Operation Market Garden

[FERRET]

Just thought that i would share a few photos from my weekend in and around Arnhem, i attended the 67th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem which many of you will know was made into a film "A Bridge to Far"

 

[CuzGS]

Nice to see the boys jumping in, surprised we have a serviceable 130

 

[FERRET]

The first photo is of my humble abode for the weekend, i camped at Camping WARSBORN, which is just between Oosterbeek and Arnhem, various units landed at Wolfheze (gliders) and Ginkle Heath (parachutists) over 2-3 days with the objective of capturing the bridge at Arnhem which crossed the Rhine, they were to hold the bridge untill re inforcemnts took over, the re inforcemnts were to arrive by land over further bridges captured and held by the Americans at Nijmegen.
British Airborne Forces did capture the bridge at Arnhem but were only able to hold it for a number of days before being forced to withdraw by German troops who were stationed nearby, lets not forget that our boys had parachuted in well behind enemy lines and were reliant on being re supplied and re inforced by ground troops who were pushing forward through Europe towards Berlin.

The second picture is of the Arnhem bridge, now re named John Frost Bridge, through the barrell of a 35 pond artillery gun which is placed on the banks of the Rhine below the bridge at the Parachute Regiment memorial.

 

[FERRET]

The third photo is of the memorial at Ginkle Heath where airborne troops landed, on Saturday morning there were massed parachute drops by serving members of 1 , 2 and 3 Parachute battalions who were joined by Polish and Dutch airborne troops, the first drop was by serving soldiers dressed in period uniforms and parachuting out of a Dakota, the rest were all dropped from C130 Hercules Transport planes provided by the Yanks, Poles and Dutch air forces.

 

[big stu]

Cracking photo`s , good read too
Nice, any chance of routes taken, how you got there?
Regards Stu

 

[guards1656]

bridges captured and held by the Americans at Nijmegen.

I think the Grenadier Guards had quite a bit of a say in the capture of Nijmegan Bridge, hence the Nijmegan Company of the 1st Btn Grenadier Guards. It's bad enough yanks going around thinking they won the war on their own. Please don't perpetuate it.

Yes, I'm an ex- Grenadier

 

[Monty Stubble]

Setting off there myself next weekend then off down towards Maastricht. Any good tips?

 

[geordie]

not far from oosterbeek there is a small village called groessbeek, there is an excellent parachute musuem that is well worth a visit,

the roof is in the shape of a giant parachute and it has a tank and some large guns in the grounds but whats inside is excellent.

starting at #1 it lays out how ww2 started and what happened during the course of the war, there are lots of vehicles etc inside but it also has working parts of houses to show how people made bunkers under their staircases etc, remains of some of the gliders that were towed across and a huge model room with a scale replica of the whole are around nijmegen, this has lots of armaments and lights etc which show how operation market garden was played out from start to finish, there is english commentry as well.

out the back the is a rememberence room with books containing the names of all the allied soldiers that took part but never returned home, these are placed according to which country they served. if your there just note the size of the canadian one compared to all the others !!

it will take a few hours to go round it properly or obviously a lot less just to have a nose but if your in the area its well worth going to see.

Andy

 

[SERVDAVE]

Cheeers for sharing the photos, very interesting!

 

[mike6631]

For the sake of accuracy I'm not sure why there should be so many Canadians in a book of remembrance. The Canadians did not participate as a formed unit (their airborne regt was part of 6th Airborne Div who landed in Normandy). There may well have been individuals who fought as individuals in Brit units, but I would not have thought sufficient to warrant a big book of their own?

mike

 

[geordie]

there are several books of rememberence at the parachute musuem, each country has their own one, the canadian one is far bigger than any of the others

 

[MickTheSaw]

Myself and BigD of this parish was on the Rotterdam ferry on the 15th September, there was lots of para's old and young going to this

TosserSaw

 

[big albig]

Thanks for sharing that ferret. A great read.

 

[oblertone]

Another spot ...

... worth visiting is the grave of the Gronert twins; note the service numbers.

 

[FERRET]

Never new about this, ill put it on my list of things to visit next time ime in the area.

Many thanks for posting.

 

[Hellbender]

Not far from Oosterbeek there is a small village called Groesbeek, there is an excellent parachute musuem that is well worth a visit.

Andy

http://www.bevrijdingsmuseum.nl/basis.aspx?Tid=746

There ya go!

 

[deathfartofawarthogg]

parachute regiment motto Utrinque Paratus ready for anything brave men