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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2019 9:59:29 GMT -7
The Polish brigade is finally airdropped into Arnhem (A Bridge Too Far)
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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2019 10:05:07 GMT -7
A Bridge Too Far - British Artillery support
American USAAF B-26 Marauders
The B-26 Marauders bombed and destroyed the Rijnbrug (literally Rhine bridge) in Arnhem on 7 October 1944. Here you see them flying over Germany.
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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2019 10:24:04 GMT -7
Dear Folks,
Market Garden was a heavy blow to the Arnhem population in 1944, and after that during the mid and late forties and fifties. The city had to be evacuated by the Germans by force, and the Germans looted the homes of the Arnhem citizens who lost everything they possessed. After the battle many houses, apartment buildings, stores, shops, schools, churches, hospitals and muncipality and provincial buildings were gone, because they were raised to the ground. The Germans looted the Arnhem homes, but Arnhem civilians were also distrustful of their neighbours or people in their hood. Did fellow Arnhem people steal from them or not when they were forced to leave. There were a lot of German collaborators in the city. Active Dutch nazi party NSB members, members of the Paramilitary NSB forces Landwacht (Land Guard) and the WA (The Weerbaarheidsafdeling: The Protection Unit), Dutch members of the Gestapo or SD, members of the Dutch Waffen SS who took part at the battle of Market Garden on the side of their German and Austrian Waffen SS of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. The Dutch Waffen SS knew Arnhem well, beause some of them were Arnhem people, who fought in their own Borough or neighbourhood, or because they understood Dutch, could reed signs and could read Dutch maps. In the mentality of the Arnhem people from the war generation to the second, third and maybe forth generation sits that element of a 'beaten people', 'defeated and humiliated people'. being kicked out of their houses and being aware that their houses were systematically looted by the Germans. This caused great poverty and dispair during the final war days and during the rebuilding years of the late forties and fifties. People who had lost everything and who had to start all over. What was build by generations inside families was gone. Houses (homes) and possessions.
Like was the case in Rotterdam, Warsaw, Poznań, Stalingrad and other places.
Dutch records suggest that at least 453 civilians died during the battle, either as a result of Allied bombing on the first day or during the subsequent fighting. After the battle, the residents of Arnhem and its surrounding towns and villages were forcibly evicted from their homes, allowing the Germans to turn the north bank of the Rhine into a heavily defended line. Residents were not allowed to return home without a permit and most did not return until after the war. The Dutch homes were then systematically looted, with the spoils being sent to bombing victims in Germany. The Germans continued to fight Allied forces on the plains between Arnhem and Nijmegen, and the bridge that the 1st Airborne had fought so hard for was eventually destroyed by the Allies to deny German forces its use. On 7 October, it was bombed and destroyed by Martin B-26 Marauders of 344th Bomb Group, USAAF. The buildings of Arnhem were heavily shelled by the Allies over the next few months and suffered further when the city was eventually liberated in April 1945.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2019 10:29:20 GMT -7
Some of these Dutch Waffen-SS guys fought in and around Arnhem and Oosterbeek against the British and Polish commando's.
Arnhem 1940-1945
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Post by karl on Sept 22, 2019 11:34:11 GMT -7
Pieter
I am very sorry for the war time destruction of Arnhem, Rotterdam and with this, the war time German occupation. That war as it was, was for the wrong reason and should not have happened. From our past discussions, how well I do understand your fathers feelings of the then bombing and destruction of those cities of your country.
We in post war, was called many names such as cowards for Dänmark to last only three hours before giving up.
Karl
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Post by pieter on Sept 22, 2019 15:14:16 GMT -7
Karl,
The small nation of Denmark was in no position of resisting the almighty German Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. And next to that the supporting Waffen-SS troops, fanatical ideological elite forces, Nazi special forces, you could say.
The German invasion of Denmark (Operation Weserübung) was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April, 1940, during the Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the main attack against Norway (Weserübung Nord). The term Weserübung means Weser-exercise in English, named after the river Weser in northwestern Germany.
Denmark's strategic importance for Germany was limited. The invasion's primary purpose was to use Denmark as a staging ground for operations against Norway, to secure supply lines to the forces about to be deployed there. An extensive network of radar systems was built in Denmark to detect English bombers bound for Germany.
The attack on Denmark was a breach of the non-aggression pact Denmark had signed with Germany less than a year earlier. The initial plan was to push Denmark to accept that German land, naval and air forces could use Danish bases, but Adolf Hitler subsequently demanded that both Norway and Denmark be invaded.
Denmark's military forces were inferior in numbers and equipment, and after a short battle were forced to surrender. After fewer than two hours of struggle, the Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning stopped the opposition to the German attack, for fear that the Germans would bomb Copenhagen, as they had done with Warsaw during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Due to communication difficulties, some Danish forces continued to fight, but after a further two hours, all opposition had stopped.
Lasting approximately six hours, the German ground campaign against Denmark was one of the shortest military operations of the Second World War.
The scenes show the combat between the Danish army and the Wehrmacht during the invasion of Denmark in WW2.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by pieter on Oct 2, 2019 9:16:13 GMT -7
On 21 September 1944, Driel was the drop zone of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade which participated in Operation Market Garden. The brigade was under the command of Major General Sosabowski. After World War II, in the 1960s, the Polish monument was placed at the 'Polish Square' (Dutch: 'Polenplein', Polish: 'Plac Polski'). A nearby plaque commemorates the ninety-four Polish soldiers who fell nearby. There are several other plaques, including one in honour of the 1st Airborne Division, along the dike between Heteren, Driel and Arnhem.
On 19 September 2009 the Dutch premier Jan Peter Balkenende and the Polish premier Donald Tusk visited Driel to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Operation Market Garden.
The Polish army crossed the Rhine river from Driel to Oosterbeek on 22 September 2019 like their predecessors did in September 1944.
During Operation Market Garden, the Brigade's anti-tank battery went into Arnhem on the third day of the battle (19 September), supporting the British paratroopers at Oosterbeek. This left Major General Stanisław Sosabowski without any anti-tank capability. The light artillery battery was left behind in England due to a shortage of gliders. Owing to bad weather and a shortage of transport planes, the drop into Driel was delayed by two days, to 21 September. The British units which were supposed to cover the landing zone were in a bad situation and out of radio contact with the main Allied forces. Finally, the 2nd Battalion, and elements of the 3rd Battalion, with support troops from the Brigade's Medical Company, Engineer Company and HQ Company, were dropped under German fire east of Driel. They overran Driel, after it was realised that the Heveadorp ferry had been destroyed. In Driel, the Polish paratroopers set up a defensive "hedgehog" position, from which over the next two nights further attempts were made to cross the Rhine.
The following day, the Poles were able to produce some makeshift boats and attempt a crossing. With great difficulty and under German fire from the heights of Westerbouwing on the north bank of the river, the 8th Parachute Company and, later, additional troops from 3rd Battalion, managed to cross the Rhine in two attempts. In total, about 200 Polish paratroopers made it across in two days, and were able to cover the subsequent withdrawal of the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division.
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Post by pieter on Oct 2, 2019 9:36:13 GMT -7
Polish veterans in Driel
Polish veterans at the war cemetary in Oosterbeek with Polish soldiers in 2017
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