The early morning of Monday, September 18. That was the last moment when it was quiet for the British at the Rhine Bridge. But from half past nine in the morning there was almost continuous fighting at the bridge. Because the British army units could not maintain contact with each other via radios , the…
A Dutch garbage collector who unsuspectingly made his rounds near the Rhine bridge on the early morning of Monday, September 18, 1944, was probably the first victim of the fighting that would take place that day. His garbage truck was fired upon by British paratroopers as soon as he entered their sector. The British were…
Of the three British battalions that marched on Arnhem on Sunday, September 17, only the 2nd Battalion under John Frost had managed to reach the city. The 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion had been stopped by German resistance at Oosterbeek. On Monday, September 18, they tried to break through the German barrier line .…
While his troops were engaged in fierce battles with the Germans, General Roy Urquhart, the commander of the 1st British Airborne Division, was hiding in an attic at Zwarteweg 14 in the Arnnhem district of Lombok. In the book that General Urquhart wrote after the war about his experiences during the Battle of Arnhem, he…
Not all British soldiers who had landed at Wolfheze on Sunday, September 17, had marched to Arnhem after the landing. Some of the British actually went west. The King’s Own Scottish Borders (KOSB) and the Border Regiment had been given the task of protecting the landing areas where the rest of the British Airborne Division…
A day after the first airborne landings at Wolfheze, the rest of the British airborne troops of the Airborne Division, including General Shan Hackett’s 4th Parachute Brigade, landed on the Ginkelse Heide on Monday, September 18. The 4th Parachute Brigade had almost 2,000 soldiers and consisted of three battalions: 10th Battalion, 11th Battalion and 156th…
Now that the entire 1st British Airborne Division had finally landed on Monday, September 18, all troops on and around the landing areas could advance to Arnhem. The gliders on the landing areas were emptied, troops gathered and, according to the official plan drawn up in England, all paratroopers prepared to move in the direction…
The British at Arnhem were not the only airborne troops who encountered problems after the landings. The American paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division who had landed near Groesbeek also did not reach the objectives they were supposed to achieve on September 17 . Capturing the Waal Bridge was not at the top of the…
The leading ground troops of XXX Corps, led by British General Horrocks, had not advanced beyond Valkenswaard on Sunday, September 17. The Germans had fought back more fiercely than the British had anticipated. The advance north was therefore slow. The bridge at Son, between Eindhoven and Grave, had been blown up the day before before…
An English patrol in the city center of Arnhem. That was still possible in the morning of Monday, September 18. The Germans were aware that the British held the north side of the Rhine Bridge, but organized German troops at the bridge were not yet established. For that reason, Captain Killick had been sent out…
