The ground for the second Battle of Arnhem was laid while the Battle of Arnhem was still raging in full force in September 1944. On September 23, 1944, the German occupiers decided to evacuate the entire population of Arnhem. With the exception of some firefighters, police officers and Burgers’ zookeepers, all residents of Arnhem had…
The liberation of Arnhem cannot be separated from the bitter fighting in September 1944 during the Battle of Arnhem. Operation Market Garden aimed to force an Allied breakthrough across the Rhine. Arnhem turned out to be a bridge too far. While British and Polish troops defended the perimeter in Oosterbeek on September 23 1944, the…
Nowadays half of the population of Arnhem lives in Arnhem South, but during the Second World War it was just a small neighbourhood. There were some streets in Malburgen East and there was De Praets in Meinerswijk. It was nothing more than that. Elden was a little further south, but that village was not yet…
When you drive from the Sakharov bridge in the direction of the Velperbroek junction, you cross the site we British troops of the 49th Division crossed the IJssel in the night of April 12-13, 1945. Seven months after the Battle of Arnhem, a second attempt was made to liberate the city. The action had been…
In the night of 12 to 13 April 1945, British troops with amphibious vehicles from Westervoort crossed the IJssel to liberate Arnhem. The German defense of the city was contracted at the Enka factory in the Kleefse Waard, east of the city. It took the Canadians almost all day to expel the troops that had…
The liberation of Arnhem started in the late evening of April 12, 1945 with the crossing of British troops from the Polar Bear Division over the IJssel near Westervoort. On April 15, the soldiers of the 49th Infantry Division reached Burgers’ Zoo and the whole of Arnhem was liberated. The military operation had cost nearly…