A Bridge Too Far Read online

  ‘Eddie’ Myers was ‘amazed’ to hear at the 43rd Division Order Group that the crossing by a battalion of the Dorsets and another of the Polish Brigade ‘would take place not upstream of the ferry but downstream and into a thickly wooded area with a steep bank, which was strongly held by the enemy.’ The crossing of the two battalions was planned to start at 2200 with maximum artillery and mortar support of the 43rd Division. The Dorsets would cross just west of the ferry site and the Polish battalion opposite the perimeter. During the afternoon Major Bill Whittle, Commanding ‘B’ Company of the Dorsets viewed the crossing point from the tower of Driel church; ‘the Germans put a few shells into it while we were there’ he recalled. ‘Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Tilley, our CO, then gave out his orders - to capture the high ground at Westerbouwing and enlarge the base of the perimeter. The battalion came up to Driel about dusk with ammunition and rations for four days. We moved closer to the river and waited for the boats.’

  In the Oosterbeek perimeter shortly after the truce to allow the evacuation of casualties and as soon as the jeeps had driven away with the wounded, the fighting started again. Major Robert Cain was alerted to the approach of a Tiger tank. Together with a Royal Artillery gunner he raced for a 6 pounder anti-tank gun, manoeuvred it into position, fired and disabled the tank. He wanted to continue using the gun, but the recoil mechanism was destroyed. By now the area occupied by the Lonsdale Force saw heavy fighting against self-propelled guns, flame thrower tanks and infantry. There were no PIATs available to the force by now; instead Cain armed himself with a two inch mortar. Mortars are muzzle-loading indirect fire weapons but Cain was forced to fire it on an almost horizontal plane due to the enemy’s proximity. His citation states that his leadership ensured that the South Staffordshire gave no ground and drove the enemy off in complete disorder. By the end of the Battle, Cain had been reportedly responsible for the destruction or disabling of six tanks, four of which were Tigers, as well as a number of self-propelled guns. Cain’s actions led to the award of the Victoria Cross and he was the only survivor of the battle to receive the award. 2

  The Border Regiment was again heavily attacked by a German force trying to break through the divisional perimeter from the west. ‘The main brunt of the attack’ recalled Major Cousens ‘was borne by ‘A’ Company who lost all their officers either killed or wounded and were reduced to twenty other ranks. The Germans then began infiltrating through the north end of the Company area... But 25 men of the mortar group, whose mortars had by now been knocked out, were led in a counter-attack and by 1530 hours the position had been stabilised. Half an hour later the divisional ammunition reserve blew up and that evening a check of stores revealed no food, only 2,500 rounds of small arms ammunition, two out of the original twelve 3-inch mortars still in action with twenty bombs left, all vehicles destroyed and the evacuation of casualties to the main station, which for the past two days had been in enemy hands, impossible. We were now using 50 per cent captured German arms, ammunition and equipment.’

  MK IV Panzer tanks hammered the school just south of the Tafelberg area using armour-piercing shot, which went right through the building. As the tanks advanced across the allotment towards the Independent Company HQ, Private Dixon, the platoon cook and PIAT man, fired at the lead tank and hit it, striking the back, where ammunition was stored; the tank blew up and their infantry backed off. On Sunday afternoon an encoded message from Urquhart to Browning was despatched via the Phantom signals net: ‘I must warn you that unless physical contact in some strength is made with us early 25 Sept I consider it unlikely that we can hold out any longer. All ranks are now completely exhausted as a result of eight days’ continuous effort. Lack of food and water and deficiency in arms combined with high officer casualty rate has had its effect. Even comparatively minor enemy offensive action may cause complete disintegration. Should this become apparent all will be told to break towards the bridgehead if anything rather than surrender. Controlled movement from present position in face of enemy is out of the question now. We have done our best and will continue to do so as long as possible.’

