General Miles Dempsey, commander of the British Second

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1 In the wood, Grafton saw about a half-platoon of British troops, dug in and guarding the river approach. The NCO remarked cynically "You're just in time for the breakfast stonk. "We were officially issued with maps and a centrepiece taking the Guards Armoured Division into Friesland, with Hanover a final objective. The optimistic maps contradict a lecture given by Field-Marshal Montgomery after the War to the Imperial Services Institute where he stressed the "On the second day, when things were getting rough, we had had so many exercises in England that the adjutant decided that by this time it was time the umpires called a halt to the operation!" "I was walking down a lane and saw an old Dutch lady standing on a chair in old wooden clogs, cleaning a window. On her dress she wore a yellow mangold. She smiled at me and kept rubbing. I waved and kept trudging on by the cottage. Past it I glanced over my shoulder and stopped dead in my tracks. The front of the house was the only part standing. The roof and three other walls had been blasted Essame apparently had somewhat of a talent for getting along with people; at least he coexisted with his division commander, Major General G.I. Thomas, whom he privately characterizes as "the most selfish man in the world and certainly one of the most ill-tempered." Thomas, he says, is the kind of man who would walk up to one of his brigade General Miles Dempsey, commander of the British Second I came 'round the corner of a house with a.38 in my hand and met a young German coming 'round the other comer with a Luger in his hand. We both looked and dodged "Someone blew a whistle at dawn and dusk as a warning to all to 'stand to' in the trenches when there was a possibility of a "Somewhere near the Town Hall on Nieustraat, where everything was a mass of ruins, I suddenly saw a small coin lying on the street. I picked it up and it proved to be a Roman coin of the time of Tiberius (42 to 37 B.C.). After the war digging laid bare the remains of a At Wamel, Van Zoelen climbed the stairs to the steeple of the historic Dutch Reformed Church. From there, he was able to see the village of Tiel. Tied to the main dock was a ferry. Van Zoelen decided to wire squadron headquarters. A few minutes later their answer came back: "Put it out of commission." Panel 21

2 General Miles Dempsey, commander of the British Second Army, conferring with General James Gavin, the U.S. 82nd Airborne commander, at Gavin's headquarters.

3 At Wamel, Van Zoelen climbed the stairs to the steeple of the historic Dutch Reformed Church. From there, he was able to see the village of Tiel. Tied to the main dock was a ferry. Van Zoelen decided to wire squadron headquarters. A few minutes later their answer came back: "Put it out of commission." Palmer brought up one of his armoured cars with a two-pound cannon. Van Zoelen watched, pleased, as Palmer's shell tore through the side of the boat and the ferry settled slowly in the mud. "Nice shooting" he said as he grinned at Palmer. Van Zoelen wasn't to learn until much later that the same ferry used to belong to his family. It has been sold before the war to the ferryman at Tiel and now was being used, British Intelligence suspected, to ferry German patrols across the river at night. That same day, about noon, van Zoelen was working his way back toward Nijmegen. To Van Zoelen's left, sailing up the river (west to east), van Zoelen saw a grayish-brown tug towing three barges. The barges were obviously loaded, but it was impossible to tell with what because planking covered the loads of all three. Van Zoelen swung his glasses up to study the tug. It looked innocent enough, except for one thing: whipping from the mast was a flag bearing the German swastika. On deck he could see the German skipper and another man, probably his first mate. The skipper wore a dark coat and a flat, white hat. The other man was bareheaded. Van Zoelen dropped his glasses and got out of the car. A few yards away, standing on top of the dyke, studying the tug was a Dutchman whom he recognized as a Dutch skipper from his dress and cap. "That tug," said van Zoelen, "is it being sailed by a German skipper or Dutchman?" "A German," answered the Dutchman. "Fire!" shouted van Zoelen and they watched as the tug, half-sinking, ground to a halt in the mud on the opposite bank, the three barges tailed out into the river behind it. The last van Zoelen saw of the two

4 Germans, they were running up the far bank, heading for some wood. It was quite a feat of arms when an essentially land force sunk a boat. The message he sent back to his squadron was: "Naval engagement completed." Interview with Lieutenant Jonkheer FWE. Groeninx van Zoelen, Guards Armoured Division, 30th Corps, Royal Horse Guards

5 I came 'round the corner of a house with a.38 in my hand and met a young German coming 'round the other comer with a Luger in his hand. We both looked and dodged back around the comer at the same time. We did not fire; the range would be about 20 feet. Eight years later I walked into a bar in Amman, Jordan and met him again and we knew each other at a glance. We had a few beers. CQMS Thomas Thomas, ]st British Airborne Div.

