The appearance of this, the 100th Newsletter from the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, clearly shows the important niche our quarterly magazine occupies for the members. One could almost say that our little ‘newssheet’ has actually become the heart of the society. Since the first number appeared in November 1980, then on a simple A4 page, it has grown into the his torical military magazine that we see today, com plete with the by now renowned Ministory. The ini tial Dutch-language-only Newsletter was soon fol lowed by an English-language edition for our mem bers in the UK, and the (nowadays) 15 other coun tries where society members are to be found. In the first Newsletter Robert Voskuil wrote that its aim was ‘to keep you, the members, up to date with the ups and downs of our Society and, of course, of the Airborne Museum’, and that aim has been abun dantly fulfilled over the last 25 years. The question now is whether or not we continue in this direction at a time when news gathering anddissemination occurs quicker than ever before. The board feels that the provision of news to the soci ety’s members could be different, more up-to-the- minute and, above all, quicker. At present we are looking into other forms, in which of course the internet will fill an important slot. But the Newsletter’s continued existence is assured, certainly where the historical side of the Battle of Arnhem and all that that entails are concerned. The initiative of Chris van Roekel in particular, who at that time wished to see more battle-factual depth in the Newsletter, has become an institution in its own right, by which I mean the Ministory. Newsletter number 10 of May 1983 was accompanied by the first Ministory, written by Chris himself, which con tained the background story of the British carrier pigeons during the Battle. The Ministory has now become an almost scientific article complete with footnotes. Chris can be justifiably satisfied, because his idea of generating more interaction with the members still thrives. It is still the members who take the time and trouble to write these brilliantly documented ministories.

A lookback at the 61st commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem: three veterans at the ’Airborne Square’ in Arnhem on 16 September 2005. Right, Jim Flauell, who fought at the Rhine bridge in Arnhem.

Now that the hundredth edition of the Newsletter has arrived, it just remains for me to offer a word of thanks to all those who, with text and photos, or as volunteers, have helped in its production and distri-bution over the past quarter of a century, and have thereby contributed to the success and continuity of our paper. I would like to give special thanks to Robert Voskuil and Geert Maassen for their effort and creativity. Our thanks also go to Cathrien and Peter Clark who translate the Newsletter and Ministory into English.
And one thing is certain: Airborne news will go on, and the Newsletter will continue to report it!
(Ben Kolster, chairman)

From the editors
In this 100th edition of the Newsletter we of course reflect on the 61st commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem. The number is slightly different than that to which you are accustomed. It contains more pages and is in ‘full colour’, but there is no separate Ministory this time. We chose instead to include two extra-long articles in the Newsletter itself.

Wybo Boersma’s farewell
On 23 September Wybo Boersma retired from his position as director of the Airborne Museum. We marked the occasion in the afternoon of that day by organising a special study programme in the coach house of Huize ‘De Pietersberg’ in Oosterbeek. Four directors from military museums in the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Germany were on hand to give their views on the setting up of a modern exhibition relative to the (changed) demands of the public. This was followed by a reception in the Airborne Museum, where many friends and acquaintances came to thank the departing director personally for all he has done for the museum since 1972. Wybo will continue as a board member of the Airborne Museum Foundation.

During the symposium held in De Pietersberg in Oosterbeek on the occasion of Wybo Boersma’s farewell on 23 September 2005, acting chairman of the museum board Mr. J. van Slooten thanks Wybo for all the work he has done for the museum since 1972.

Changes in the Foundation s board of management
As of 1 October, Mr J. van Slooten from Oosterbeek resigned from the board as acting chairman of the Airborne Museum Foundation. Mr. Van Slooten came to the conclusion that the museum could be best served by his making way on the board for ‘new blood’. As he himself put it: ‘For the leap into the future the museum needs younger legs than mine’. Mr W.J.M. Duyts, secretary of the Airborne Museum Foundation, has taken over the function of interim chairman. Meanwhile, one of the vacancies on the foundation board has been filled by Mr R.P. Kaarsemaker from Schaarsbergen (Arnhem). Mr Kaarsemaker is an accountant.

AGM 2006
The Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum’s AGM will be held on Saturday 8 April 2006. Location and programme details will be given in the next Newsletter.