  The front line was scarcely distinguishable anymore. Officers when going on their rounds would come across a house until recently occupied by their own men and now taken over by the Germans and when they returned to their headquarters would find Germans there too. The two armies were inextricably interlocked. Men in one trench were never sure who might be found in the trenches out of sight. Captain J. W. Walker, of the 1st Light Regiment, for two days manned an Observation Post at the top of a house forward of the KOSB’s front line with German troops in the garden below. Colonel Payton-Reid, when visiting one of his positions, found Germans where his own men should have been and jumping in alarm through the window of a nearby house landed in the cellar as the ground floor had been blown up. It was for him, as it would have been for other battalion commanders, an unremarkable experience.

  Nothing seemed quite real any more. Men could no longer feel surprise. They had reached the limits of their strength and were dazed with exhaustion. Many of them fought on as if in a dream; others sat down in their trenches crying silently; some muttered incoherently or stared in front of them with vacant eyes. ‘There were times when I got the impression that no one’s face was relaxed or normal’, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Preston said later. Some emotion seemed frozen on each; each face possessed its own permanent ‘look’. The looks of dumb, uncomprehending, uncomplaining pain on the faces of the wounded, the bewilderment on the faces of the Poles, the eternally questioning look on the batmen and orderlies grouped outside the cellar door, the terror in the faces of our prisoners - all these seemed to possess a horrid permanency. One began to wonder what one’s own’ look’ was like and I found myself stealthily examining my face in someone’s shaving mirror. I was no different to the rest, I found. And thereafter I endeavoured to adjust my face before leaving the cellar.’

  ‘Market-Garden’ Timeline

  Sunday 24 September (D+7) 1st British Airborne continues to hold the perimeter. Such artillery as remains is concentrated north and south of Oosterbeek Church.

  0930 Lieutenant General Horrocks, Major-General Thomas and Major General Sosabowski survey the far side of the Lower Rhine from the steeple of Driel church. Montgomery notifies London of the decision to withdraw. A message reaches Urquhart from XXX Corps, saying they are within reach of the river and hope to put the 130th Infantry Brigade of the 43rd Division over the river that night. 1500 a medical truce comes into force and 700 British wounded are evacuated through the lines to hospitals of the IInd SS Panzer Corps in Arnhem. From mid-afternoon, despite problems in identifying targets in the shrinking Oosterbeek pocket, 2nd TAF flies 22 close air support sorties for 1st British Airborne. First Allied Airborne Army tries to arrange for 8th Air Force fighters to drop belly tanks full of supplies to 1st British Airborne. Browning now wants the 52nd (Lowland) Division in England flown in; a suggestion vetoed by Dempsey and Montgomery. 11th Armoured Division captures Deurne, east of Helmond, opening the way for VIII Corps’ advance but with ‘Hell’s Highway’ closed to supply traffic once more, Dempsey orders O’Connor to hold in place. Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt suggests that all German troops in Holland should fall back to the Maas in the face of Second British Army’s offensive. Hitler demands instead a renewed offensive at Nijmegen and Veghel. Model requests even more reinforcements.

  After meetings between Montgomery, Dempsey, their Army Corps and divisional commanders, Second British Army signals 1st Airborne Corps at 2020 that it has permission to withdraw 1st British Airborne if necessary but a message reaches Urquhart informing him that XXX Corps are within reach of the river and hope to put the 130th Infantry Brigade of the 43rd Division over the river that night. Horrocks orders that night crossings by a battalion of the Dorset Regiment and a battalion of Poles should proceed but more boats are needed. Five lorry-loads of assault boats are sent up to Driel but four never arrive and the one that does brings boats w
ithout paddles. 0200 there are boats and DUKW amphibious craft only for two companies, or 350 men, of 4th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment but the crossing still goes ahead, in darkness, heavy rain and strong winds, though in the event, only 315 men reach the far bank; most of the rest are swept away from the airborne perimeter by the current and land directly under a German position, many being killed, wounded or captured in the subsequent fighting. Kampfgruppe ‘von Tettau’ takes 140 prisoners including the battalion commander. Although the Dorsets briefly hold part of the Westerbouwing they achieve little else.

