XXX CORPS Breakout 17/18 September 1944

Just an idea to get all people involved on a topic most people will interest... Hope you join in !

On 17 september 1944 XXX Corps did break-out from its bridge head along the Belgium/Dutch border and started its advance north to relieve the airborne troops that landed that same afternoon in the area of Eindhoven - Nijmegen and Arnhem.

The Germans offered severe resistance. With the help of superiour armour, artillery and airsupport the Germans gave way...

I suggest that all interested are going to reconstruct the battle as it happened together...

You can help to put everything you have about this battle here. Best is that we foccus only on the advance of XXX-Corps during the 17th and 18th September 1944. Appart of that I am looking forward to some interesting discussions.


F.



I do hope we can make a clear picture of the battle.

 

Here we go !


From the War Diary 2nd Armoured Irish Guards (Lt. Col. G.A.M. Vandeleurs) 17 September 1944

14.35 The bttalions advanced, keeping as close behind the barrage as possible.
The clouds of dust raised made this difficult, but the leading tank managed to follow some 300 yds behind the Shell bursts.
For 10 minutes all went well, but suddenly the rear of No.3 and the head of No.1 Sqns were attacked by infantry eith bazookas and Anti-tTK guns, and 9 tanks were knocked out in two minutes.
The remainder halted and go tinto defensice positions as best they could, spraying the edges of the wood and ditches with Browning and firing HE t any suspicious place.
Lance Sergeant COWAN, No. 2 Sqn, saw a Self-Proppeled gun and knocked it out, made the crew climb on the back of his tank and Point out their friends positions, which they did gladly in return, as they thought, for their lives.
Meanwhile Typhoons, were called for and answered immediately.
In the next hour 230 sorties were flown and very low and accurate attacks made on the enemy. Our tanks burnt yellow smoke abundantly an though the rockets landed within 100 yards of them, there was never any likelihood of a mistake, so sure was the Squadron’s support our advance could not have continued.

15.30 hrs The effect of the rockets, combined with the aggressiveness of our tanks and infantry, was almost instantaneous. Enemy came running out of the trenches trembling with fright and were sent doubling down the road in very quick time. All were still running when they passed Division HQ a mile the other side of the bridge.
The 4 Battalion devons which had followed us up, clearded each side of the road, also dug a number of enemy out of trenches near Battalion HQ with great vigour and relieved us from tiresome sniping/

Interogation showed the enemy tob e mainly 6 PARA regt with some of regt HOFFMAN. Most were new and ignorant recruits, others good fightinrs who had suffered Normandy and the retreat.
In all some 250 arrived at the Division cage, a little short of breath.
One DR acting as escort made his party travel at motor cycle pace. The MO enrolled others as unwilling stretcher bearers.

16.00 hrs The medium barrage was ordered again after No.3 Squadron had withdrawn 500 yards for safety. Some difficulty was experienced in turning around the bulldozer and it was 16.30 before firing could begin.

16.30 hrs. Advance continued, with Typhoons still overhead and attacking some 88 guns they had seen well in front.

Prisoners were still being taken. One [German] Warrant Officer from an Anti-Tank Coy said he had owned 10 – 7.62 Russian guns before the battle but none were left working and very few of his crews alive. He could not decide which was the worse, the rockets or the Browning and was sent weeping down the road.

We actually saw only 4 of the guns, but no more fired, so presumable he had spoken the truth.

17.30 hrs. The [Dommel] bridge was reported clear, intact and fit to Carry tanks. No.3 Squadron accordingly took up positions guarding it and No. 2 Squadron and No. 4 Company were ordered to pass through them and capture Valkenswaard and No.1 Squadron to Mount No.1 Company again on tank back. Preliminary ‘stonks’also came down on the likely points of resistance in the town.

17.45 hrs. 4 – 88 mm guns with their crews and towing vehicles were captured. They were from 602 Heavy AA Battery, and the crews in a great state of fear. Lt. B.C. ISITT in trying to destroy one gun, managed to fire it, therby greatly alaming Battalion HQ. The enemy trucks as usual were packed with loot.

Enemy opposition had not completely given in, and all the while there was quite a deal of sniping. Both the Commanding Officer and major D.M.L. GORDEN-WATSON MC had bursts of Spandau just beside them, but no Germans came near the mark as Lt. B C ISITT.

19.30-20.30 hrs. The re-shuffeling of the Group and crossing the small bridge took some considerable time. Also the leading Squadron had to approach the town very cautiously, and it was dusk before Major E G TYLER reported his Squadron in position covering the North exit. Again the only light was fromhouses set on fire by the shelling.