News from Niall
We have received the following message from Niall Cherry which nicely rounds off the special weekend that was organised for UK members last June.
‘I would like to thank the organisers and members who took part in the special weekend, and express the hope that everyone enjoyed him-/herself. After returning to the UK I received an e-mail from one of the participants who gave the weekend a ‘satisfac¬tion mark’ of 11 on a scale of 1 to 10!! The weather was beautiful, and almost everything went accord¬ing to plan. The only minor problem was caused by the few closed roads we encountered on our trip to the Groesbeek area. I found it a fantastic weekend and, as on previous occasions, I learned a lot.
I hope we shall be able to organise a similar excur¬sion in 2007. I already have eight bookings for such a trip!
I would also like to thank everyone who sat down to dine on Sunday evening at the ‘Captain’s Table’ in the Schoonoord restaurant. It was a fitting finale to a memorable weekend. The UK representative even rendered a number of members speechless when, after allowing his wallet one of its rare visits to the outside world, he offered to buy a round of drinks! Members interested in the provisional 2007 week¬end excursion are welcome to contact me*.
(Niall Cherry)

Ted Shaw’s ashes interred
Arnhem veteran Edward Ernest (Ted) Shaw passed away at his home in Newton Abbot on 21 July 2005. He was 86 years of age.
In September 1944 Lieutenant Shaw commanded C Troop, 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery, Royal Artillery. He was later awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the Battle of Arnhem. He was a regular visitor to Oosterbeek after the war where, on most occasions, he was the guest of the Fennema family in Benedendorpsweg. For many years Ted represented the SFAM in the UK, and liaised between the veterans in England and the commemoration organisations in the Netherlands. But he was better known for the fact that, for a number of years, he and two schoolchildren placed flowers at the foot of the ‘Cross of Sacrifice’ in the Airborne Cemetery at the completion of the official wreath¬laying ceremony.
His ashes were laid to rest in the Airborne Cemetery on 16 September 2005 in the presence of a large number of people. The Reverend R.A.W. Boyce led the service. The small casket containing his ashes was buried in one of the pathways, immediately behind the headstone of Sergeant T.B. Rae, 7th Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers. A wreath was also laid on behalf of the Friends’ Society.

16 September 2005. Ted Shaw’s ashes are buried at the Airborne Cemetery, Oosterbeek.

Facelift for ‘Social Evenings’
Over the years it has become a tradition for the SFAM to organise a Social Evening in the Airborne Museum during February and/or March. The gener¬al programme was that a few members would exhibit part of their collection, and a tour would be made of the museum’s archives and restoration area under expert guidance.
On the initiative of the museum’s new director Mr Frans Smolders, the number of Social Evenings is to be increased and given a slightly different look. In 2006 it is the intention to organise several evening meetings which will be held in the upper room of the Kleyn Hartensteyn Restaurant in Oosterbeek. A guest speaker, either from within the society or out¬side, will be invited for each Social Evening. The speaker will give a talk on a specific subject related to Operation Market Garden. The subject could be the results of research, discussion of a publication with which the speaker is involved or has read, an unusual battlefield find, etc, etc. It is not intended that the entire evening should be given over to an in-depth discourse: that is the purpose of the theme afternoons. The ‘socials’ must have a Tow threshold’ character which, in principle, will encourage every¬one to dare to contribute. Afterwards, things can be discussed and information exchanged and talked about over a drink. The future aim is that the sub¬jects to be dealt with during the Social Evenings will be announced on the Airborne Museum’s website. Our former chairman Chris van Roekel will open the batting. On 25 January 2006 he will give a talk enti¬tled ‘No one holds the copyright on the past’. It will include a critical dissertation on the literature about the Second World War, and the degree to which this can have a guiding role in the updating of the Airborne Museum.
Should you be interested in giving a talk on one of the future Social Evenings, please contact our secre-tary Mr Ivar Goedings, c/o Airborne Museum or via e-mail goedings@van-lotringen.nl.
A long-cherished wish granted
One of the items the Airborne Museum has been searching for for years is a Eureka beacon. In September 1944 Eureka radio-beacons were used by the 21st Independent Parachute Company to indi¬cate the dropping and landing zones. These beacons transmitted a signal to the approaching aircraft where it was captured by the machines’ Rebecca receiving equipment. The signal was converted into a visual display which was shown on the screen of an ‘Indicating Unit Type 6E’. This enabled the pilot to identify the correct positions of the dropping and landing zones. It was also possible to transmit and receive short messages.
During the Battle of Arnhem the ‘Pathfinders’ were probably equipped with some 48 Eureka beacons, two of which were apparently lost. The Airborne Forces Museum in Aidershot has one incomplete Eureka, and there is one in the Netherlands of the type used at Arnhem, which consists of a transmit-ter-receiver and a power unit. At my farewell, and to my great surprise, I was presented with a Eureka Mk II Transmitter-Receiver TR 3174 by a Mr Van Riet from Arnhem. As the possessor of a complete unit he was aware of our wish. I handed the Eureka over to the Airborne Museum, so as well as the American Eureka, the ‘AN/PPN 1’, we now have a British ver¬sion. We are still short of a few components, but without doubt we shall come across them some¬where over the coming years.
(Wybo Boersma)

The Eureka Mk II Transmitter-Receiver TR 3174, recently obtained by the Airborne Museum.