  At Oosterbeek Fred Moore knew that the church next to the vicarage where he was nursing his wounds was now an enemy target of prime importance. ‘From its high tower, commanding an aerial view of the surrounding district, it was being used as an OP to establish targets for the gun batteries of the Light Artillery Regiment and the distant heavy guns of the 2nd Army, which were now within range. Defended by anti-tank guns and mortars, it was to be the scene of continual and intense enemy assault. Oblivious of this, Mrs ter Horst and her children, confined to the cellar, moved among the wounded, with words of comfort and compassion, helping with their dressings and last thing at night, reading a passage from the bible, moving from room to room. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, I lay on the floor, against the wall, in an upstairs room, with badly wounded men occupying every available space, listening to the sounds of immediate battle, which raged at the front and rear of the house. Twice during the two days, the house was shaken by tremendous explosions in the immediate vicinity, with broken glass and plaster falling around us. We wondered how all this was going to end.’

  Sergeant Norman Howes of the 2nd South Staffords recalled: ‘I was in command of a group of Staffords near the church covering the open ground to the South. The Light Regiment had initially used it as an OP, but they were eventually blasted out of it. The 75mm guns (of No 3 Battery) were in the fields below. Here were these gunners right in the front line with us infantrymen and braver men I’ve never seen. Time and again as the mortar fire rained down they would dive for cover; then immediately after the last bomb there would be a shout of ‘Take Post’ and they would recommence firing. By the last day, there was only one gun of the Troop near us left in action. During all this time the steeple had been taking punishment, but it still stood almost to the last; but on the last morning, during a lull, I heard it sighing as it began to shed its slates. The noise got louder, the slates poured down, until with a crash the steeple fell to the ground. Somehow that steeple was our talisman: I knew that our end was near.’

  ‘The Germans started shelling the area’ recalls Johnny Peters. ‘My pal Private Fred Jackson was hit. He said ‘Johnny, I’ve been shot in the neck and I think the bullet’s come out the other side’. It had. He had a hole in his neck and he was in shock. I said ‘Shall I fetch you a cup of tea? He said he would like one. I went about 30-400 yards and got a cup of tea but suddenly shelling began again and it made a mess of the tea. It was full of sand and I had to chuck it away and get another one. When I returned I could not find Fred anywhere. All I saw was a soldier on a stretcher with one leg off. I never found Fred. If I had stayed with him I would probably have been killed too.’

  Johnny was a natural with a rifle. ‘The Germans kept firing all day long. It was like being in a cowboy film. Bullets were ricocheting off - ching, ching - clang. Later on a German patrol of about twenty to thirty men led by an officer came along. We fired on them. They were like sitting ducks. We killed some of them. One of the soldiers was pointed out to me by my sergeant. He said ‘Get that man!’ I was lucky. I shot him. It was what we were trained to do; to kill them. The first man I killed, I thought before I shot him that he probably had got a mother, a sweetheart or wife. That’s the only time I ever thought of it.’

  Just before the evacuation when the Headquarters was being attacked by three tanks which penetrated to within 100 yards of the escape route Lance-Sergeant Archibald Owen gallantly seized a PIAT and with two other men went out to stop them. Owen, a Liverpudlian, was nominally a member of the 1st Border, but he was attached to the 1st Airlanding Brigade Headquarters as a member of their Defence Platoon. He had served in the Indian Army before the war and had been working as a tram conductor in Coventry when the war began, but returned to Liverpool when the family home was destroyed during the first big air raid on the city. Here, again, their house was similarly lost to bombing, necessitating a further move to Seacombe. Owen, as a reservist, was recalled to the Colours. Owen succeeded in turning the three tanks aside but in the ensuing action he was hit and killed. His company commander, in a letter to his widow said that ‘it was only thanks to men such as him that so many got away.’ 3

