Operation Market Garden - 17 September 1944
Posted on Tuesday 17th September 2013






2. Memorial Bells. SGW '1944'. Plaques 49th Div, 9th AB Fd Regt RE, Resistance Fighter.
3. SGW 'Arnhem in Flames' Liberation Window
4. 1st AB Div Memorial
5. Ceremonial Sword and Civil Servants Plaque
6. 'John Frost HQ' Plaque
7. Airborne Commemorative Marker No.8
8. Plaque to John Frost and his men
9. 16th Para Fd Amb 25pr gun, propeller and Polish Memorial/Jacob Groenewould plaque
10. Plaque to the soldiers who held The Bridge 17-21 Sept 1944




It was descending on a bright and sunny lunchtime.
It was welcoming smiles and warm handshakes from the Dutch civilians.
It was marching down the leafy lanes and into the quiet Sunday afternoon streets.
Suddenly it was machine guns. It was stretcher-bearers.
It was machine guns. It was stretcher-bearers.
It was hand grenades and shouts of 'Die you German bastards!'
It was leaping from garden to garden.
It was dodging from doorway to doorway.
It was smashing out of windows and beating out fires.
It was noise. It was night.
It was morning. It was the second lift.
It was more men and more strength, more chances of success.
Days followed night and night followed days
And it was carrying in the wounded and carrying out the dead.
It was frantically waving yellow silk triangles.
It was watching the slaughter of valiant airmen.
It was choking at the sight of much-needed supplies drifting out of reach.
It was cursing. It was praying.
It was the screeching of Panzers and the whirring of the mortar bombs.
It was the mutilated trees and the mutilated men.
It was crapping in the corner of a garage or in the corner of a slit trench.
It was the 'V' sign stuttered out of a Bren gun.
It was the cries of 'Woho Mohamed' and the groans of the badly wounded.
It was the dirt in the mouth and the singing i nthe ears.
It was the rain-soaked clothing and the blood-soaked earth.
It was the shortage of food and of ammunition, of sleep, of hope.
It was surrender, but it was not a defeat.
It was a brave, brave, brave try.
It was Arnhem, 1944.



Further Reading
Major And Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide To Operation Market Garden
(Paperback - 288 pages)
ISBN: 9781781593783
by Major and Mrs Holt
Only £16.99
Like the other books in the Holts' acclaimed Battlefield Guide Series (see inside front cover for details) this is much more than just a guidebook. It charts in fascinating detail what happened at each recommended stop and brings alive, with cameos and personal recollections, the dramatic events of September 1944.
It is the very first detailed guide to chart the entire MARKET-GARDEN Corridor - from Leopoldsburg in Belgium and over the important bridges at the Scheldt-Maas Canal, the Wilhelmina Canal, the Zuid Willemsvaart Canal, the Maas and…
Read more at Pen & Sword Books...
Of further interest...


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