109. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix D ‘5 DCLI Advance from Nijmegen to Driel on 22 Sep 1944’, Section ‘Account by C.S.M. Philip [sic], DCM’
110. For details and photographs of the knocked-out tanks see Zwarts, pp.19, 57
111. See CAB 44/254 Part II: Operation MARKET GARDEN, Book III, Chapter VII, Appendix D ‘5 DCLI Advance from Nijmegen to Driel on 22 Sep 1944’, Section ‘Ambush on the Tigers: Major Parker’s Story’; and Essame, pp.126-127
112. Company Sergeant Major Reg Philp DCM passed away on 17 February 2012 aged 92; for his obituary see The Telegraph, Obituaries Section, 28 March 2012 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9172080/Reg-Philp.html, accessed 11/09/2016
Chapter 18
1. 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, pp.173-174
2. See Faulkner-Brown, A Sapper at Arnhem, pp.66-67
3. Captain Brown’s account refers to selecting twelve men, Middlebrook cites fifteen while the official records refer to twenty-four; see Faulkner-Brown, p.68; Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, p.410; and WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, Appendix I, entry for 19:45, 22/09/1944
4. Quoted from Faulkner-Brown, p.69
5. See Faulkner-Brown, p.69; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.174. For Lieutenant Bottomley’s involvement see Middlebrook, p.410. The No. 1 Wing War Diary makes no mention of Lieutenant Bottomley or any other personnel being detached to act as guides although he was reported as accompanying No. 1 Wing’s commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Iain Murray, visiting the Wing’s positions in the early morning of Saturday 23 September. However the 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary explicitly refers to Glider Pilots being deployed in this role; see WO 171/1234 1 Wing Glider Pilot Regiment War Diary, entry for 05:50, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/589 & WO 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade War Diary, Appendix F, entry for 17:25, 22/09/1944
6. 23:00 start time and Polish order of crossing cited in Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entries for 22:00 & 23:00, 22/09/1944
7. See W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix ‘F’, entry for 23:45, 22/09/1944; and WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 23:45, 22/09/1944; interestingly, there is no mention of the Poles’ arrival in the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment War Diary
8. See W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, entry for 23:00, 22/09/1944; and ibid., Appendix ‘F’, entry for 23:45, 22/09/1944
9. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.174-176; and Sosabowski, Freely I Served, p.175
10. See Kershaw, It Never Snows in September, p.265
11. Quoted from Faulkner-Brown, p.70
12. See Faulkner-Brown, pp.69-71; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.175
13. See Essame, The 43rd Wessex Division at War, p.126
14. See Essame, p.127; and Sosabowski, p.174
15. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entries for 03:00 & 04:00, 23/09/1944
16. See Faulkner-Brown, p.71
17. Fifty-two cited in Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, entry for 03:00, 23/09/1944; for thirty-six see Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.178
18. See Sikorski Institute AV 20/31/27 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade War Diary, hand-written footnote to entry for 03:00, 23/09/1944
19. For reference to rain see for example WO 171/1234 1 Wing Glider Pilot Regiment War Diary, entry for 07:00, 23/09/1944
20. See WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944; and WO 171/1236 1st Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 07:00, 23/09/1944
21. See WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 07:35, 23/09/1944; W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix ‘F’, entry for 07:30, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entry for 06:30 to 13:00, 23/09/1944
22. See WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 08:40, 23/09/1944
23. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 03:00, 23/09/1944; Kent, First In!, p.119; and WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 22/09/1944
24. Quoted from Brammall, The Tenth, p.93
