MEN OF ARNHEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 5

MEN OF ARNHEM

OPERATIONS DESCRIBED

f;;OEN. URQUHART'S REVIEW . 2tec. 12,10 p.m. RUGBY, Oct. 2

Major-General R. E. Urquhart, Commander of the First British Airborne Division; who has returned to London, gave a description of the Arnhem operations.

He said that perhaps the two principal considerations affecting the success of the operations were firstly, that owing to heavy flak at Arnhem. a division had to be dropped eight miles from- the town, and, secondly, that two divisions dropped further south had to have priority, with the result that the First Airborne Division had to be landed in two lifts, one on the first day, and the other on the next day. As far as the actual flight was concerned, they could not have had a better start, and they were dropped plumb in the right places at the right time. The parachutists moved off 95 per cent, strong, and the gliders also came in extremely well, with very few accidents.

However, the initial ground opposition was rather stronger than was expected, and things did not go according to plan. The result was that at the end of the first day they had one battalion, on the Arnhem bridge and the rest of the division ,on the outskirts, of the town. The battalion fought its way through to the bridge and one company got across to the south side of the river, removed the charges from the bridge, and made it secure. It was a remarkable achievement. ENEMY UNDER-ESTIMATED. ~B^ . tl ie. evening of the second day the division was, separated. The enemy were much stronger that had been, ex- ™£ "h*.l^ ? econd lift ' bringing the rest of the division, was due to come in on the morning of the second day, but owing to bad weather and other causes it did not arrive until 5 p.m This -'meant that they could not be brought S «f? °& the e? emy until that ™ght of e^y u t]?e next morning. When the second brigade to arrive did get in they pushed on towards the town and got involved in fighting on high ground nl° n rn\° f the, rail^ay- Thys thVofigfnal lowl'ha^fonesl^ 1116^' r°Und the Early next morning the chances of JaTF g t £™ ni<*tiL with the bri: S3 h5-S <town a PPeared to be going, and by that evening the men in Arnhem Y e5 c 3uite cut off. General U?quhart decided to bring the second th^ dHrS th ' Pass x through the hIS brfoff,? e% a?u d to form a solid block north of the town, but this did not work out, because the brigade disSPffi& th^ f nOrth of *c rafl'way, ran into the enemy coming from the teig^inYo^il6 ev^tua!ly gS thS origaae into the perimeter it was Pe"meter to the north and try toSiS we S troof°th a, f + erry thr, ee or *°u?ms3 Sid A? 0W + n- That was d°ne, and at the same time we tried once or fcifa ASS »US Plies-into th* **&&■ in the town," he said. "That failed Sr^ P°Slt101? bf ing to° heavy We did r S L Penmete?' but the German! PjLl*?* leave us alone for long. The batta£°n on the bridge held out till unm W!hf^ day eV6ni^ and some nS until inursday morning. THE LAST FOUR DAYS. "9i?LJne last four days one was a repetition of another There wls inharH Z ou£ d headquarters. Tanks were fell back, until towards the end there tTaftf™ mt^ e Streets- Altho"Sh heb? that time the men were completely wen auSTh d> TOW -pWWpK ■ «a? w«? od for three'days. ™+v • the en awaited their turn on the.river banks. The enemy were n?rfJf « a.m. and went through the night. By and large, we got out the w h»s ail l n town was already slo r n p ai P ?renfth which was'landdd^ r£™5 al + U Aqu&art said that the Germans, at Arnhem were magnificent fighters individually but not so eood when acting collectively in support of p.ns and tanks. Most of them were