Remembering Arnheim
This weekend we have been remembering operation Market Garden, which took place seventy years ago.
Two people I knew very well, both of whom died of old age in this decade, were serving in the 1st Airborne division at the time. My uncle Ron missed the battle because he was not well enough to jump: he lost a lot of friends there.
A close friend, the late Geoffrey Brown, took part in the battle of Arnheim as a soldier in the 1st Airlanding Light Artillery (known to him and others at the time as "Sheriff Thompson's regiment.)
I have noticed from the pageview stats that the Obit post I put up when Geoffrey died three years ago has been one of the most read posts on this blog over the past few days.
I presume this may be because the post included a story Geoffrey used to tell of his time at Cambridge.
A tutor was describing the Battle of Arnheim and made a number of statements which Geoffrey did not consider to give a true picture of the battle, so he challenged him.
"It wasn't like that, it was like this" he said when describing the conversation some years later.
"What's your basis for that view?" asked the teacher
"I was bloody there!" replied Geoffrey.
A lot of brave men, Brits and Poles at Arnheim and Americans at Eindhoven and Nijmegen, jumped into enemy territory or were landed by gliders seventy years ago as part of the effort to liberate Europe from fascism. All too many of them gave their lives fighting against German forces, particularly against the superior fire power of two Waffen SS Panzer divisions that had moved into Arnheim shortly before the first parachute drop and were soon reinforced to outnumber the allied forces by three to one. The bravery of those men must not be forgotten.
Two people I knew very well, both of whom died of old age in this decade, were serving in the 1st Airborne division at the time. My uncle Ron missed the battle because he was not well enough to jump: he lost a lot of friends there.
A close friend, the late Geoffrey Brown, took part in the battle of Arnheim as a soldier in the 1st Airlanding Light Artillery (known to him and others at the time as "Sheriff Thompson's regiment.)
I have noticed from the pageview stats that the Obit post I put up when Geoffrey died three years ago has been one of the most read posts on this blog over the past few days.
I presume this may be because the post included a story Geoffrey used to tell of his time at Cambridge.
A tutor was describing the Battle of Arnheim and made a number of statements which Geoffrey did not consider to give a true picture of the battle, so he challenged him.
"It wasn't like that, it was like this" he said when describing the conversation some years later.
"What's your basis for that view?" asked the teacher
"I was bloody there!" replied Geoffrey.
A lot of brave men, Brits and Poles at Arnheim and Americans at Eindhoven and Nijmegen, jumped into enemy territory or were landed by gliders seventy years ago as part of the effort to liberate Europe from fascism. All too many of them gave their lives fighting against German forces, particularly against the superior fire power of two Waffen SS Panzer divisions that had moved into Arnheim shortly before the first parachute drop and were soon reinforced to outnumber the allied forces by three to one. The bravery of those men must not be forgotten.
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