25. According to Middlebrook the party was under the command of Captain Ignacy Gazurek, temporary commander of the Polish Brigade’s 3rd Battalion, and a Polish source also states that Captain Gazurek crossed the Lower Rhine at the same time as Lieutenant Smaczny, on the night of 22-23 September; see Middlebrook, p.410; and Krzysztof Komorowski, Chronicle of the Polish Army 2005, p.225. However, Cholewczynski’s participant account-heavy work clearly shows that Captain Gazurek did not cross the Lower Rhine until the night of 23-24 September, and Lieutenant Smaczny was thus the ranking officer commanding the first increment of Polish paratroopers to cross the river
26. See Brammall, p.93; Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, p.178; WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entries for 22/09/1944 & 23/09/1944; and WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 07:35, 23/09/1944
27. See Kent, First In!, p.120; Sergeant Dennis Basil Martin is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 20, Row C, Grave 5; the CWGC records give Sergeant Martin’s date of death as 20/09/1944
28. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 07:15, 23/09/1944; and Kent, First In!, p.119. Private Francis Joseph Hillier is interred in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Plot 36, Row A, Grave 1; the CWGC records give Private Hillier’s date of death as 20/09/1944
29. See WO 171/393 1 Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 08:40, 23/09/1944
30. Quotes from WO 171/1236 1st Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 07:00, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/1238 3rd Parachute Battalion War Diary, composite entry for 22/09/1944
31. See WO 171/1244 11th Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for Saturday 23nd September 1944 ; and WO 171/1236 1st Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 20:00, 23/09/1944
32. See WO 166/14933 1st Airlanding Light Regiment RA War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944
33. See WO 171/1244 11th Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for Saturday 23nd September 1944
34. For barrage timing see WO 171/1236 1st Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 18:00, 23/09/1944
35. See WO 171/1238 3rd Parachute Battalion War Diary, composite entry for 22-25/09/1944. Lieutenant James Arnold Stacey Cleminson passed into German captivity and was incarcerated in Oflag IX A/Z at Rotenberg an der Fulda in central Germany
36. For regular German fire on the Oosterbeek church see for example WO 166/14933 1st Airlanding Light Regiment RA War Diary, entry for 17:00, 22/09/1944; for Major Blacklidge’s death see WO 171/1244 11th Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944. Major Guy Lechmere Blacklidge has no known grave and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial, Gelderland, Holland, Panel 8
37. See WO 171/1375 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944; for details of Major Simonds wounding on 19 September 1944 see Winchester College, 2016, ‘Simonds, John Mellor’ at http://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/archive/simonds-john-mellor/, [accessed 14/11/2016 ]. Major John Mellor Simonds has no known grave and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial, Gelderland, Holland, Panel 5
38. See Kent, First In!, p.120. Private John Paul Avallone and Sergeant Benjamin Clayton Swallow are interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 5, Row A, Grave 4 and Plot 18, Row C, Grave 16 respectively; Sergeant Swallow’s date of death is given as 13/12/1944
39. See Kent, First In!, p.118 and testimony from Sanders Kre
mer, cited in Middlebrook, p.368. Kent gives the impression that Corporal Rosenfeld might have been killed on Friday 22 September but the CWGC database clearly states his date of death as 23/09/1944. Corporal Hans Rosenfeld alias John Peter Rodley is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 23, Row A, Grave 11
40. For fifteen casualty figure see WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 07:15, 23/09/1944; Sergeant Ernest Victor Thompson has no known grave and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial, Gelderland, Holland, Panel 8
41. See WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 07:15, 23/09/1944; and Kent, First In!, p.120. The cook may have been a Private Dixon who carried out a similar feat against German tanks the following day, although on that occasion he was reported to be a member of No. 3 Platoon; see WO 171/1248 21st Independent Parachute Company War Diary, entry for 15:00, 24/09/1944