  At Divisional Headquarters, the diary was being filled in with its usual laconic record of the day’s events: ‘24 September 19.00 hours. A day of heavy shelling and mortaring and desperate fighting on all sectors. Many attacks at first achieved some penetration, but the situation was almost always restored and by night-fall the perimeter was substantially the same. Never was darkness more eagerly awaited. On the southern bank of the river more men of the Polish Brigade and the 4th Battalion of the Dorsets from General Thomas’ Division, ably supported by Lieutenant Colonel B. A. Coad’s 5th Dorsets and Lieutenant Colonel George Taylor’s 5th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, were preparing to cross over into ‘the Cauldron’ as it was felt that unless a firmer grip were to be obtained on the northern bank, it might well prove impossible to extricate the Airborne Division. Indeed, it seemed impossible at first that even a company of the Dorsets would be able to cross the river. The crossing was to have been made at 2230 on Sunday night but that afternoon the road from Nijmegen had been cut, preventing the convoy bringing up the boats from reaching the Neder Rijn. Even if the road had not been cut it would no doubt have been found impossible to get the boats up to the river in daylight owing to the loss of the high ground at Westerbouwing. Eventually when the road was opened again and the lorries crossed over the Nijmegen bridge, two of them took the wrong turning and drove into the German lines at Elst and two others skidded off the slippery road in the rain and became irretrievably bogged down in the dykes. Soldiers pulled the boats off the lorries and struggled to carry them across the mud flats in the rain and the increasing German mortar fire. But by the early hours of the morning only nine boats had been dragged to the river; and it seemed impossible that any of them would be able to cross it. ‘The whole world’, General Sosabowski wrote, ‘seemed to be exploding around us.’ But nevertheless the attempt to reach the Airborne troops had to be made. ‘Hour by hour all through the night’, Sosabowski received messages of boats being sunk. Every time he went out to have a look around ‘files of stretcher-bearers trudged past bringing back the wounded’.

  ‘On Sunday night’ recalled Fred Moore ‘we were addressed by a Medical Orderly, sent from Divisional Headquarters, who informed us that the bridge at Arnhem was now in the hands of the British 2nd Army and that the Guards Armoured Division was expected to relieve us early the following morning. Throughout the night we heard spasmodic bursts of machine gun and rifle fire from near and further away.’

  In fact the 43rd (Wessex) Division were coming under increasing pressure, especially from the east and to the south of Nijmegen and Grave the narrow corridor along which XXX Corps had to bring forward all their reinforcements and supplies was being repeatedly cut by German action and troops who should have been coming forward to relieve the airborne bridgehead had to turn back and fight to reopen and hold the narrow axis of advance. All day Sunday the 4th Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment, part of the 43rd (Wessex) Division fought on in scattered groups and at one time Major J. D. Grafton called on the guns of the 2nd Army to put down a concentration on his own position which was then filled with the enemy. The shooting was very effective and the Dorsets reached the bank of the river, covering the last ten perilous miles at high speed in lorries with Tiger tanks in pursuit. Major H. Parker set booby traps f
or the Tigers and covered the approaches to the banks with PIATs, while the rest of the Dorsets carried assault boats 600 yards through an orchard under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire.

  That evening, south of the river just west of the Driel ferry, four rifle companies of the 4th Dorsets - 350 men - and a battalion of the Polish Brigade were ready in their assembly areas at 2200 ready to cross the river in two waves and try to recapture the Westerbouwing, but no boats arrived. Two of the five trucks bringing them forward had driven into German lines at Elst, two had skidded off the road into a dyke and only one truck eventually reached the Polish battalion. It was decided to cancel their crossing and to transfer the few boats that remained to the Dorsets who would now cross at 0100.

  An engineer officer was crouching on the start line next to Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Tilley, who prepared to take his battalion to what seemed ‘to be certain death’. The Engineer heard him say, ‘Good-bye. Tell the brigade that everything is OK and thank them for what they have done.’ ‘On the river bank’ the engineer said ‘sappers took the boats and rowed men and supplies across. It was pitch-dark. On the far bank were two burning factories illuminating a rising forest of trees at the water’s edge. The swirling current drifted the boats downstream on the crossing and further downstream on the way back. Men wading in mud and water dragged them back along the water’s edge for more trips. The mortar fire eased up a bit but was replaced by automatic fire. Someone [the Poles] had launched a DUKW about 200 yards upstream. As this swirled down across our front a Spandau opened up on it. The man on my right - a sapper corporal - was shot through the head and another on my left got a bullet through his arm. The ferrying went on until daylight. It was a bad night.’