Patrick has 150 articles published.
The British also held out in Oosterbeek on Sunday, September 24. But the price the British paid for this was unprecedentedly high. As a result of the fighting and mortar shelling, approximately 200 British soldiers were killed every day and an estimated 400 soldiers were injured. The wounded could go to the nine emergency hospitals…
After a few hours of sleep, Polish General Sosabowski was woken up on Sunday morning, September 24. Sosabowski had led the crossing of more than 150 Polish paratroopers to the British perimeter at Oosterbeek all night and had gone to bed around dawn. But at 10 o’clock in the morning he was woken up because…
On Sunday, December 24, a meeting took place in Valburg between several British generals and the Polish general Stanislav Sosabowski. During the conference, Sosabowski was told that the British wanted to carry out a crossing with two battalions that night near the Westerbouwing. After the Battle of Arnhem, the Poles in general and General Sosabowski…
In an attempt to relieve the besieged Airborne Division in Oosterbeek and expand the bridgehead on the north side of the Rhine, General Horrocks, the commander of XXX Corps, ordered a crossing at the Driel ferry on Sunday, September 24. The Westerbouwing was located on the north side of the Drielse veer; a steep hill…
Early in the morning of Monday, September 25, a liaison officer arrived at General Urquhart’s headquarters who had crossed the Rhine during the night to the British perimeter in Oosterbeek. Urquhart received a letter from General Thomas, the commander of the 43rd Division, which was located on the south side of the Rhine. In the…
The pressure from Hitler’s headquarters to destroy the British in the ‘ Hexenkessel ‘, the witches’ cauldron, in Oosterbeek became increasingly greater. On Monday, September 25, the Germans around Oosterbeek did everything they could to deliver the final blow to the British. As on the days before, the Germans bombarded the British positions with everything…
After the decision was made in the early morning of Monday, September 25, to withdraw the remnants of the British Airborne Division, General Urquhart was faced with the question of how to organize the retreat from Oosterbeek. Urquhart feared that the Germans would soon discover that the British were retreating, and that this would lead…
The night of September 25 to 26 seemed to have been made to leave the British perimeter without the Germans realizing this. It rained all night, so sounds could not be heard. Due to the clouds there was no moon, making it very dark that night. General Urquahart had chosen to leave a light screen…
More than 2,000 British soldiers were ferried across the Rhine in boats during the night of September 25 to 26. General Roy Urquhart reached Driel during the night. In Driel he went looking for General Boy Browning, his commander. But Browning was still at his headquarters in Nijmegen. The fact that he had not come…
Early in the morning of Tuesday, September 26, General Bittrich, who led the attacks in Oosterbeek, received a telephone call from Field Marshal Walter Model.“Bittrich, when will everything here finally be over?” he wanted to know. The German general replied that the day before he had done everything he could to force a breakthrough in…