‘General Service Medal’ for Don Jacobs
Don Jacobs is known by many as the man whose job it is to manage the Airborne Museum’s photo archives, a job he has done since 1990. It is less well- known that before then he was employed in many different jobs in several different countries across the world. Don served in the British army with the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), being stationed in the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt from 1954 until 1956. He recently received the General Service Medal with the ‘Canal Zone clasp, fifty years after that particular period of his service. Don left the REME in 1960, after which he took up employment with an American oil concern, working in such places as Libya and Borneo. He then became a driver-school instructor in London, as well as sell¬ing insurance and books. He later moved to Norway where he worked as a mountain guide employed by a Youth Hostel. He returned to the UK in 1965 where he managed a Youth Hostel in Dover before becom¬ing the assistant manager of a Ford garage. In 1966 he went to live in the Netherlands and worked in various jobs at ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) in Rozenburg near Rotterdam.
He retired in 1990, and, as mentioned above, since then he has worked part-time at the Airborne Museum as a volunteer.

‘Mary of Arnhem’
During the farewell reception on 23 September, retiring director Wybo Boersma presented the Airborne Museum with a farewell gift, an ‘Ausweis no. 2163’, dated October-December 1944 in the name of Helen Sensburg. This British lady was mar¬ried to a German. She worked as a typist at the ‘Reichs Rundfunk Gesellschaft’, where she was part of the ‘Landergruppe England’. In 1944 she became editor of the ‘Kampfsender Amheim’.
After the invasion (June 1944) the German minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, gave the order to acti-vate the radio transmissions aimed at allied forces. These transmissions came from Italy, France (Calais) and Belgium (Brussels). When these transmitters could no longer be used, Hilversum (the Netherlands) gained in importance. One of the transmitters there was the English language station Radio Arnhem. Helen Sensburg became its editor. Her colleague and deputy was Gerda Eschenberg, also a typist at the RRG. Besides these two ladies there was a third editor whose name is unknown. There were various other German and Dutch employees as well. The station went on air for the first time on 10 October 1944, but from Lopik, not Arnhem.
The station was a great success, mainly because it broadcast a lot of the popular music of the day and letters from POWs. Helen became known as ‘Mary of Arnhem’. The radio station is mentioned in several books which deal with the allied units that fought in the Netherlands in 1944-1945. The last broadcast was made on Wednesday 23 March 1945, and when the war ended a frantic search was made for ‘Mary of Arnhem’. For example, we know of a 1945 photo nf British servicemen in Arnhem who had dressed un a shop dress-model and added the caption ‘Mary of Arnhem’. She was eventually arrested by a Canadian and a Dutch officer (Wenkenbach), and nut behind bars. However, it seemed there were no official documents about her, and when this became apparent it seems she was released for no obvious reason. In 1948 her colleague Gerda Eschenberg published an article in the ‘Horzu’ paper, entitled ‘Ich war Mary von Amheim’ (I was Mary of Arnhem), which was untrue.
There is absolutely no trace of the actual ‘Mary of Arnhem’. Via contacts with collectors of militaria, Wybo succeeded in tracking down this Ausweis, and it is now part of the Airborne Museum’s collection.

Re-interment of British servicemen
In three recent Newsletters my highly appreciated namesake Geert Maassen wrote about, in his opin¬ion, the very slow, bureaucratic and unsympathetic manner in which the British Ministry of Defence deals with the issue of the finds of British service¬men’s remains in the surroundings of Arnhem. This criticism is understandable and undoubtedly stems from a deep ‘debt of honour’ feeling towards the allies who gave their lives during the fighting. This does him credit, which I greatly admire. Neverthe¬less, I am persuaded to think that Geert’s – well¬intended – views need a little tempering. I believe that a coloured picture has arisen which does not do justice to the efforts of the department responsible for this issue, namely the MoD-JCCC at Innsworth. From there this clarification.

