LIVING AND DEAD

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 4, 29 September 1944, Page 5

LIVING AND DEAD

Deeds Will Live For Ever OBSERVER’S TRIBUTE LONDON, September 28. “Kids need no longer read stories of mythical heroes in shining armour. After Sunday, September 17, they have stories of flesh and blood heroes which will last them for years,” says Stanley Maxted, a war correspondent who landed with the airborne troops near Arnhem, stayed with them throughout their ordeal, came out with them when they were withdrawn on Monday night, and is now back in London. Those knights of Arnhem have no shining armour, but their deeds will live forever. “About five kilometres to the west of Arnhem I saw a little patch of land, about 1500 yards by 000 yards. On that piece of land there were the li'in„ and the dead. There were those who had fought magnificently and had Siven theii all, and there were those who still fought magnificently—the last of the tew. 1 last saw some of those few, their faces and clothing caked with mud, soaked to the skin;' almost. asleep on their feet, dribbling into Nijmegen yesterday moinin? Tor 10 days and 10 nights they had been under the most murderous concentrated fire that I’ve seen in two wars. And they were broken-hearted that they had been withdrawn and—as they thmk have failed in their task, Ihey do not know that if they had not held that overwhelming German force north of the Rhine we could not have advanced with such success across the far more difficult crossing of the Waal at Nijmegen. “For three days they had little or no water and small rations. Well, they weic ‘airborne,’ weren’t they? Watei and rations did not matter. Give them some Germans to kijl and even with one chance in 10 they’d get along somehow. When it rained, they could catch the mips from their clothes. | “Then came the orders for withdrawal. The officers got their orders. 1 heir eyes staring out of caked mud, they saluted the commanding officer us alwajs. luy well, sir,’ they said, and slipped away to cawl on their bellies m the mud to the thin lines of their men. “We got orders to destroy we could not get into a haversack. I felt a prickling in the back ot my neck toi the whole of that long trek. Beside the Rhine, after a nightmare as long as an age, we got the order we had been waiting for—our turn to move to the mudflats at the water’s edge. I waded out into the water up to my hips toward an assault craft fitted with an outboard motor, and a voice that was sheer music said: ‘Step lively, boys, it ain’t healthy here.’ It was the voice of a Canadian down in the bottom of the craft till there was a quiet order, and we piled out into the mud and crawled up the bank. Then, dripping wet and covered in mud, we walked four ‘weary miles till we came to a shed, where there was a cup of tea and a blanket to throw over us. All the way I kept saying to myjelf: ‘Gosh, what has happened I You re alive.’ We set out again and walked all night for 10 miles to a dressing station near Nijmegen. There we were loaded into trucks. , • . _ , “That’s how the last of the few got out . . . got out to go in and fight again in some future battle. I’m sure they •won’t let you down.” “Costly but Gallant Success.”

“Arnhem was a reverse,, but a reverse through which ample tactical advantage was gained. It was not a gallant failure, but a costly but gallant success, said a staff officer last night to Guy Byams, another ebrrespondent who was with the sky troops throughout their bitter ordeal. ' ” ~ ~ , , When the skytroops were pulled out, Byams says, they had nothing left to fight with except their bare hands, lliey had fought all the while against armour with small arms. “They weren’t beaten. No, they had to get out because of what had happened to the south of the river. They had withstood all the heavy shelling and mortaring, and when the S.S. troops were sent against them they just got murdered. The Germans didn't like it at. all. But for the most of the time it ,was just the never-ending shelling and mortaring, till one felt one wanted to stand up and scream: ‘Come on, let’s get a look at you. Come on and fight.’ But the Germans just hid on in the woods about three miles away and continued the shelling. “These men just hated to go when they got the order to withdraw, because they weren’t beaten. They smashed their weapons. The padre said a short prayer. “Not all of them got across the river. When daylight came there were still some left on the north bank. The Germans turned murderous machinegun fire on them as they lay huddled , against a hedge or against a causeway.’’ HUGE EXPLOSIONS AT CALAIS Sixteen-inch Guns Taken LONDON. September 28. Houses in England this morning were shaken by flic heaviest explosions yet heard here. It is presumed the Germans were carrying out demolitions in Calais harbour. The Canadians last night were just over half a mile from the Calais harbour area and the built-up section of the town, says Reuter’s correspondent. They have cleared more forts round the town. The prisoners now number 2000. Six 14-inch guns with their crews were captured intact and the emplacements of three 16-inch cross-Cluinnel guns were overrun. These guns have been blown up. Lancasters and Halifaxes dropped 1500 tons of bombs on Calais yesterday, making a total of 7500 tons in seven days, during which five attacks -have been made.