47 The other men who died were Captain H. A. Platt, Lieutenants T. V. P. McNabb and K. S. Mills and Privates S. Allen and G. E. McCracken. Cotterell had been taken prisoner after the fall of Arnhem Bridge.
48 As a result of his involvement with ‘Pegasus’, Major Hibbert was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he became a highly successful businessman. A very keen gardener, he currently resides in Cornwall with Christopher, his eldest son. In 2001, he appeared on the BBC’s Battlefields programme, speaking about his memories of Arnhem. Thanks are due to Tony Hibbert’s nephew, Major Rupert Hibbert of the 16 Air Assault Brigade, for his help.
49 After the war, in 1945, Lathbury returned to the Airborne Forces and resumed command of his old unit, the 3rd Parachute Brigade, now a part of the 6th Airborne Division. He commanded them for a year in Palestine and was later awarded a knighthood and promoted to General. He was also the Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment from 1961-65.
50 From Dutch Courage by Digby Tatham-Warter.
51 Returning home, Banwell continued to serve in the army until during the 1970’s and was likely to have been amongst Britain’s most senior parachutists. At the 25th anniversary of Arnhem in 1969, Banwell stood alongside present day paratroopers in a Dakota and jumped once more over Ginkel Heath, formerly DZ-Y. It was his 650th jump and far from his last because he felt the experience of parachuting kept him ‘mentally alert’. He donated his battle dress jacket to the Airborne Museum Hartenstein, where it is presently on display.
52 Pat Glover died in 1996. Thanks are due to Henriëtte Kuil-Snaterse.
53 While the 1st Airborne evacuated on Sunday 25th, all the medical staff remained behind and Colonel Warrack was captured. He was taken 15 miles north of Arnhem to a Dutch Army barracks at Apeldoorn that had been converted into a hospital specifically for 1,700 airborne casualties. The hospital was entirely under the control of the British and consisted of four surgeons, four chaplains and 250 medical staff. Lieutenant Colonel Martin Herford, commander of XXX Corps 163 Field Ambulance who now served as Warrack’s deputy, managed to convince the Germans into treating the barracks as a hospital and not as a PoW camp, on the understanding that there would be no attempts to escape. The hospital closed on 26 October, but shortly before it did, Warrack, Herford and some other medical staff escaped, though technically without breaking the agreement they had reached with the Germans. Whilst the Germans were removing all equipment Warrack hid himself in a cupboard in his room for 14 days and had to remain hidden for a continuous stretch of 48 hours. When he emerged to explore the possibilities of leaving the building he was seen from outside and, unable to reach his room before the search party arrived, he hid under a bed in one of the wards. He was not discovered and was able to return to the cupboard. Except for half an hour each day, he stayed there until all sounds of activity had ceased on 1 November. Before he could affect his escape the German CO acquired the room in which Warrack was hidden. It was not until the evening of 3 November that he was able to move from the cupboard. Although the moon was full and there was a guard on duty below, Warrack climbed out of the window and crawling beside the perimeter fence, found a break in the wire. He made his way South West until he was driven by thirst to approach an isolated house near Otterloo. He was soon offered shelter by a Dutch family and was then put in contact with the Dutch Resistance, who, after the failure of the ‘Pegasus II’ crossing, had been asked to bring men across the river in small groups, with the order of priority for passage being: doctors, glider pilots, soldiers and airmen. On 18 November Warrack was a member of a large party of Allied personnel who were dispersed when being guided through the German lines. Although he and three others tried to complete the journey alone, ultimately they were compelled to retrace their steps to Otterloo. A month later, Colonel Warrack was taken to Barneveld. About the middle of January a second attempt to cross the lines was begun; when this had to be abandoned because of the ice-bound rivers, the small party was hidden in the Maarn area. Colonel Warrack participated in yet a third unsuccessful scheme before he finally reached safety on 5 February 1945 along with Brigadier Hackett. For his conduct, Warrack was awarded the DSO. He was also made an Officer of the British Empire as a consequence of his attempts to escape. In 1963 Graeme Warrack published a book; Travel by Dark: After Arnhem.