The policy of the British government
The Ministry of Defence prefers to leave graves undisturbed, even an anonymous field grave. This means they have no active tracing policy (the same as in the Netherlands). However, should such a field grave be discovered by accident (building work, metal detection) they will do everything in their power to identify the remains, trace the next-of-kin and rebury the victim in a fitting manner. In the Netherlands this is done in close co-operation with the Burial Unit of the Dutch Army. This also applies to aircraft wrecks that still contain human remains. In principle these wrecks are left untouched out of respect for any remains contained within (an aircraft wreck has in fact the status of a field grave). But if a wreck represents a danger to safety or public order (such as possible unstable explosives on board), or is in the way of building work, the British government has no objection to recovery. Any crew remains ound will be buried in one coffin to symbolise their c ose bond. The Dutch government respects and conforms to the Ministry of Defence’s policy.
The Joint Casualty & Compassionate Centre’
ealing with human remains is a time-consuming Pr°cess that has to be carried out with care and in ic many emotions must be taken into account, or examp e, the impact on next-of-kin and veter¬ans, social/legal issues, involvement of the relevant
regiment etc. The tracing of 60 year old medical records for verification, or the tracing of next-of-kin, can take a lot of time. Until last year the British Army, Navy and Air Force each had its own Casualty & Compassionate Cell. On 11 April 2005 the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre was opened at Innsworth, Gloucestershire, where all the individual ‘Cells’ are now concentrated. This reorganisation took about two years, so it is not surprising that this has led to some delay in a number of investigations. The JCCC is managed by Wing Commander (retired) Hugh Gray-Wallis, and has the job of dealing with all military victims from the United Kingdom, whether they died in 1944 in Oosterbeek or in 2005 in Iraq. Up till now the co-operation between the JCCC and the Burial Unit has been very successful and prom¬ises a lot of perspective for the future. The JCCC Historic & Deceased Estates section is responsible for the WWII Commonwealth victims and goes about its work extremely thoroughly, and could be called exceptionally ‘open’ and approachable. The recent fruitful developments show that all requests for information or documentation are dealt with very energetically and by return. The suggestion that the Ministry of Defence places no copies of doc¬uments at the disposal of the Burial Unit is there¬fore based on a misunderstanding.
In fact, in 2006, and through the care of the JCCC, a British Airborne soldier will receive the military honour that is his due at the cemetery in Oosterbeek: L/Sgt Edward Hartley from the MMG Pin, S-Coy, 1 Border. The JCCC has already succeed¬ed in tracing his daughter. The remains of L/Sgt Hartley were unearthed in 1984 at the Kerkpad in Oosterbeek, but owing to the fact that a RE cap badge was found in the grave, he was buried in 1989 as an unknown Royal Engineer. In 2004 the Burial Unit was nevertheless able to identify him with the aid of his dental records.
Ergo:patience is a virtue. The absence of communication does not mean that nothing is actually being done. Identification investigations take a lot of time, as does the search for next-of-kin and the arrange¬ment of reburial. Complex interests sometimes play a role which at first glance are not apparent. It could be that the regiment responsible for the ceremony is serving in a war zone and its return is awaited. So it has absolutely nothing to do with laxity, lack of will, or a ‘low priority’ attitude. All organisations involved do their utmost; of this you can be certain. For information simply contact the Burial Unit or the British Embassy. They will be only too pleased to be of service as far as they can (and are allowed). Don’t be tempted into meddling in the process by, for instance, conducting independent research or contacting next-of-kin. You run the risk of uninten-tionally causing more harm than good. Leave this delicate work to the JCCC staff; that’s what they are trained for. Give them the chance to do it.
(Geert Jonker, SMI, Burial Unit, Royal Netherlands Army).

 

On 18 September 2005 a plaque was unveiled in com-memoration of the actions fought by men of the 7th (Galloway) Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers between 19 and 22 September 1944 in and around the Dreyeroord Hotel at Oosterbeek. Centre in the photograph is the hotel owner Mr A. van der Straaten with the plaque in the background. For many years Mr Van der Straaten and his son Jan, the manager, have given their selfless co¬operation to the annual reunion of the 7th KOSB. Right, Henk Duinhoven.(Galloway) Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers between 19 and 22 September 1944 in and around the Dreyeroord Hotel at Oosterbeek. Centre in the photograph is the hotel owner Mr A. van der Straaten with the plaque in the background. For many years Mr Van der Straaten and his son Jan, the manager, have given their selfless co operation to the annual reunion of the 7th KOSB. Right, Henk Duinhoven.

Plaque for Dreyeroord
As usual after the annual commemoration at the Airborne Cemetery in September this year, the vet-erans of the 7th (Galloway) Battalion the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (Airborne) again held their reunion. This reunion has been held for many years at the Hotel Dreyeroord in Graaf van Rechterenweg, Oosterbeek. The Van der Straaten family, long-time owners of the hotel, receive the veterans with open arms, the coffee is ready, and after the usual speech from Henk Duinhoven, soup and rolls are served. The ‘Borderers’ call the hotel the ‘White House’ for the simple reason that, for them in 1944, the name Dreyeroord was almost impossible to pronounce correctly… as is the case today.
This year, after a word of welcome, a fine plaque was unveiled next to the hotel door to commemo¬rate the fierce battle fought by the Borderers in and around the building between 19 and 22 September 1944. More than thirty of them died during the fight¬ing and were given temporary graves in the garden. The text was written by Major Michael Forman, commander of B Company during the battle. Sadly, Major Forman passed away earlier this year. The plaque, an initiative of Robert Sigmond, was made by Shuggie Hoskins from Scotland.