6 "On the second day, when things were getting rough, we had had so many exercises in England that the adjutant decided that by this time it was time the umpires called a halt to the operation!" Major George A. Widdowson, second in command of]oth Parachute Battalion, 4th Para Brigade

7 "I was walking down a lane and saw an old Dutch lady standing on a chair in old wooden clogs, cleaning a window. On her dress she wore a yellow mangold. She smiled at me and kept rubbing. I waved and kept trudging on by the cottage. Past it I glanced over my shoulder and stopped dead in my tracks. The front of the house was the only part standing. The roof and three other walls had been blasted down. The front door, closed tightly, and the window the woman was cleaning were the only things attached to the lone wall." Sapper Thomas Hicks, Royal Engineers

8 "Somewhere near the Town Hall on Nieustraat, where everything was a mass of ruins, I suddenly saw a small coin lying on the street. I picked it up and it proved to be a Roman coin of the time of Tiberius (42 to 37 B.C.). After the war digging laid bare the remains of a Roman cemetery at the site." Municipal Official Joseph Meddens, Nijmegen

9 "Someone blew a whistle at dawn and dusk as a warning to all to 'stand to' in the trenches when there was a possibility of a German attack on our positions. On one of these occasions, the whistle blew as usual and a loud voice from one of the trenches called out, 'Offside!' The laughter that resulted certainly relieved the tension of the moment! "After crossing the Rhine, (the boat sank and we had to swim the rest) I walked along the road to Elst with a paratrooper. He said that, according to his paybook, he was an atheist but he intended to have that changed as soon as possible for he had discovered a faith he had always rejected. During the wait on the Oosterbeek side of the river he had tried to pray and he felt that his inadequate prayers had been answered since he was now safe on 'our' side of the river." Sergeant Pilot Edward F Basnett, Glider Pilot Regiment

10 In the wood, Grafton saw about a half-platoon of British troops, dug in and guarding the river approach. The NCO remarked cynically "You're just in time for the breakfast stonk. It ought to be starting any minute now." The NCO added they had a "breakfast stonk," "a lunch stonk" and a "dinner stonk." He suggested they adjourn to the trenches and Grafton remembers they had no sooner gotten there when the mortars began to rain down upon them. The stonk lasted about half an hour and when it lifted, Grafton heard a cry. He got out of the trench and walked over to the trench occupied by the signalman and the airborne lad. The signalman stood there looking down at the paratrooper. His face was white and it held a look of horror. A piece of shrapnel from a tree burst had cut neatly through the top of the trooper's helmet and down through the top of his head. Interview with Major James Grafton, 4th Dorsets, ]30 Brigade, 43rd Infantry Div.

11 "We were officially issued with maps and a centrepiece taking the Guards Armoured Division into Friesland, with Hanover a final objective. The optimistic maps contradict a lecture given by Field-Marshal Montgomery after the War to the Imperial Services Institute where he stressed the maximum hope was a small bridge-head over the Rhine. "Nine tanks including my own, were 'brewed up' in a line on the road. I received minor leg wounds but remained mobile. On shifting to new tank (after 'brew up') things very disorganized. Told driver to move off road to avoid being 10th tank hit. While sorting out, driver hit haystack. Most effective tank-stopper. On crossing frontier, tanks carried infantry on back. Someone opened fire with automatic weapon just behind my head. Wearing earphones (wireless 'must') I imagined noise indicated someone firing at tank and swung turret on power traverse, forgetting all about unfortunate infantry. Blanket-box on back of turret swept two or three off moving tank into road, where they just had to go back to foot slogging. [I rememberi "the man who was shot through the heart by a sniper as he stood beside me. As he fell, he very clearly said, 'Oh, God!' I have often thought it a nice theological speculation whether he spoke before, or after, death." Lieutenant John B. P Quinan, 2ndArmoured Battalion, Irish Guards, Xxx Corps

12 Essame apparently had somewhat of a talent for getting along with people; at least he coexisted with his division commander, Major General G.I. Thomas, whom he privately characterizes as "the most selfish man in the world and certainly one of the most ill-tempered." Thomas, he says, is the kind of man who would walk up to one of his brigade commanders after the brigade had just fought through hell to take an objective and remark: "Where are the latrines? I thought I told you to always have latrines available." Still, Essame magnanimously adds, Thomas was one of the best organizers and planners he ever met and his division was always taken care of. Essame told the 214th to form a bridgehead across the railway bridge at Nijmegen. He went on ahead into Nijmegen telling his commanding officers he would meet them on the south bank of the railway bridge. "I had a hell of a time getting through. I finally got to the road bridge and saw the Guards traffic going across. Essame went back to the railway bridge and waited on the south bank for his troops. The afternoon wore on and it began to get dark and still they hadn't come. Essame was angry. When finally the C.O. of his leading battalion, the 7th Somersets, got there, Essame heatedly asked him, "Where in the name of hell have you been?" The C.O. explained that when they arrived in Nijmegen, several of the companies got separated in the confusion. Some of the men were directed over the road bridge and wound up with no idea where the rest of the battalion was. The next morning Essame in his scout car was following along behind a patrol of the Household Cavalry Regiment. It was a misty morning, with visibility not more than 100 yards. "One of the troops of the HCR disappeared into the mist just ahead of us and I looked up to see us staring full into the barrel of an 88.1 shouted to my driver to get off the road and we shot over the embankment and right smack into the middle of the Somersets. They were all calmly eating breakfast and I was quite annoyed." "I remember, too, being told on Sunday (Sept.24) that the stationmaster at Elst had become alarmed because there were several cars containing ammunition on one of the sidings. He thought if an attack came it might not

13 be too healthy if those cars were in the line of fire so he took it upon himself to move them away from the town. I remember hearing, during our attack, a most imperial explosion and I thought we might have hit an ammunition dump, but I did not learn until the next day that a shell had struck this particular train, blowing it to blazes." Interview with Brigadier Hubert Essame, Commandei; 214th Brigade, 43rd Infantry Div.

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