Diary, entries for 07:20, 12:00 & 12:15, 22/09/1944

  44. See Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, pp.396-398

  45. See Green, pp.61-62

  46. See WO 171/1235 2 Wing Glider Pilot Regiment War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944

  47. Quoted from Henk Capelle, My Airborne Experience, unpublished memoir kindly provided by Mr Capelle via personal communication on 2 July 2016. I am indebted to Mr Capelle for permission to include his account in this work

  48. The French Somua S35 was designated Panzerkampfwagen 35S (f) in German service. One account suggests that the vehicle involved was a Renault R35 but Panzer Kompanie 224 exchanged its holding of such vehicles for Char Bs in March 1944; see Zwarts, p.65. For reference to the Renault vehicles and Sapper Coulsting’s involvement see the 4th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers website, Arnhem Section, ‘September 22’ at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/4parasqnre/arnhem%20page%205.htm, accessed 05/05/2014

  49. Details and timings cited in WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, entries for 09:10, 11:15, 11:36 & 16:10, 22/09/1944

  50. Testimony from Lance-Corporal Maurice Weymouth, Sapper Arthur Ayers and Sapper Eric Richards, HQ and No. 3 Troop, 4th Parachute Squadron RE; cited at 4th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers website, Arnhem Section, ‘September 22’ at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/4parasqnre/arnhem%20page%205.htm, accessed 05/05/2014

  51. See Faulkner-Brown, pp.71-72. For Sapper Hyatt’s citation for the Military Medal see The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Sapper Philip Andrew Hyatt’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/philip_hyatt.htm, accessed 06/05/2014

  52. Testimony from Standartenführer Michael Lippert; cited in Kershaw, p.264

  53. See ibid., p.264

  54. See WO 171/1236 1st Parachute Battalion War Diary, entries for 06:30 & 09:00, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/1238 3rd Parachute Battalion War Diary, entries for 07:00 & 11:00, 22/09/1944. For Sergeant Whittingham’s contribution see The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Sergeant Harold Whittingham’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/harold_whittingham.htm, accessed 19/05/2014; Whittingham is rendered ‘Wittingham” in the 3rd Battalion War Diary

  55. See WO 171/1244 11th Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944; there is no record of the redeployment in the 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary

  56. See WO 171/1375 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary, entry for 22-25/09/1944; ibid., Appendix: J.1. ‘2nd South Staffords at Arnhem 17-25 Sept 1944’; and WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix ‘A’, entry for 22/09/1944

  57. See WO 171/1375 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary, entry for 22-25/09/1944; and ibid., Ap
pendix: J.1. ‘2nd South Staffords at Arnhem 17-25 Sept 1944’

  58. See WO 166/14933 1st Airlanding Light Regiment RA War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944; WO 171/589 1st Airlanding Brigade War Diary, entry for 17:00, 22/09/1944; and ibid., Appendix, entry for 17:00, 22/09/1944. Major Arthur Fairfax Norman-Walker has no known grave and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial, Panel 1

  59. See Kent, First In!, p.118; the original group photograph and subsequent frames showing the group scattering due to German fire were on display at the Airborne Museum at the Hotel Hartenstein; see also Middlebrook, Plate 17, between pp.246-247

  60. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 05:00, 22/09/1944; WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944; and Kent, pp.116-117

  61. See WO 171/400 1 Airborne Division RASC Airborne Element War Diary, entry for 05:00-06:00, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944

  62. See WO 171/1247 156 Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944

  63. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 05:00, 22/09/1944; and Kent, p.117

  64. See WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944; and WO 171/1247 156 Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 22/09/1944

  65. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 16:00, 22/09/1944; and Kent, p.118. Private James Vincent Fiely is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 30, Row A, Grave 4. There is no reference to ordering the patrols or extending the Independent Company’s frontage eastward in Hackett’s Brigade HQ account

  66. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 03:00, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944

  67. See WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944. Curiously, there is no reference to the ultimatum or subsequent discussion in the Division HQ War Diary, Urquhart’s account or Captain Stuart Mawson’s account of events in the MDS, although both Hackett and Urquhart’s accounts refer to German demands for an evacuation the following day; see ibid., entry for 23/09/1944; and Urquhart, p.147

  68. See Mawson, Arnhem Doctor, pp.125-127

  69. Quoted from Urquhart, p.136

  70. See The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Baillie Mackenzie’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/charles_mackenzie.htm, accessed 25/07/2016.

  71. For departure timing see WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 12:10, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/397 1 Airborne Division HQ Royal Engineers War Diary, entry for 12:10, 22/09/1944; for other details see Urquhart, pp.135-136

  72. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 13:50, 22/09/1944; WO 171/397 1 Airborne Division HQ Royal Engineers War Diary, entry for 12:10, 22/09/1944; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.167. Interestingly there is no reference to Mackenzie and Myers’ arrival or presence at Driel in the Polish Parachute Brigade War Diary

  73. Quoted from Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.167

  74. See Cholewczynski, pp.Poles Apart, 167-168

  75. Quoted from Urquhart, p.137

  76. See The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Charles Wolf Myers’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/eddie_myers.htm, accessed 26/07/2016.