“The Royal Air Force at Arnhem Glider and re-supply missions in September 1944’
Much remains to be told about the Battle of Arnhem, among the latest offerings being ‘The Royal Air Force at Arnhem. Glider and re-supply missions in September 1944’, a book about the RAF’s part in the glider and re-supply flights to Arnhem. It is written in English by Luuk Buist, Philip Reinders and Geert Maassen, all three

During the presentation of the new book ‘The Royal Air Force at Arnhem’ on 16 September 2005, one of the authors, Philip Reinders, hands the first copy to Mrs Anne Long from Canada. She is the sister of Warrant Officer Peter Tonner, who was a crew member of Dakota KG-418 (512 Sqn) which made an emergency landing at De Buunderkamp, west of Wolfheze, on 20 September 1944. On 17 October 1945, Peter died in a Canadian hospital of meningitis and tuberculosis, diseases which he contract ed while a POW.

‘Friends of the Airborne Museum’.
It was an enormous logistical problem to transport the 1st British Airborne Division and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group in three days, some 12,000 men, with their transport, artillery, communication equipment, and enough ammuni¬tion, food and medical supplies for the first few days. A total of 1,260 transport aircraft and 663 glid¬ers were needed to take the troops to Nijmegen (the 1st Airborne Corps HQ) and to Arnhem. Where pos¬sible they avoided German AAA positions, flying over liberated areas where they could. On the way they were escorted by several squadrons of fighter aircraft. The first aircraft to depart on 17 September carried the ‘Pathfinders’, whose job it was to mark the dropping and landing zones. The tugs and glid¬ers left next.
The personal accounts of crew members virtually take us on board during the flight to Arnhem. In the eight days of missions we experience the weather conditions, the flak, the injuries from ground fire, the return flight(s) of crippled aircraft or the crash of an aeroplane. Clear tables indicate the airfield, the first pilot, the aircraft with number, and the depar¬ture and return times of each squadron involved. All unsuccessful glider and re-supply flights and crash¬es are given with the description of the aircraft con-cerned. No sorties were flown on 22 September and the last missions took place on 25 September. A brief day-by-day sketch is painted of the situation on the ground, the weather, if the northern or southern route was taken and the number of fight¬er squadrons employed, providing an excellent pic¬ture of the situation on the ground and in the air. After describing the glider and re-supply flights the book tells us something of the German AAA, the flak, at Arnhem. Here too personal stories by German flak gunners are included, which give a vivid account of their destructive work. In the next chapter Philip Reinders describes six crash sites as they appear 58 years after the battle. In the chapter ‘The aircraft and their Squadrons , all sixteen squadrons, with airfield, commander, crest, number and total sorties flown, are described. A table shows which ground unit used which type of navigation aid to guide the incoming aircraft. ‘Containers, pan¬niers and parachutes’ describes these and the roller track used for ejecting the panniers from the air¬craft. A list of supplies dropped completes this chapter. A further list of aircraft, their emergency landings and crashes per aircraft, the names of the crew members and their fate, and a ‘Roll of Honour’ introduce the last chapter, which mentions the dec¬orations awarded for Arnhem.
The authors have done admirably, and carried out a tremendous amount of research. The personal sto¬ries bring you close to events, making for a gripping book that allows you to experience the huge achievements of the RAF aircrews. The book reads easily, is 200 pages long, well illustrated, and pub¬lished by the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum. This book is more ‘accessible’ compared with the two books by Arie-Jan Hees, “nigs and Gliders to Arnhem’ and ‘Green On!’, which also touch on the same subject. However, the two books mentioned are more in the form of reference works which deal with the subject in much greater detail. ‘The Royal Air Force at Arnhem. Glider and re-sup- ply missions in September 1944’ costs € 37.50. (Okko Luursema)

‘All Men are Brothers’
That is the title of a recently published ‘Roll of Honour’ dedicated to the 93 parachutists of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group and the three Polish pilots who died at Arnhem. It was compiled by Andries Hoekstra from Arnhem, who with this book wishes to contribute to the rehabili-tation of the brigade and its commander, Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski.
For the capture of the bridge at Arnhem in September 1944, the British 1st Airborne Division was reinforced by the Polish Parachute Brigade. The 1,500-man strong brigade was scheduled to land south of the Rhine bridge on 19 September 1944, but because of bad weather conditions only part of the brigade was dropped two days later. Even then it was at Driel, not at the Rhine bridge. The material flown m earlier by glider was nearly all lost during the landing at ‘Johannahoeve’. The Poles had virtually no means of crossing the Rhine, but some 350 men did manage to reach the north bank of the