54 For his conduct during ‘Market-Garden’, Tony Frank MC was awarded the US Silver Star: ’Captain Frank was Second-in-Command of the Company of 2nd Parachute Battalion which captured the vital Arnhem Bridge on the evening of 17 September. He assumed command of the Company on the evening of the following day. The next morning, three enemy tanks got into position close to a house held by one of his forward Platoons and shelled it at very close range. The Platoon was forced to evacuate the house temporarily thus causing a very serious gap in the defence. Realising the danger of the situation, Captain Frank at once organised a party of two PIATs which he himself led under heavy fire, to a position on the flank from which he could engage the tanks. Meanwhile, two more tanks appeared. Altogether, three tanks were hit and all of them withdrew. The situation was restored and the platoon enabled to re-occupy the house. Later in the day, Captain Frank was wounded in the foot. At midday on the following day, when the situation was becoming critical, Captain Frank again took over command of the remnants of his Company and that evening, despite his wound, led a successful counter attack against a house held by the enemy. During the time this officer had commanded the Company, it had been attacked repeatedly by tanks and infantry in overwhelming strength and it was largely due to Captain Frank’s leadership and personal example that these attacks were successfully driven off. This officer ultimately escaped from a German hospital and played a leading part in the planning and execution of a most brilliant operation in which 130 armed men, after lying up for four weeks, passed through the German lines and crossed the Rhine. Throughout this period, Captain Frank moved about amongst the Germans with complete disregard of his own safety and showed the greatest daring, leadership and efficiency.’ Having retired from the Army as a Major, Tony Frank returned to Cambridge to complete his education, graduating with honours. He then joined the Colonial Service and spent time in Ghana and Somalia before returning to Britain during the 1960s. It was in Ghana that he married his wife, Clare, with whom he had five sons; each following in their father’s footsteps at Stonyhurst College. Thereafter he was director of the Spastics Society until his retirement in 1982. Tony Frank died peacefully on 30 September 2008.
55 Upon returning to England, Digby resumed command of what remained of ‘A’ Company and wrote up a report of the defence of Arnhem Bridge which led to Jack Grayburn being posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. There is little doubt that Tatham-Warter played a great part both in the defence of Arnhem Bridge and also in its glory and for this and his first class involvement with Pegasus I, he was awarded the DSO. After the war, on the strength of the recommendation of his aunt and uncle, Digby Tatham-Warter took up an appointment with the 5th King’s African Rifles in Kenya. He bought a farm at Eburru in the Rift Valley.
56 Daily inspections and guard mounting, most unpopular when introduced, had restored a great measure of the prisoners’ waning self-respect and revived their military bearing. All who could stand had to parade for PT. This drastic effort of RSM Lord to build up sinking reserves of strength must have saved the health of hundreds and perhaps the lives of some. RSM Lord, who was made a Member of the British Empire, became RSM to the New College Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 1947, becoming RSM at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 1948. He retired on 1 September 1963 after 15 years as the RSM of Sandhurst. He died on 21 January 1968 at Camberley, Surrey.
57 Of over 10,200 British airborne troops landed in the Arnhem area, 1,440 were killed or died of their wounds. 3,000 were wounded and taken prisoner and 400 medical personnel and chaplains remained behind with the wounded and about 2,500 uninjured troops also became PoWs. There were also 225 prisoners fr
om the 4th Battalion, the Dorsetshire Regiment. About 450 Dutch civilians were killed. The operation also cost 160 RAF and Dominions aircrew, 27 USAAF aircrew and 79 Royal Army Service Corps dispatchers were killed and 127 taken prisoner. A total of 55 Albemarle, Stirling, Halifax and Dakota aircraft from Nos. 38 and 46 Groups failed to return and a further 320 damaged by flak and seven by fighters while 105 Allied fighter aircraft were lost.
58 Urquhart was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath and later received the Dutch Bronzen Leeuw. Montgomery also recommended his name to CIGS in the event of General Browning being promoted and leaving a vacancy as Deputy Commander of 1st Allied Airborne Army. Immediately after the end of the war, Urquhart took Divisional HQ and the 1st Airlanding Brigade to Norway to oversee the German surrender and he was rewarded with the Norwegian Order of St Olaf. In 1947 he was charged with the raising of the 16th Airborne Division of the Territorial Army. Urquhart remained at the rank of Major General until he retired from the Army in 1955. From then until his retirement in 1970, he pursued a career in heavy engineering. In 1958 Urquhart’s book, Arnhem, describing the battle from his perspective, was published and he presided over the 30th and 35th anniversaries of the Battle in 1974 and 1979. He died in December 1988, leaving a wife and four children.
59 Model moved Army Group B Headquarters to Terborg 30 miles to the east. True to his own view of German military tradition, in April 1945 Model committed suicide rather than face surrender. In 1945 Student surrendered to the British and was held at the Island Farm camp at Bridgend in south Wales where he was interrogated about allegations’ of the mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war and was indicted for war crimes committed in Crete at the Nuremburg trials. Goering had ordered the deportation of male Cretan civilians over the age of 14 in reprisal for a series of horrific partisan attacks on German troops in which captured soldiers were reported to have been crucified and mutilated. During the trial it emerged that Student had been able to undermine the order and New Zealander General Inglis testified that Student had opposed the activities of the SS in the island. In May 1947 the charges were reduced to having failed to prevent war crimes and Student was found guilty of three of the eight counts and sentenced to five years in prison, but the verdict was never confirmed. Student was given a medical discharge and was released from prison in 1948. Student was married and had one son, who died on military service. He died aged 88 in Lemgo, West Germany, on 1 July 1978. Silent Skies: Gliders At War 1939-1945 by Tim Lynch (Pen & Sword 2008).
