Christmas Cracker question…..it may help if you have a copy of the 1:25000 map 6 NW Arnhem 388 Ginkel by the US Army map service but reproduced by the Hartenstein Museum….. So on the afternoon of the 17th September 1944 R Company of the 1st Parachute Battalion were according to Middlebrook page 138/139 were in the woods to the left of the Wolfhezerweg (roughly 673816) with some mortars in support. Lieutenant George Guyon was OC Mortar Platoon who was supporting the attack of R Company said: ‘The wood came to an end about 100 yards short of the enemy, and the open space beyond was obviously lethal. I had the mortar set up in a clearing, but our wireless, which had worked well up to now, packed up, and I had to string men from the OP to the mortar. This took some time and R Company took some casualties before I could get the first bomb on the ground. My fire controller could see little of the ground ahead due to its broken nature, but he very efficiently searched it with groups of bombs which made the enemy withdraw rapidly, leaving a truck behind. We left this alone, as it was getting dark by now and it might well have been booby-trapped, and we continued the advance after reorganising. Our casualties were one dead and three or four wounded.’ So the cracker question is where do people think the mortars were located?…..looking at my map I’d suggest around 672818.…..