The rest of the groups soon came up and harboured around the central square, blocking all roads. Some 30 prisoners of all sorts were taken including two bicyclist scouts just back from Eindhoven who reported to us instead of their own commander, guarded by the Resistance. A german half-track later drove in – a welcome addition to the 3rd Battalion’s transport.

A Dutch civilian reported to battalion HQ from the Resistance in Eindhoven. He was agreeable and informative, so we took him on strength of the battalion and gave him a seat in a Honey with which he was well pleased.

21.00 hrs. The Major’s Clerk came running in to battalion HQ with a message thelephoned by the German Commander in Eindhoven to his subordinate whom he thought tob e still holding Valkenswaard. This unknown officer was to defend the town to the last amn, with the Assurance that reinforcements were on the way. Many very rude answers were given the cleck tos end back. By arrangment with the girl in the Post Office, however, we kept contact with her counterpart Eindhoven until 05.00 hrs next morning when the line was cut. All she could tel lus though was that the enemy were still there, and no sign had been seen of the American Airborne Forces.

22.00 hrs. Orders were issued for the advance at 07.00 hours next morning – the only differnce being that Household Cavalry regiment Squadron would lead.

The battalion then went to sleep.

The day’s fighting cost us in all 9 tanks with 8 men killed and several wounded, including SSM PARKES killed and Lt. D LAMPARD and Lt B P QUINAN wounded.

 

2nd Battalion The Devonshire Regiment (Lt. Col. Sir John G Carew Pole, Bart.)

16 September (Night)
The night was spent in careful patrolling with the object of pin pointing the enemy positions as exactly as possible for Guards Armour. The night passed with the almost constant chatter of Spandaus.

17 September
During the morning final preparations were made for our part of the operation. For this the Battalion was split into two – B and D were tob e under the Command of 635978 T/Major G B Browne, and were to clear the woods, skirting the East and West of the road to HOEK and A and C Companies were commanded by the Commanding Officer, the woods further west of the road.
The operation for us was timed to start at the same time as Guards Armoured with Z Hour at 14.35 hrs.

13.00 hours. Just after 13.00 hrs softening up of the enemy positions began – Typhoons, Lightings, 25 pounders, medium shell’s and heavies all joined in and worked up to crescendo. In the distance we could see the troop-carrying aircraft passing in on their destination stretched richt across Holland.

14.35 hours. At 14.35 hrs the First tanks and the First Infantry (from 2nd Devons) pushed ahead and the advance began. Soon after the start Guards Armoured tanks were held up by a SP gun and 6 of their tanks were ‘brewed up’. B and D Companiesmeanwhile continued their part of the operation and captured up to 60 prisoners. Air support by now was terrific. Typhoons were swooping down at al langles and there was a constant hail of rockets and machine gun fire from them on the enemy.
B Company being rather far forward came in fors ome of this straffing causing a few casualties.
Eventually Guards Armoured ware able to move on and A and C Companies under the Commanding Officer prepared to clear thier big wood, which was reputed to contain the HQ of the [enemy] Parachute Battalion.
We had artillery support on to the wood and tanks accompanied our advance across the open country.

17.30 hrs. Major Browne’s Group reached HOEK by 17.30 hrs. – their main trouble had been in the initial stages, and as soon as they had broken through the enemy defences they reached HOEK in very good time and organised themselves into a defensive position with Anti-Tank guns and MMG’s.

The Commanding Officers Group by now was clearing the big wood. It was impossible to do all of it before dark, so it was decided to form a defensive position on the forward edge of the wood, and stay the night there with the intention of clearing the rest of the woods on the morrow.

19.00 hrs. Communication between the two halves of the Battalion became very difficult owing to the fact that by an unfortunate chance the M14 containing the Adjutant 180290 T/Capt. K Boatswain and the Signal Officer 308477 WS/Lieutenant Thornes F.A. 2 Signallers and the rear link wireless and codes had been blown u pon a mine on the verge of the main road.
DR’s were our most relible form of communication and by this means we let 231 Infantry brigade know where we were and what we were going to do.
A DR was also sent off tob ring food, which in due course miraculously appeared at midnight.
To our credit sof ar in this battle were 70 Prisoners, about 50 German dead – (these to major Browne’s Group) – 1 SP gun which had been abandoned wit hits engine still running and five Prisoners – those to the Commanding Officers group.
This the battalion spent the night with one half at HOEK and the other in a big wood about 5000 yards away wit hno inter-communications except DR.