Postscript
Private James Sims, was with the Mortar Platoon 2nd Parachute Battalion. On 17 September ninety C-47, C-53 and C-46 aircraft of the 313th Troop Carrier Group at Folkingham carried British paratroops to the Arnhem area. Next day, and on 23 September, 180 CG-4 gliders were towed by the 313th to the same area carrying much-needed supplies and reinforcements.
‘The increasing roar of the aircraft engines blotted out our thoughts and reduced our speech to mime. Douglas Dakota transport planes of the 9th United States Air Force taxied along in Indian file to the head of the runway of Folkingham aerodrome, Lincolnshire. The American pilots handled their charges with a mixture of seeming indifference and skill born of years of experience back home on their many trans-American airlines. One after another the aircraft turned into the wind and commenced to take off and the noise became a howling storm of sound as we bumped and bucketed along the runway. It seemed as though we would hurtle on until we smashed through the boundary fence but a sudden subtle change in the motion of the Dakota told us we were airborne. My stomach turned over as I realised that this time there was to be no ‘stand down’. Since D-Day, 6th June we had been on one Stand-to after another as the Allied Armies slogged their way from the French beaches back into Europe. Their advance had often been so rapid that they had over-run prospective landing zones and so the operations had been cancelled.
‘Now we were finally on our way. This time to Holland, enslaved since 1940. It was 11.30 hours. Sunday 17th September and we regarded ourselves as the vanguard of the liberating force which was even then thrusting up through Belgium to join up with the American parachutists who were to seize the Dutch towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen. After this the armour would make a final drive to link up with us. The 1st British Airborne division who had the job of securing the vital road Bridge over the Neder-Rhine at Arnhem. The plan was for the Allied Parachute Army to seize these three vital bridgeheads which would enable the main forces to break through the last three natural defensive positions left to the Germans. An armoured spearhead would then roll down this Airborne-held corridor to swing eastwards into Germany, outflanking the Siegfried line and sweeping on to Berlin for the kill.
‘We looked out of the small windows of the Dakota and watched the friendly soil of England drop away as we rose heavily into the air. The aircraft headed for the coast in flights of three where we picked up our fighter escort, mostly Hawker Typhoons and Tempests. The imposing Air Armada swung out over the North Sea and we settled down for the journey. We sat eight a side down the round-ribbed fuselage. Men from all parts of the British Isles, Geordies, Scouses, Jocks, Cockneys, Norfolk dumplings and the inevitable sophisticated ‘Townie’.
‘Our Platoon Officer, Sergeant Woods, sat by the open door - he would lead us out. I was number fifteen and the last man out was number sixteen, Sergeant Maurice Kalikolf. Maurice was a Russian Jew, born in Kiev and his family had fled to England when he was just a small child because of a pogrom. He still retained a sad almost fatalistic streak in his nature and was quietly spoken, for a Sergeant. He was a first class soldier and one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met. Most of the men in our Mortar Platoon were veteran paratroopers who had seen action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
‘One or two of us were replacements for casualties in previous battles and two of us would not have been in the aircraft but for the fact that two of our men had been absent, lost in the fleshpots of wartime Nottingham. Not that either ‘Brum’ or myself minded for at nineteen this was an adventure not to be missed. We had already been briefed on the German opposition. The qualities of the Panzer Grenadiers, and the Herman Goering Regiment, the vicious 88 mm ‘flak’ all purpose gun, the zip-fastener fire of the MG 34 machine gun. The fearsome multiple-mortar with its six rocket projectiles and its unnerving sobbing-moaning sound which the Allies had nicknamed ‘The Sobbing Sisters.’ Also the 9 mm Schmeisser sub-machine gun - perhaps the finest weapon of its class during World War II and our greatest dread - The Tiger Tank. Although it was slow - in fact the Germans themselves called it the ‘Furniture Van’ - it carried the 88mm gun and also HMGs and was heavily armoured with tracks nearly a yard wide and weighing almost 70 tons. To the parachutist, with nothing larger than a six-pounder anti-tank gun or a PIAT it was a formidable opponent. Well this is what you wanted’ I told myself. ‘It all goes together with the red beret, the wings, the jumping pay and the reputation.’
‘By now we were flying over huge billowing masses of fleecy cloud tinged with pink and blue and shaded with grey. The Dakotas droned and we even dozed off for a bit, but soon we neared the Dutch coast and braced ourselves as the aircraft dived down through the cloud to about 2,000 feet. Now we saw the North Sea glistening below and suddenly a German naval craft opened fire at us. Our plane took evasive action and we held on to each other and braced ourselves with our boots as we banked alarmingly. Through the window we could see the enemy patrol boat on a sea which was now at a 45° angle and watched fascinated as the tracer curved up towards us slowly at first then whipped by the door like a line of angry hornets. Typhoons peeled off and the German ship disappeared from view in a storm of rockets and cannon fire. Luckily we had escaped damage and renewed our position and those not immediately being sick witnessed the frantic efforts of the German Captain to save his ship zig-zagging all over the place whilst the sea was churned up all around him.
A Bridge Too Far Page 23