De Westerbouwing (Oosterbeek), 16 September 2005. The compiler of the book ‘All Men are Brothers’, Andries Hoekstra (centre), presents the first copies to veterans of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group and to the Polish Ambassador. He was assisted by Frans Ammerlaan (left).

river. The rest of the brigade fought on at Driel, and kept the way open for the 2,000 British troops to reach their own lines following the withdrawal across the Rhine during the night of 25/26 September 1944. Later, the British army command¬ers largely blamed the Poles, quite unjustifiably, for the failure of the Battle of Arnhem.
The book is in Polish and English. It begins with a chapter on the history of the brigade and its com-mander General Sosabowski, followed by the ‘Roll of Honour’. The left hand pages give the personal details of each soldier who died and a portrait pho¬tograph. The right-hand pages carry a large colour photo of the relevant grave. The title of the book is taken from a dramatic moment from the Battle of Arnhem in which a Polish soldier died in the arms of a Medical Corps soldier. His last words were ‘Why all this misery? All men are brothers’.
The book was presented on Friday afternoon 16 September 2005 in an open area in the woods close to De Westerbouwing restaurant in Oosterbeek, a spot which gives a panoramic view of the former battlefield at Driel. The first copy was presented to the grandson of General Sosabowski, Michael Sosabowski, in the presence of several Polish veter¬ans and the Polish Ambassador to the Netherlands. ‘All Men are Brothers’ can be ordered via the www.marketgarden.com website and from various bookshops in the Arnhem area. It costs € 22,50.

Banner of the Polish parachutists presented to the Airborne Museum
At the end ofWW II most of the Polish parachutists who fought at Arnhem did not return to Poland, preferring to remain in Britain. On 25 February 1948 they set up the ‘Polish Airborne Forces Association’ in England with Walny Zjazd as its first president. Only when the Cold War ended, could parachutists who lived in Poland become members. On 14 September 1959 the association was presented with a banner in Driel. The money for this was col¬lected by the inhabitants of the places where the Poles had fought.
Over the years the number of members had fallen to such an extent that this year the association took the decision to disband and have their banner housed in the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’. The banner was handed over on the steps of the muse¬um on 18 September. The ceremony was conduct¬ed by the then president Major (Retd) T.J. Herman and the General Secretary Madame Lieutenant (Retd) I. Hrynkiewicz, in the presence of the Polish veterans who had attended the 61st commemora¬tion that weekend. Wybo Boersma accepted the banner on behalf of the Airborne Museum Foundation. It will be on permanent display in the museum as a reminder of the efforts of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group in September 1944.

18 September 2005. Wybo Boersma accepts the banner of the Polish Airborne Forces Association from the hands of Major TJ Herman (retd) on the steps of the Airborne Museum’The ba7ne7wiUbeon display in the museum to commemorate the part played by the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group at the Battle of Arnhem.

Captain Killick’s Luger pistol
One of the well-known series of photos of a British patrol in Weerdjesstraat at Arnhem taken by pho-tographer Sem Presser on 18 September 1944, shows Captain John Killick carrying what is obviously a German Luger pistol. Niall Cherry wrote to Sir John Killick in 2003, and one of the questions he asked was ‘How did you come by that German weapon?’ Sir John replied: ‘I certainly didn’t have a Luger before I went to Arnhem. While on my way to Arnhem after landing on 17 September I came across a deserted German HQ in De Tafelberg hotel in Oosterbeek. Only later did I learn that it was the headquarters of German Army Group B! It seems that Model and his men had left in some haste because their lunch was still on the table. After a quick look round I felt a bit isolated, so I went on my way on the German motorcycle I had found some¬where and rejoined the 1st Parachute Brigade HQ.
I then received permission to return to the German HQ with one of my men for a more detailed look. If we had had the time for a really thorough search the place would certainly have provided a gold¬mine of information. We ‘confiscated’ a few Lugers, and I replaced my .38 Smith and Wesson with one of them. I put the Smith and Wesson on the motor¬cycle, which eventually I had to abandon just before reaching the Rhine bridge in Arnhem. I never saw it again’.

Ministories on CD-Rom
Requests for old Ministories are still regularly received, but unfortunately some have been unavailable for a very long time. In an endeavour to meet these requests our former chairman Chris van Roekel has scanned all the Ministories up to and including number 88, and put them on a CD-Rom. Dutch and English editions will be available at a cost of € 20.

