One-Third Of Troops At Arnhem Were Saved

Northern Advocate, 4 October 1944, Page 3

One-Third Of Troops At Arnhem Were Saved

(8.0. W.)

RUGBY, October 3

Major-General R. F. Urquhart, commanding the First British Airborne Division, who has returned to London, gave a description of the Arnhem operations. He said perhaps two of the principal considerations affecting the success of the operations were, firstly, owing to heavy flak at Arnhem the division had to be dropped eight miles from the town; secondly, the 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 the next day. . So far as the actual flight was concerned they could not have had a better start, and they dropped plumb in the right places at the right time. 2?he 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 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 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 charges from the bridge and made it secure. It was a remarkable achievement.

By the evening of the second day the division was separated. The enemy was much stronger than expected. The second lift bringing the rest of the division was due to come on the morning of the second day, but owing to bad weather and other causes did not arrive until 5 p.m. This meant they could not be brought to bear on the enemy until that night or early next morning.

When the second brigade to arrive did get in they pushed on towards the town and got involved in fighting oh high ground north of the railway. Thus the original plan to make a perimeter round the town had gone. Early next morning the chances of keeping communications with the brigade in the town appeared to be going, and by that evening the men in Arnhem were quite cut off. General Urquhart decided to bring the Second Brigade south, pass it through the Third Brigade and try to form a solid block north of the town, but this did not work out because the brigade, disengaging itself north of the railway, ran into the enemy coming from the east, and when he eventually got the brigade into the perimeter it was very weak, about the strength of half a battalion.

He decided to form a perimeter north and try to gain control of the ferry three or four miles west of the town. That was done, and at the same time they tried once or twice to get supplies into the brigade in the town. That failed because opposition was too heavy. They formed a perimeter, but the Germans did not leave them alone long. The battalion on the bridge held out till Wednesday evening and some men until Thursday morning. Of the last four days one was a repetition of another. There was intense mortaring and shelling, particularly around the headquarters. The tanks were hard to deal with because the few anti-tank guns were knocked out early. However, they claimed 25 tanks and self-propelled guns. The German tactics were to start at one end of a street and blow each house down. They fell back until towards the end there were no more streets. Although by that time the men were completely exhausted, everyone played his part well. They had had no Official rations or cooked food for three days. At the last the men awaited their turn on the river banks. The enemy were mortaring and machine gunning very hard, but it did not have much effect except on unlucky parties which ran into it. The evacuation started at 1 a.m. and went on through the night! By and large they got out the majority who were in the perimter. The brigade in the town was already lost and part of the Second Brigade which got itself involved in a battle in the woods. From the perimeter they got out about onethird of the divisional strength landed. General Urquhart said the Germans at Arnhem were magnificent fighters individually, but not so good when acting collectively in support of guns and tanks. Most were lads under 20 or men over 40, mostly fanatically Nazi,