42. The StuH 42 was a Sturmgeschütze III adapted for close infantry support by replacing the vehicle’s dual-purpose 75mm gun with a 105mm howitzer. The ten-vehicle detachment from Sturmgeschütze Brigade 280 despatched to Arnhem included three StuH 42 organised into a single Zug (platoon); see Zwarts, German Armoured Units At Arnhem, Table ‘Sturmgeschütze-Brigade 280’, p.6
43. See Fairley, Remember Arnhem, pp.164-166
44. See WO 171/406 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entry for 09:00, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 23/09/1944
45. See WO 171/406 D Squadron, 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entry for 10:00, 23/09/1944. Only two Tiger units participated in the fighting at Arnhem. The Tiger I equipped schwere Panzer Kompanie Hummel was at this time deployed in the area of Elst on the south bank of the Lower Rhine. The other, two companies drawn from schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 equipped with Tiger II Königstiger tanks, did not arrive in the Arnhem area until the night of 23-24 September, and the Kompanie assigned to the fighting at Oosterbeek did not go into action until Monday 25 September; see for example Zwarts, pp.59-60
46. See Fairley, p.167
47. See ibid., pp.167-168; for timing see WO 171/406 D Squadron 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entries for 10:00 & 11:00, 23/09/1944
48. For Sergeant Pyper’s citation for the Military Medal see The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Sergeant James Pyper’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/james_pyper.htm [accessed 06/12/2016]
49. See WO 171/406 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entry for 14:30, 23/09/1944; and Fairley, p.168
50. See WO 171/406 D Squadron 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, numerous entries from 15:00 to 22:00, 23/09/1944
51. See Fairley, p.169
52. See WO 171/406 A Squadron 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entry for 12:00; and Fairley, p.178
53. See WO 171/406 A Squadron 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron War Diary, entries for 12:00 & 14:00; and Fairley, pp.169-170
54. See WO 171/1247 156 Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 12:00, 23/09/1944; the attackers may have been reinforced with elements of Ausbildungs und Ersatz Regiment ‘Hermann Göring’ deployed on the western side of the Oosterbeek perimeter, which reportedly included two Panzer V Panther tanks; see Reynolds, Sons of the Reich, p.169; and Kershaw, p.301. There do not appear to be any photographs of these vehicles deployed at Oosterbeek
55. See WO 171/1247 156 Parachute Battalion War Diary, entries for 14:00 & 15:00, 23/09/1944
56. See Fairley, pp.169-170. Captain Raymond Harold Stevens is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 29, Row A, Grave 2
57. See WO 171/1247 156 Parachute Battalion War Diary, entry for 15:00, 23/09/1944
58. See Ryan, A Bridge Too Far, pp.494-495
59. Quoted from Mawson, Arnhem Doctor, p.133
60. See ibid., pp.134-135
61. See Kershaw, p.271
62. See Mawson, p.136
63. See ibid., pp.136, 139-140
64. See ibid., p.140
65. The precise identity of the Polish group is unclear, for while Lieutenant Smaczny and his thirty-six-strong party from No. 8 Company moved to the vicinity of the Utrechtseweg crossroads at 06:30 they were despatched to reinforce the 1st Border on the Benedendorpsweg near the municipal gasworks at 08:00, although the number of Poles varies between sources; see WO 166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944; WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 11:47, 23/09/1944; and Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.178-180 However, the 1st Airlanding Brigade War Diary refers to approximately 100 Poles being despatched to reinforce the 4th Parachute Brigade, Mawson’s account specifically refers to Lieutenant-Colonel Marrable visiting Poles near the MDS in the evening of Saturday 23 September, and German accounts also refer to fighting Poles in the vicinity of the crossroads at that time; see W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, entry for 23/09/1944; ibid, Appendix ‘F’, entry for 23:45, 22/09/1944; Mawson, p.149; and Kershaw, pp.270-271
66. See Mawson, pp.141-142
67. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 13:00, 23/09/1944; and Urquhart, Arnhem, p.147. There is no reference to this or subsequent discussion at Division HQ in Hackett’s account in the 4th Parachute Brigade HQ War Diary
68. Exchange quoted from Urquhart, pp.147-148
69. Quoted from Baynes, Urquhart of Arnhem, p.138