Ede in Wapenrok’ reprinted
The book ‘Ede in Wapenrok’ (Ede in Uniform) was published in May 2004. It was written by society member Evert van de Weerd in conjunction with Gerjan Crebolder. This study deals with two cen¬turies of military history in the municipality of Ede, and includes wide coverage of the Battle of Arnhem. The publication was mentioned in Newsletter No. 94, and was quickly sold out.
However, a modified and expanded version has recently been published. A DVD entitled ‘De Bevrijding van deVeluwe 1945′ (The liberation of the Veluwe 1945) which shows pictures of the airborne landings in 1944, the liberation of Arnhem, Ede-De Klomp, Lunteren, Barneveld, Nunspeet, Harderwijk and Apeldoorn, and the German capitulation in Wageningen is included as well. There are also ama-teur pictures of the liberation parade in 1985. This 40-minute long DVD can be bought separately for € 5,50. Order from bookshops or direct via www.bduboeken.nl.

Military Library Research Service Ltd
We would like to draw your attention to the excep-tional publishing house mentioned in the above title. The house has been in existence for 18 months. The Military Library Research Service (MLRS) specialises in the publication of original source material about various military subjects, including the Second World War. These cover reports originally issued in small numbers, and in most cases reside in official British, Canadian and American archives. MLRS has reached agreement with such bodies as the National Archives in London (the former Public Record Office) and the Canadian National Archives, to photocopy certain documents in their collections, to duplicate and publish them. One of MLRS’s directors is military historian David Westwood, who served with the Parachute Regiment from 1962 until 1966. Because of this he has a great interest in the history of air¬borne forces.
A major project with which they are involved at present is the publication of a series of ‘Cabinet Papers’. These are official reports, in this case about military operations, which were compiled shortly after the war by staff officers from the war diaries of the units involved. These reports were intended for use as the basis for the yet to be published ‘Official Histories’. The interesting point about these Cabinet Papers is that they concern documents which record events as factually as possible. They there¬fore give as complete a picture as possible, as yet ‘untainted’ by political opinions.
One of the recent issues in this series is ‘Operation MARKET GARDEN and the Battle of Arnhem’ (CAB 44/252 & CAB 44/254). This report is sub-divided into three chapters entitled ‘HQ 21 Army Group’, ‘21 Army Group Operations 29 Aug. to 30 Sep. 44, excluding operation “MARKET GARDEN” and Second Army operations 27 to 30 Sep. 44’ and ‘Operation “MARKET GARDEN” and Second Army operations 27 to 30 Sep. 44’. All possible aspects of the planning and execution of the different opera¬tions are described in detail.
Without going into too much detail about the con¬tents, one can rest assured that we have here an almost inexhaustible source of information. At the back of the book are reduced-size maps in colour and aerial photos on which all manner of information is marked. This 322-page report should have a place in the library of anyone seriously interested in operation ‘Market Garden’! The price is £ 49.
MLRS has a website, www.mlrsbooks.co.uk, which contains all the works so far published. New titles are added to the site each week. All publications can also be ordered from the website. It is a fine initia¬tive of a few enthusiastic people to make source material from archives accessible to everyone, and the (amateur) historian will undoubtedly find it of great use. Highly recommended!
(Robert Voskuil)

‘Airborne Battle Wheels’ booklet
This year the ‘Airborne Battle Wheels Oosterbeek’ (ABWO) foundation celebrated its tenth anniversary. To mark the occasion a jubilee booklet was pub¬lished in September which gives a more-or-less photographic overview of the ABWO’s re-enactment activities over recent years.
The ABWO members are mainly Dutch, British and Polish, who are equipped with original vehicles, uni-forms, various pieces of equipment and (disabled) weapons, all of the type used by the British airborne troops in 1944. Every year a large ‘army camp’ is erected for the period of the Battle of Arnhem com-memorations. This year it was built in the grounds of the J.P. Heije foundation in Oosterbeek. During the commemorations the ABWO organises various events, including the ‘Race to the Bridge’ and the reconstruction of a position of a troop of 75 mm Howitzers, and takes veterans for trips in old army vehicles.
Photographs of all these activities are contained in the booklet which, though intended principally for members, could also be of value to people interest¬ed in re-enactment. It gives an excellent impression of the atmosphere within the club and of the com-prehensive collection of vehicles and material they have at their disposal. The text in ‘Airborne Battle Wheels Oosterbeek, 10th anniversary’ is in Dutch and English, but the captions are in English only. It is a nicely produced book which was compiled by Ramon Berlauwt and published by R.N. Sigmond Publishing in Renkum. The booklet is available in the Airborne Museum and at the Oosterbeek book¬shops, price € 13,50.

Commemorative envelope 2005
On 17 September 2005 the Airborne Museum issued its annual commemorative envelope, the tenth in the series with ‘Monuments of the Battle of Arnhem’ as subject. The envelope shows the monu¬ment to the people of Gelderland to remember the support they gave the British and Polish soldiers of the 1st British Airborne Division in September 1944. The monument, which is near the Hartenstein, was unveiled in September 1994 by General Sir John Hackett as part of the 50th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem. In 1944 General Hackett, then Brigadier, commanded the 4th Parachute Brigade.
The issue consists of 250 numbered copies, each of which being franked on 17 September 2005 at the Oosterbeek Post Office. Copy No. 1 was given to the Leader of the Pilgrimage 2005, Colonel John Waddy. The commemorative envelopes are for sale in the Airborne Museum, Oosterbeek, for € 3,50. The issue of this envelope ends the ‘Monuments of the Battle of Arnhem’ series.
A limited number of envelopes from previous years are still available in the museum to enable you to complete your set. See also website: www.airborne- museum.com.

