I’ve been catching up to Lloyd Clark’s, “Crossing the Rhine” – Breaking into Nazi Germany 1944 and 1945 – The greatest Airborne battles in history. I highly recommend this book if you want in-depth information about Operation Market Garden. It gives you a great insight in the thoughts of veterans, but also in decisions made by generals.
Out of nowhere , I decided to go a bridge too far myself!
Recently, my interest in the British Airborne got bigger. The Hartenstein Museum in Oosterbeek was a great resource to get to know about their actions during Operation Market Garden. There will be a separate post about the Museum, but I can tell you it was a very interesting one. The Airborne Experience was overwhelming and better than I expected.
After this I paid a quick visit to the Oosterbeek Military Cemetery. Sometimes it’s strange to see that men of my age gave their lives for the freedom of my country. I highly respect them and I think we all should! Besides the English graves, there were also two rows of Polish graves. Most people don’t even know they fought in this big operation, but I can tell you they fought hard and fiercely.
My last stop was the John Frost Bridge. It was this bridge the British Paratroopers couldn’t hold after Operation Market Garden started on September 17th 1944. Under command of John Frost, the British Paratroopers in Arnhem fought until they ran out of ammo. From about 700 men who fought in went into Arnhem only around a hundred were captured. The rest was killed, missing or wounded and evacuated before taken prisoner.
During the operation, my grandpa lived in Arnhem. He was only 9 years old, but he remembered seeing the paratroopers dropping from the sky. He also once told me he fell from the Rhine bridge while playing on it with his friends. As I watched the bridge I imagined the battles of the bridge, but at the same time I saw my grandpa falling from it. It must have hurt.
The weather was beautiful and besides the name of the bridge, nothing of the war remains visible. Only those who continue to pass on the history of the Greatest Generation will know!
[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXGWHes4d8Y[/embedyt]
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Salute!
Joedemadio
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