Soldiers of this Battalion killed on the 17th and burried at Valkenswaard (this list may not be complete)

Private Ernest Harold Bray 5735116
Corporal George Henry Carrol, 5337571
Private William Fredrick Dare, 5617238
Private Arthur Hargraves, 4545568
Private Ernest Charles Kelly, 5342613
Private Clarence Edwards Newbery, 1625771
Private Harry John Oakley, 14696512
Lance Corporal James William Potter, 14557274
Private George Robertson, 14233445
Private Norman Albert Sharman, 14700699
Private John Arnols Stealy, 4463980

Captain Ivan Gerald Sopwith, 117084, Durham Light Infantry, seconded to the Devonshire Regiment



Buried at Leopoldsburg Cemetery, Belgium (this list is not complete)

Lieutenant Frank Arthur Thornes, 308477, East Surry Regiment, seconded to the Devonshire Regiment
Corporal Harold james Ash, MM, 5620098

 

The only thing that stopped Market-Garden being sucessfull;was a lack of transport aircraft.If all 3 Airbourne DIVS and thePolish Bde dropped together the War would be won.Gen.Horrocks.

 

Not again!!!, please stick to the topic

 

Map of the area dated 1961

http://home.wxs.nl/~peter.vrolijk/mapvalkenswaard.html

 

The following two paragraphs are from the opening to an article I wrote about my father-in-law, Flt Lt Donald Love:

Lieutenant Keith Heathcote spoke two words into his microphone, ‘Driver, advance’, and 20000 vehicles of British 30 Corps were on the way to Arnhem. Within minutes, holes were being punched in the column as German anti-tank guns spewed shells from their dug-in positions.

Sheltering beneath the canvas roof of a White M3A1 (thoughtfully christened 'Winecup' by its previous incumbent) RAF Flight Lieutenant Donald Love was desperately trying to reach the Corps’ Commander, Lieutenant Colonel ‘Joe’ Vandeleur, on the radio. Air cover was provided by 'cab ranks' of Typhoons and Love needed to get Vandeleur’s ‘OK’ to call them in. However, all did not go smoothly. Radio contact between ‘Winecup’ and the command tank failed. Love was left with no alternative but to put on his tin hat, pick up his.38 and race back and forth between the two vehicles. Once raised on the radio, the Typhoons poured in a blistering hail of rockets for the next four hours. The column won through and by nightfall had reached Valkenswaard.

Steve W.

 

From IG History:

The morning of 17th September dawned bright and fine with a slight wind, a perfect day for airborne operations. At midday the battalions heard that the “Market” part of “Market Garden” was going according to plan; the Airborne Corps was on its way from England. There was plenty of time to dish out dinners, hang air recognition strips on the tanks and trucks and to form up ready to more. The leading squadron, No. 3 Squadron, crossed Joe’s Bridge at a quarter to two. At the same time Lieut.-General Horrocks and Major-General Adair climbed up to the roof of a large factory, from which they could get a grandstand view of “the greatest breakout in history.” At two o’clock the preparatory and counter-battery bombardment came down. In the clear blue sky the gigantic air armada was just visible. The word went round the battalions, “H is 1435.” At 1425 more guns joined in to harass the enemy At half-past two the heavy mortars of 50th Division began firing on the few known enemy positions. Two minutes later 240 field guns fired their first shot. This was the signal for the leading troop commander to move his troop up through the 50th Division’s forward positions. At 1435 hours Lieutenant Keith Heathcote, in the leading tank, shouted “Driver - Advance!” No. 3 Squadron drove straight up the main road, keeping close up to the barrage. As there were no air photographs no one had located exactly - “pin-pointed” - the enemy positions. The gunners were firing a narrow rolling barrage into the woods along the roadside “where Jerry ought to be,” and the tanks advanced in the hope that the Germans would run away or surrender. The Typhoons were circling overhead in a “cab rank,” waiting to be whistled up by their link on the ground. The clouds of dust made it difficult to see the actual shell-bursts, so that several time Lieutenant Heathcote got involved in the barrage. Behind the Irish Guards a battalion of the Devons and an armoured regiment, the 15th/19th Hussars, followed up on either side of the road to clear the woods and hedges.

