On the morning of Tuesday, September 19, 1944, two German Propaganda Kompanie Kriegsberichter arrive in Arnhem: Wenzel and Jacobsen. The war correspondents with their 35 mm cameras took many photos that day of the events in Arnhem.
This page shows an image report of the photos Wenzel and Jacobsen took on Utrechtseweg, where they traveled with the German troops. We pick up the route of the two war photographers on Willemsplein, in the city center.
The photographers move west, behind the German attack to drive the British troops out of Arnhem. About 1,000 airborne troops had made an attempt that morning to reach the Rhine Bridge.
They were halted by strong German forces near the museum on Utrechtseweg, before they were driven back in the direction of Oosterbeek.
German Sturmgeschütze on Willemsplein. The column comes from the north and drives west. The German armored vehicles are on their way to Utrechtseweg.
The German armored vehicles are part of the Sturmgeschütz Brigade 280. Commissioned by Field Marshal Walter Model, the ten Sturmgeschütze of this brigade were sent from Hamburg to Arnhem immediately after the airborne landings on Sunday, September 17, 1944. After arrival by train transport, the Sturmgeschütze were deployed immediately.
Two Sturmgeschütze on Willemsplein. The debris and leaves on the ground were most likely caused two days earlier by the pressure wave from the British bombs on the military barracks a little further away.
German tanks and soldiers on the Nieuwe Plein, 100 meters west of Willemsplein.
This photo is taken near the railway station in Arnhem, west of Nieuwe Plein. A half-track vehicle is on its way to the fighting at the Gemeentemuseum on Utrechtseweg.
On the corner of Utrechtsestraat and Bergstraat, the German war photographer Wenzel photographs Dutch civilians fleeing the violence of war. They only took what was essential.
On Utrechtsestraat, west of the railway station, Wenzel passes some fallen British paratroopers who have been here since Sunday September 17. In the background we see German armored vehicles, while German infantry advances on the right.
German soldiers and several self-propelled guns march on Utrechtseweg near the Gemeentemuseum. It can be concluded from the shadows and the position of the sun that the photos were taken in the morning.
The branches and leaves on the ground clearly show the fierce fighting that had taken place shortly before.
German infantry searches the garden of the Gemeentemuseum.
English soldiers who surrendered to the Germans just past the Gemeentemuseum on Utrechtseweg are disarmed.
Captured British paratroopers are deported under the watchful eye of some German soldiers.
The houses between the Elisabeth Gasthuis and Oranjestraat, west of the museum, were severely damaged in the fighting. The houses were restored after the war, but if you look closely you can still see the traces of the battle at many houses.
The English have been beaten back, but the fighting is not over yet. Given the low camera angle, it seems that Wenzel had to take cover by an action at the intersection between Bovenover and Onderlangs.
A large group of captured British soldiers on the Onderlangs.
A Sturmgeschütz Panzer III on Onderlangs, near the intersection with Bovenover.
The photographer climbed on top of an armored vehicle to take a photo. A German column of armored vehicles continues on Utrechtseweg in a westerly direction. On the corner with Wilhelminastraat is a destroyed green tram car from the NBM to Oosterbeek (motor car no. 77).
The German column moves further west. We see the same tram here as in the photo above, but now from the other side. In front of the tram lies the body of a fallen soldier.
Given the long shadows from the west, it is now at the end of the day on Tuesday, September 19. Soon after this photo, the Germans took up defensive positions. The British were beaten back to Oosterbeek and would no longer come close to Arnhem. The attack on Tuesday, September 19 was the last British attack at Arnhem.