70. See WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 23/09/1944; 600 casualty figure cited in Mawson, p.146
71. See WO 171/594 4th Parachute Brigade War Diary, Appendix C, entry for 23/09/1944; and Urquhart, p.149
72. See WO 171/393 1st Airborne Division HQ War Diary, entry for 15:27, 24/09/1944
73. See Mawson, pp.144-149
74. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entry for 04:30 to 06:30, 23/09/1944
75. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entry for 06:30 to 13:00, 23/09/1944
76. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entry for 06:30 to 13:00, 23/09/1944
77. See W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix ‘F’, entry for 14:52, 23/09/1944; and WO 171/1059 64 Medium Regiment RA War Diary, entry for 15:20, 23/09/1944
78. Drum-Major Tait’s surname is sometimes rendered Tate: see Middlebrook, p.275
79. See WO 171/1323 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers War Diary, entries for 06:30 to 13:00 & 13:00 to 19:00, 23/09/1944
80. See WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, entry for 13:15, 23/09/1944
81. Quoted from the 4th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers website, Arnhem Section, ‘September 23’ at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/4parasqnre/arnhem%20page%206.htm, accessed 28/05/2017
82. See the 4th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers website, Arnhem Section, ‘September 23’ at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/4parasqnre/arnhem%20page%206.htm, accessed 28/05/2017
83. See Faulkner-Brown, pp.74-75
84. For four wounded and five dead figure see WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, entry for 07:10, 23/09/1944; for eight wounded figure see WO 171/1511 4th Parachute Squadron RE War Diary, Appendix I, entry for 07:30, 23/09/1944
85. Sapper Bernard Higgins and Sapper Leonard Dennis Rawlings are interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 16, Row C, Graves 1 and 4 respectively
86. See WO166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944
87. For barrage commencement time see WO166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944
88. See Green, 1st Battalion The Border Regiment, p.67. Lieutenant Robert Hugh Coulston is interred in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 26, Row A, Graves 15
89. See ibid., p.67. Corporal Thomas Edgar is interred in Arnhem Oost
erbeek War Cemetery, Gelderland, Holland, Plot 2, Row A, Graves 17. The CWGC database gives his date of death as 24/09/1944
90. See WO166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944; and Green, p.67
91. For 17:30 timing and Major Neill’s DSO citation see The Pegasus Archive, Battle of Arnhem Archive, Biographies Section ‘Major William Neill’ at www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/william_neill.htm, accessed 05/06/2017; for 19:20 timing see WO166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944; and Green, p.69
92. See W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix F, entries for 09:30 & 12:00, 23/09/1944; and WO166/15077 1st Battalion The Border Regiment War Diary, Appendix A, entry for 23/09/1944
93. Quoted from Green, p.63
94. See ibid., pp.63-64
95. See ibid., pp.64-66
96. See ibid., pp.66-67
97. There is no reference to the redeployment in the 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary.
98. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.179-180, 183
99. See W0 171/590 1st Airlanding Brigade HQ War Diary, Appendix F, entry for 23:45, 22/09/1944; and Green, p.67
100. See Cholewczynski, Poles Apart, pp.183, 189, 192
101. See ibid., pp.185-186, 191
102. See ibid. pp.189, 192-193, 201
103. Panzer Kompanie 224 began the battle with seventeen vehicles; one Somua S35 serving as a command tank, two Panzer B2 (f) gun tanks and fourteen Flammpanzer B2 (f); see Zwarts, p.6
104. See Kershaw, pp.274-275
105. For pre-loaded aircraft see WO 171/2177 HQ Air Despatch Group RASC War Diary, entry for 12:15, 22/09/1944 and after entry for 14:10, 23/09/1944. Middlebrook refers to the drop involving seventy-three Stirlings from No. 38 Group and fifty Dakotas from No. 46 Group, which tallies with the entries in the various Squadron Operational Record Books; see Middlebrook, p.396 and various Squadron Operational Record Books. The figures cited in the HQ Air Despatch Group RASC War Diary total fifty-five Dakotas, but do not tally fully with the various Squadron Operational Record Book totals
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