The story of General Hackett’s escape is exemplary of the courage of the Dutch resistance to help English soldiers stranded during the Battle of Arnhem. Brigadier General John ‘Shan’ Hackett was wounded in Oosterbeek on September 24, 1944. Hackett ended up in the Elisabeth Gasthuis. With the help of the resistance, he was able to…
Of the three British battalions that marched on Arnhem on Sunday, September 17, only the 2nd Battalion under John Frost had managed to reach the city. The 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion had been stopped by German resistance at Oosterbeek. On Monday, September 18, they tried to break through the German barrier line .…
In the early morning of Tuesday, September 19, British paratroopers from positions west of the Elisabeth Gasthuis made a last, ultimate attempt to reach John Frost’s troops at the Rhine Bridge. The attack was launched with four battalions, together accounting for almost 2,000 soldiers. It became a massacre. The 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion…