The German Kriegsberichter Erwin Seeger made a series of photos after the British retreated over the Rhine. The photos show in detail how great the chaos and destruction was in Oosterbeek.
Seeger was a war photographer who was sent to Oosterbeek by the German army command after the end of the fighting to portray the German victory over the British for the propaganda department.
The photos taken by Seeger clearly show the great destructive power of the mortars and artillery shells fired by the Germans for a week at the British perimeter in Oosterbeek.
The park behind the Hartenstein hotel is littered with wrecks of jeeps, trailers, storage baskets and abandoned equipment.
A German soldier inspects a damaged British jeep on the Hemelse Berg estate. The photo was probably taken on Hoofdlaan in Oosterbeek.
The soldier in the picture is a Fallschirmjäger. German airborne troops had been sent to Oosterbeek as infantry reinforcements by Field Marshal Walter Model to help the 9th SS Panzer Division defeat the British.
Utrechtseweg in front of the Hartenstein hotel. The wrecked jeep in the foreground was part of the Reconnaissance Squadron. In the background you can see the damage to the houses on the Hartensteinlaan.
A fallen British soldier in a foxhole somewhere in Oosterbeek. Most of the fallen British soldiers were given a field grave, but due to the heavy German shelling on the British positions, it was not always possible to bury a fallen comrade.
On Hoofdlaan in Oosterbeek we see a destroyed British Bren carrier. The British had several of these tracked vehicles with them. The Bren carriers were mainly used by the British to transport ammunition and other supplies.
A German soldier investigates a British 17-pound anti-tank gun. During the fighting, the Germans were amazed that the British had been able to transport these heavy cannons with gliders.
Thanks to the power of these guns, the British managed to destroy many German tanks and mechanized guns.
German soldiers drive in a captured British jeep along a destroyed Bren carrier on the Utrechtseweg. The overhead wires of the tram were destroyed as a result of the heavy fighting.