For ten minutes all went well. The exalted spectators on the factory roof rubbed their hands as they watched the Irish Guards pouring up the road and when they saw the tanks cross the Belgian-Dutch frontier where the road changed from macadam to concrete. When they turned to look again the road was covered with burning tanks. “Oh, my God, they won‘t get through!” Infantry in the ditches, and anti-tank guns from the wood, had struck down the read of No. 3 and the head of No. 1 Squadron. Nine tanks were knocked out in two minutes. The gunner in Sergeant Capewell’s tank put a belt of Browning bullets into a “bazooka boy,” and so saved the front half of No. 3 Squadron which, like a mutilated lizard, went careering on until Major O’Cock’s wireless cries of “Hi! You‘ve lost your tail,” brought them to a halt. Major M. O’Cock, No. 1 Squadron commander, goggled with fascination as one tank after another in quick succession went up in flames. First the tenth in front of him, then the ninth, and so on till, with a shock, he realized that the tank just in front of him had been hit and that it was his turn next. He could not go forward, he could not go back, he could not cross the deep ditches to leave the road; there was nothing he could do except wait for it. It never came. A few tanks farther back, Captains E.N. Fitzgerald and E. Udal agreed that it was just as well that Colonel “Joe” Vandeleur had decided this time not to put his Headquarters immediately behind the leading squadron.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/Untitled-11-1.jpg

Before the tanks had halted the 3rd Battalion infantry were off them and into the ditches. The tanks edged into what cover they could find along the road, spraying the hedges and woods with Browning and firing high explosive at any suspicious place. Lance-Sergeant Cowan, No. 2 Squadron, saw a German self-propelled gun tucked up against a roadside cottage. In all probability the crew were just getting Major O’Cock’s tank in the sights. With one shot Sergeant Cowan knocked it out and then induced the crew to climb on the back of his tank and point out their friends’ positions, which they gladly did in return, as they thought, for their lives. Meanwhile, Colonel “Joe” Vandeleur had called in Typhoons to help. The R.A.F. officers, in their wireless car, were just behind his Headquarters. They knew what was wanted, and they knew exactly what the Typhoons could do. Speaking to pilots in their own professional jargon, they directed them straight on to the targets. After their taste of ground warfare all the R.A.F. officers asked to go back to flying duties as being much safer and quieter. In the next hour the Typhoons flew two hundred and thirty sorties - a record in ground support. The tanks, as arranged, fired red smoke at the enemy positions to give the pilots an aiming mark, and burnt yellow smoke abundantly and eagerly to mark themselves. The pilots’ aim was sure, and there were no mistakes. The Typhoons came cutting in from every angle at zero feet, bombarding with rockets the enemy positions for the battalions, and how much more for the Germans who took the rockets. The din was appalling - tanks, trucks, planes, shells and rockets, machine-guns all roaring and blazing. Colonel “Joe” Vandeleur seemed to enjoy it. Though continually shot at, he stood by his scout car with Colonel Giles Vandeleur and gave orders to gunners, airmen, company commanders and German prisoners.
At 1510 hours Major Denis FitzGerald, on the rear link wireless truck, reported to Brigade H.Q., “Air support very good - using it now,” and held out the microphone so that the staff could hear the swish of the rockets. It was the immediate close support of the Typhoons that enabled the advance to continue. “It was all very thrilling,” said Colonel Joe, “especially as the bazooka boys and the parachutists were hopping about the hedges all around us.” But the 3rd Battalion had had quite enough of these Germans and were glad to get the order to put an end to them. They attacked outwards from the road on either flank. Two companies of the German 6th Parachute Regiment, with self-propelled guns in support, held the left of the road, while Battle Group Hoffman held the right. Most of these were new recruits, but many were good, experienced fighters who had survived Normandy and the retreat, and had to be dug violently out of their trenches. An unknown, but enterprising, Guardsman killed Hoffman himself. The Typhoons shot the infantry into their objectives, the rockets landing two hundred yards in front of them. “I have never seen Guardsmen so angry, nor officers. The Krauts got rough treatment that day,” said an officer afterwards.

The rockets and the ugly mood of the 3rd Battalion had an excellent effect. Germans came running out of trenches, trembling with fright, and were sent doubling down the road in very quick time. All were still doubling when they passed Divisional H.Q., a mile the other side of the canal. In all, about 250 prisoners reached the “cage” - some a little short of breath, as one despatch-rider, acting as an escort made his party travel at motor-cycle speed. The Medical Officer, Captain Ripman, who always went where the bullets were thickest, enrolled other Germans as unwilling stretcher-bearers.