  77. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.168-169, 171

  78. See Middlebrook, pp.407-408. Lieutenant Stanislaw Antoni Slesicki, 2nd Lieutenant Richard Tice and Sergeant Antoni Salwuk are interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot XXXIV, Row A, Graves 15, 13 & 16 respectively

  79. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 15:50, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/398 1 Airborne Division Signals War Diary, entry for 09:05, 22/09/1944

  80. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.169-170

  81. The Polish Brigade War Diary refers to the 8th Company moving up to the crossing point at 22:00, but Cholewczynski refers to Lieutenant Smaczny being in place for almost two hours before the crossing commenced; see Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 22:00, 22/09/1944; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.174

  82. See WO 171/398 1 Airborne Division Signals War Diary, entry for 03:20, 22/09/1944

  83. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entries for 06:17 & 07:40, 22/09/1944

  84. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 11:20, 22/09/1944

  85. Locations and timings cited in CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix G, Tables ‘Movements up 30 Corps Axis from 19 to 22 Sept 1944, Recce and Harbour Parties Excluded’

  86. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section IV – Operations South of Grave – 19/20 Sept’, Para. 40 ‘30 Corps Action in Area of Veghel-Uden, 19/20 Sep’; and ibid., Para. 41 ‘Movement Up the 30 Corps Axis 19/20 Sep’

  87. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section IV – Operations South of Grave – 19/20 Sep: Movement up the 30 Corps Axis 19/20 Sept’; and ibid., Appendix G, Tables ‘Movements up 30 Corps Axis from 19 to 22 Sept 1944, Recce and Harbour Parties Excluded’

  88. Quoted from Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, p.518; cited in Powell, The Devil’s Birthday, p.183

  89. See Powell, pp.182-183

  90. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix G, Tables ‘Movements up 30 Corps Axis from 19 to 22 Sept 1944, Recce and Harbour Parties Excluded’

  91. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 47 ‘30 Corps orders for 22 Sep’

  92. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’

  93. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix G, Tables ‘Movements up 30 Corps Axis from 19 to 22 Sept 1944, Recce and Harbour Parties Excluded’

  94. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ’43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; and Essame, The 43rd Division at War, p.127

  95. For timings see CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix G, Tables ‘Movements up 30 Corps Axis from 19 to 22 Sept 1944, Recce and Harbour Parties Excluded’

  96. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 46 ‘43 Div action on 21 Sep’

  97. Quote cited in Ryan, p.462; timings and other details cited in CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep, Para. 45 ‘Gds Armd Div fails to break through 21 Sep’; Para. 46 ‘43 Div action on 21 Sep’; and Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’

  98. Details cited in CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; and Essame, pp.124-125. Major Sidney Charles Wayman Young is interred in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 1, Row F, Grave 2

  99. DUKW: acronym for Design (year 1942) Utility (amphibious) K (all-wheel drive) W (dual rear axles). Colloquially known as the Duck, the DUKW was a standard US Army 2.5-ton GMC truck, factory-modified with a boxy watertight hull, a propeller and a specially manufactured reinforced-windscreen. With a payload of 2.5 short tons and a top speed of fifty miles per hour on roads and just over six miles per hour on water, over 21,000 examples were produced in the US by General Motors; 2,000 of these were supplied to Britain under the Lend Lease programme

  100. See
Ryan, pp.463-464

  101. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; for column details see Essame, p.125

  102. See Ryan, p.478

  103. Polish official records cite 20:00, their British counterpart 20:15, although this may refer to the time Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor arrived at Major-General Sosabowski’s command post; the Polish War Diary also mistakenly refers to the 5th DCLI being part of 130 Brigade rather than 214 Brigade. For some reason Ryan’s timings are two hours earlier than other accounts, possibly due to mixing up the Allied and German times. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 20:00, 22/09/1944; CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; and Ryan, p.478

  104. The 5th DCLI’s feat is commemorated today by a plaque affixed to the Roman Catholic church in Driel by the Regimental Old Comrades Association; see Paul Reed’s Battlefields of WW2 website, ‘5th DCLI Memorial, Driel’ Page at www.http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/5th_dcli_memorial_driel.htm, accessed 06/09/2016

  105. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.171-172

  106. Trooper Reginald Alfred Holmes of the Life Guards is interred in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 12, Row A, Grave 2

  107. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.172; and On Active Service – Household Cavalry 1939-1945: The Daimler Fighting Vehicles Project Website, ‘The 2nd Armoured Cavalry Regiment (Guards Armoured)’ Section, pp.14, 24 & 28 at www.http://daimler-fighting-vehicles.co.uk/DFV-File%20Part%20D001a-Houshold%20Cavalry%201939-1945.pdf, accessed 08/09/2016

  108. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, ‘Section V – Operations on the Island 21 to 26 Sep’, Para. 48 ‘43 Div breaks through – 22 Sep’; and Zwarts, pp.19, 57

 

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