I was very fortunate to attend the 80th Anniversary commemorations for the Battle of Arnhem. My school granted a week’s holiday so I could attend the event. I was also able to attend with a 1944 Willys Jeep, marked as 4th Dorsets, 43rd Wessex Division.
I have visited the area of Arnhem many times before but not on the anniversary of the famous battle which took place between the 17th and 26th September 1944. It has always intrigued me as it is one of the great “What IF” battles, with many a historian giving their differing opinions.
What ever can be said for the planning and senior leadership of the Market Garden plan, the courage and endeavour shown by the soldier on the ground cannot be questioned. It was a week of pure hell and countless stories of bravery.
We joined a group called Airborne Battle Wheels who had set up a camp in Oosterbeek and provided Jeep tours and events during the week.
The first tour was the Landing and Drop Zones tour. It was led by the wonderful local historian, Luuk Buist. We travelled off road, towards Renkum, north towards Ginkel, then East into Wolfheze, finally arriving at Papendal, which was the location of the Polish Gliders. The turnout was amazing with nearly 100 jeeps.
On the 18th September we attended the burials of Private Moon and Lieutenant Anderson at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek. Private Moon was killed by a mortar attack on the 1st October 1944, while serving with the Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment) near Nijmegen. He had landed on Gold Beach on the 6th June 1944 and had fought through Normandy, France, Belgium and into the Netherlands as part of the Garden operation of Market Garden, He had previously taken part in the invasion of Sicily. Where he had been wounded. His body was discovered when A15 motorway was being widened and identified through his cousin’s DNA.
Lieutenant Anderson was born in South Africa and came to the UK to study architecture. He worked with Sir Edward Lutyens who was the chief architect of the Imperial War Commission. He was originally commissioned into the Gloucester Regiment but transferred to the Glider Pilot Regiment in 1942. He flew a glider with soldiers into Normandy on D-day returning home via ship. He landed his glider on the 18th September 1944 at Wolfheze. He and his troops took up their position near the church. He was killed by a German mortar attack on the 25th September 1944. The attack had buried him in the trench. His body was discovered when a field survey took place near the church. He was identified via the DNA of a second cousin.
We travelled to Apeldoorn to visit the Army Barracks which were used in 1944 as a hospital for captured British forces. There is a small museum dedicated to Col Graeme Warrack who was the senior 1st Airborne Division’s medical officer during the battle for Arnhem. He had landed by glider on the 17th September, immediately treating a Glider Pilot whose Hamilcar had flipped over killing one pilot and trapping the other. It was noted that on one occasion the Germans were mortaring an aid station, Warrack, ran into the street to shout “You bloody bastards” while pointing at the large Red Cross on the building. He was instrumental in negotiating a truce with the Germans so the wounded could be transferred to German care. He met General Bittrich who Warrack found to be very courteous and was given medical supplies, some food and a bottle of Brandy. When the 1st Airborne evacuated on the 25th September, Graeme Warrack remained behind with the wounded and thus was taken prisoner.
He was taken 15 miles north to the Dutch Army barracks at Apeldoorn which was now acting as a hospital for the 1,700 British airborne casualties. It was under control of the British with four surgeons and 250 medical staff. Warrack was placed in charge. The hospital closed on the 26th October 1944, but before it closed, Warrack and some other medical staff escaped. Warrack hid in the roof space of his cupboard in his room and hid for 14 days until the barracks were deserted by the Germans. He was taken in by a Dutch family and passed to the Dutch resistance. In February 1945, he crossed the Rhine with Brigadier Hackett and returned back to Allied lines.
There was a small service for the unveiling of a new memorial within the grounds of the barracks.
It is never a true trip of remembrance for me until you travel to the spot where the 4th Dorset’s crossed the Rhine into the Oosterbeek perimeter to support the airborne forces. It was a crazy suicide mission, which took place late on the 24th September. Over 300 Dorsets managed to get across, very few returned. Most were captured. The start of the crossing was at the Driel Ferry, and the target was the Westerbouwing, which is a position atop a high bluff. There were not enough boats, and some has been lost as the supply trucks had taken a wrong turn and travelled through German lines thus being captured.
The small Ferry Boat is a great reminder of the journey across the Rhine, even though the layout has changed over the years due to new locks and sluice gates being installed. Also, the view from the Weesterbouwing is marvellous. You can see the buildings of Nijmegan from the height.
One of the highlights was the parachute drops at Ginkel Heath. It was a very early start, and we were asked to park the jeep just on the edge of the heath. You may notice in one of the photos that I was able to get some sleep before the main event. I feel asleep before the public arrived and was shocked when I woke up to find hundreds of people around me.
It was great experience with so many paratroopers and the Red Devils.
The final jeep event was the famous Race to the Bridge. We formed up next to the Airborne Café in Renkum. We drove to the Bridge in Arnhem following the route the troops had taken back in 1944. At the bridge we formed up. The route was lined with well wishers and had some great chats with the great locals down at the bridge. It is an event I will never forget.
On the Sunday I attended the Memorial Service at Oosterbeek Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery. It was a very moving experience, and it seemed that the whole town had turned out. We viewed the wreaths and memorials after the event. Unfortunately, no one from the Dorset Association had laid a wreath, which was very surprising as they were the only non-airborne Infantry Battalion (4ths) to be awarded the Pegasus patch and battle honour for crossing the Rhine.
Overall, the event was truly amazing and very well run. I did not venture far from the Arnhem area, so did not get to the American and XXX Corp sectors further south. As usual with my trips to the Netherlands, the people were so engaging and welcoming. You are very much made to feel at home and there is such a deep respect for the soldiers on the ground who fought so bravely over those few days in September 1944. The Dutch suffered so much at that time and through the awful winter, yet their resolve and remembrance is never questioned.