…The stream of prisoners was unabated. One Unter-Offizier said that he had once owned nine 7.62 Russian anti-tank guns, but now had none working. As for the crews, “Alles tot, alles tot.” Only four of these guns were found, but no more fired so, presumably, he spoke the truth. He could not decide which was worse, the rockets or the Brownings, and was sent weeping down the road.

The advance could now continue. During the fighting the artillery barrage had gone plodding remorselessly on and had far outstripped the troops. The medium guns - which alone had the necessary range - began all over again. They were down to their last reserves of ammunition, the rest being still west of the Seine. No. 3 Squadron withdrew five hundred yards so as to get a flying start past the shattered hulls of the knocked-out tanks. The bulldozer transporter got stuck across the road trying to turn round, and it was half and hour before the column could start. But this half-hour was useful. The Typhoons put in a concentrated attack on some 88-mm. guns they had seen well in front. No. 4 Company were fully occupied making haversack rations out of food found on a German truck. There was no trouble on this stretch of the road. About half-past five the leading troop reached the bridge south of Valkenswaard. Their report that the bridge, through only a temporary structure, was intact and fit to carry tanks was welcome, as no one was looking forward to spending part of the night in the woods with the bazooka boys. No. 1 Company found a long roll of cloth, which it would have been a pity to leave to rot; No. 3 Company were more warlike and took four 88-mms. from their unnerved German crews. Lieutenant B.C. Isitt, thinking it rash to leave such dangerous things as 88s lying about, tried to destroy them, but only succeeded in firing one into the middle of the Group H.Q. The German infantry in the woods round the bridge were not as pusillanimous as the 88-mm. crews. Their snipers were particularly active, one of them wounding Lieutenant Cyril Russell. Both Colonel Vandeleurs had burst of Spandau machine-gun fire just beside them, but no Germans came so near the mark as Lieutenant Isitt.

The reshuffle of the groups and the crossing of the bridge took a considerable time. No. 2 Squadron and No. 4 Company approached Valkenswaard very cautiously, while a battery put concentrations down on likely points of resistance. It was already dark; the only light came from houses set on fire by shelling. We finally battered our way into the place expecting to find it a complete shambles. Well, it more or less was, with three or four really big fires burning, the streets strewn with debris, some Germans still firing, and other Germans milling about trying to find their way back to Germany. Yet all the inhabitants stood about in the streets yelling themselves hoarse and getting in the way of the fighting. It just did not make sense. The rest of the Group came up and harboured around the central square, blocking all roads. Some thirty prisoners of all sorts were taken, including two bicycle scouts just back from Eindhoven, who reported to the 2nd Battalion instead of their own commander, and were lodged for the night under the municipal bandstand. A German half-track later drove in - a welcome addition to the 3rd Battalion‘s transport, and more useful than the horse-drawn platoon truck they had already captured.

A Dutch civilian, an agreeable and informative man, reported to Headquarters from the Resistance in Eindhoven. The 2nd Battalion christened him “Dutch George,” took him on strength, and gave him a seat in a Honey tank, with which he was well pleased. He might not have been so pleased had he known that the Honey tank is the most dangerous known form of transport. A little later the Mayor’s clerk came running into Headquarters with a message telephone by the German Commander in Eindhoven to his subordinate, who was supposed to be still holding Valkenswaard. This unknown officer was told to defend the town to the last man, with the assurance that reinforcements were on the way. By arrangement with the girl in the Post Office, Captain E. N. Fitzgerald kept contact with her counterpart in Eindhoven until early next morning, when the line was cut. All she could say, though, was that the Germans were still in Eindhoven and that she had not seen anything of the American airborne forces.
The day’s fighting cost the 2nd Battalion nine tanks, with eight men, including S.S.M. Parkes, killed and several wounded, including Lieutenant D. Lampard and Lieutenant J.B.P. Quinan; the 3rd Battalion lost seven killed and nineteen wounded. In the little cemetery outside the town are buried

S.S.M. William John Parkes, [2Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010482.jpg

Lance-Sergeant John Walters, [Watters?] [3Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010487.jpg

Guardsmen

Michael Dee [3 Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010489.jpg

Walter Ackers, [2Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010488.jpg

Michael Josep Delaney [3Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010486.jpg

William Gill Moore, [2Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010481.jpg

James Johnson, [2Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010480.jpg

Norman Mallon [3Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010477.jpg

and Thomas Crowe Watson [3Bn]
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010476.jpg

