An English patrol in the city center of Arnhem. That was still possible in the morning of Monday, September 18. The Germans were aware that the British held the north side of the Rhine Bridge, but organized German troops at the bridge were not yet established.
For that reason, Captain Killick had been sent out by Colonel John Frost with a section of eight men in total to see if he could make contact with other parts of the British airborne troops from the west.
Two British soldiers cross Eusebiusplein and walk west in the direction of Weerdjesstraat.
The British patrol was photographed by the well-known Jewish photographer Sem Presser, who was in hiding here, but who left his hiding address with his camera to photograph the British.
The British soldiers walk through the Weerdjesstraat on Monday morning. The soldiers walk to the west and are located between Eusebiusplein and the intersection with Rodenburgstraat. In the background you can see residents of Arnhem looking at the British soldiers.
A German soldier just crossed the corner of Rodenburgstraat and Weerdjesstraat when the British passed by. The German dropped his gun and surrendered to the British, who proudly posed with their trophy for photographer Sem Presser.
Several soldiers in this photo have been identified. Sergeant Larry Ansell can be seen in the foreground, looking to the right. The soldier looking left at the photographer with a Lee Enfield rifle in his hands is Bernard Salt. Both were part of 8th Section, 6 Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 11st Parachute Brigade.
Sergeant Larry Ansell reads a placard on a house on the corner of Weerdjesstraat (left) and Eusebiusplein (right).
Without a helmet, but with his maroon-colored beret, Captain Killick walks back through Weerdjesstraat in the direction of the British positions at the Rhine Bridge. It is likely that Killick’s reconnaissance patrol did not advance further west than Roermondsplein during the patrol to prevent the soldiers from being cut off from the troops at the bridge.
Killick, who led the reconnaissance patrol, was part of the 89th Parachute field Security Secton.
Remarkable: in the holster on his right leg, Killick carries a German Luger pistol. It’s quite possible that Killick just took the gun from the German prisoner.
While photographer Sem Presser remains behind in Weerdjesstraat, the patrol runs back to the British positions a little further under cover of a smoke grenade.
A total of eleven soldiers can be seen. In addition to the eight-man patrol and the German prisoner (the second from the right), the British probably picked up some isolated soldiers who joined the patrol.
Killick reported on his return to the British perimeter near the bridge that they had seen no signs of fighting and that the other British troops were probably far away.
Killick, Salt and Sergeant Larry Ansell were captured a few days later by the Germans in the fighting for the bridge. They spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp.