At nine o’clock Division sent out a situation report, “Air droppings appear to have been successful. News is still mainly from enemy sources, for we are not properly in communication with our own troops. The Air Force report that all the bridges on the main axis were intact at 1500 hrs., but have no later report.” Later in the evening more news came through. The 1st British Airborne was close up to and holding the northern end of the Arnhem bridge. The 82nd U.S. Division had captured intact the Grave bridge and those over the Maas-Waal canal, but had not yet reached the southern approach to Nijmegen bridge. The 101st U.S. Division had captured all its objectives between Eindhoven and Grave. There was no definite news about the bridge over the Waal and the lower Rhine. The Intelligence spent the day in a state of indignant surprise: one German regiment after another appeared which had no right to be there. Divisional H.Q. was heavily mortared during the night; the news gave general pleasure.

dbf

[Note I have made 2 amendments to the names published in the book, "McD." I believe is a reference to Gdsman Michael Dee, and "N. Malton" to Gdsm. Norman Mallon; with L/Sgt Walters, the name on cwgc is Watters. All of the above are buried at Valkenswaard War Cemetery.
6 photos of the headstones of Unnamed Irish Guardsmen buried at Valkenswaard; all are inscribed "A soldier of the 1939-1945 War, Irish Guards, 17 September 1944, Known Unto God"
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010475.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010478.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010479.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010483.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010484.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010485.jpg

WALKER, GEORGE EDWARD 3bn died on 17th September, probably from wounds received on another day.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll119/dbf_bucket/WAR%20GRAVES/P1010474.jpg

dbf]

 

The road towards Valkenswaard today (June 2008). Here the IG ran in the ambush of the German Fallschirmjäger under command of Major Hellmutt Kerutt...

 

The Cemetery just south of Valkenswaard...

 

Try this link to some photos for 6th LAA Battery and my father's involvement (Gunner Gamble). They were part of the spearhead with the Guards Division trying to break through to the Arnhem bridge. They used SP Bofors, the 40mm Bofor mounted on a Morris chassis.
They didn't make it because of the muddy conditions and the restriction to one road, easily defended by the Germans.

http://coleraine-battery.tripod.com/page190841.htm

 

Nice photos,
Thanks for them, puts a place to the names for me.

 

Hand to Hand,
Glad I have the chance to say this, great site, enjoyed reading it a few months back.

 

Here some photographs of the IG tanks ambushed... War Diary does mention they lost 9 tanks...

According Market-Garden Then and Now the last 3 tanks of the leading No. 3 Squadron and the first 6 tanks of No.1 Squadron following behind were knocked out

Counting the tanks on the photo I can not indentify all 9...

Other photographs of the same or 'missing' tanks are most welcome



Rearmost brewed up Sherman, This tank was commanded by Lance-Sergeant Dave Roper (No.1 Troop), Guardsman Bill Moore (Wireless op) Guardsman A Saunders (gunner) Guardsman O'Riley (driver), G Dowd (co-driver). Bill Moore was killed.

According MG Then and Now the tank driving infront this one was of Lance-Sergeant W Smith, who escaped from his tank, jumping in the ditch beside the road, only to find himself attacked by a German soldier. He killed him with two shots, but not before getting five bullets in the leg himself....

There seems to be no close-up photographs taken/known of the other 5 tanks of No.1 Squadron that were knocked out.

The following photographs are from the 3 tanks of No.3 Squadron...



This photo was taken the following day while a Firefly passed by the point of the ambush.
The leading tank (with its tower pointing backwards)
All 3 tank commanders L/Sergeant Wildman, L/Sergenat Cashon and Squadron Sergeant-Major Parkes were all killed.



A sad photo... the body of SM Parkes hanging in the turret of his tank...



The front tank is that of SM Parkes now from another angle.. The tank behind his , also ditched, is that of Lieutenant Barry Quinan, while Lieutenant Duncan Lampard's tank can be seen on the other side of the road.. The tanks were pushed aside...



This photo was taken some time later showing Lieutenant Quinan's tank pushed further off the road



The back view of Lieutenant Lampard's tank (Lt Quinan's tank in the ditch on the left)

 

Lads, this is turning into an excellent resource. H2H, FJ and DBF keep it up!!

 

FJ,
I'm sure you know about this link already, but just for record:

Operation Market-Garden - Wikimedia Commons

Photos and maps for MG, including some of Shermans dated 17 September '44.

dbf

 

FJ
No date but thought you might like to see this - if you haven't already - taken from JOE Vandeleur's book A Soldier's Story

d

 

From A Soldier's Story, JOE Vandeleur

 

FJ - don't know about this one ...



From The Island, Tim Saunders