In June 1946 the wreckage of Stirling LJ-833 was recovered from the river Maas near Batenburg, and stacked on the river bank.

Batenburg saved from disaster!’
A raw, wet, cold wind blows across the south English countryside. It is still early in the morning of Thursday 21 September 1944, the 5th day of the the crash in Dieden near Batenburg, where it was serving as an access gate to some pig pastureland.
Battle of Arnhem, as the personnel of Fairford airfield in Gloucestershire, the home base of 190 and 620 Squadrons, Transport Command, RAF, go about their work. The initial preparations have been made to ready the transport aircraft scheduled to fly re¬supply missions today. They will be taking supplies to the men of the 1st British Airborne Division near the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek, about eight kilometres from Arnhem.

The monument on the dike in Batenburg commemorating the men urho lost their lives in Stirling LJ-833 when it was shot down there on 21 September 1944. The memo rial is part of the aircraft’s undercarriage. It was found sixty years after the crash in Dieden near Batenburg, where it was serving as an access gate to some pig pas tureland.

A total of 117 British transport aircraft from various airfields in England will be taking part in this day’s sorties, including 21 Short Stirling aircraft from Fairford. This will be no pleasure trip, as the RAF air-crews are well aware. They know that their col¬leagues have had a rough time on previous mis¬sions, suffering heavy losses in aircraft and men. The British ground troops at Oosterbeek have been involved in heavy fighting for days now, and have been driven into a corner by the Germans. There is a shortage of heavy weapons, ammunition, food and other necessities, and the RAF crews are very conscious of the fact that the ground troops depend on them for the delivery of their supplies.
Once the aircraft have been topped up with fuel and ammunition, the supplies to be dropped are loaded with great care. While the machines undergo a final check, headquarters staff brief the crews with the final details needed for a successful flight. The weather forecasts are anything but favourable. Clearer weather is expected in the afternoon so the mission is scheduled to begin around midday. Because of the large number of aircraft involved m the sortie it has been decided to fly in in four waves. Fifteen of the 21 Fairford machines go as the third wave, taking off between 12.10 and 12.20 British time one hour behind Dutch time.
One ’of the re-supply aircraft flying today is Short Stirling LJ-833 (190 Sqn) flown by Flight Lieutenant A Anderson and his crew. Around noon they receive permission to take off, and away they go. Flight Lieutenant Anderson heads for the agreed assembly point, and searches for the rest of the formation. The aircraft then fly in formation to the dropping zones near Oosterbeek. The flight goes smoothly with no interference from flak or enemy aircraft. However, as they fly over the Netherlands, the American fighters promised for their protection fail to materialise, much to everyone’s astonishment. Shortly afterwards they are attacked by German fighter aircraft, and as they begin their approach to the dropping zone, the formation flies into a net¬work of anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft are given a hammering, which hinders the supply drop, but once the supplies are gone the single thought in every crew member’s mind is to get away from this deadly spot as quickly as possible. The return flight to the safe south begins immediately.
Suddenly Flight Lieutenant Anderson’s aircraft is attacked on all sides by flak and fast-approaching German fighters. One of the Stirling’s engines receives a direct hit and stops, and then a wing bursts into flames. There is some panic on board, and the crew of LJ-833 have their work cut out keep¬ing the crippled machine in the air. They are unable to shake off the vicious, hostile German fighters. The fire in the wing is out of control: a hopeless sit¬uation. The aircraft is losing height fast, so the order to bail out is given, the order for the men to get out immediately by parachute. The Stirling is at 500 feet, and the men have yet to jump, and as the battered aeroplane approaches the river Waal two men bail out in a hurry. In the meantime the German fighters persist in their attacks, hoping to administer the coup-de-grace.
Flight Lieutenant Anderson decides to try a belly- landing with the barely-flyable, burning Stirling, and starts looking for a suitable spot to set it down. To his horror a small town appears from nowhere, dead ahead. The population of that town, Batenburg, fears the worst as they see the groaning, blazing machine approaching. A crash among the closely-packed houses would be a catastrophic dis¬aster, because there are many, many farms with thatched roofs. As if by a miracle Flight Lieutenant Anderson manages to guide his Stirling past the town. Almost immediately it hits the waters of the river Maas, breaks up on impact and sinks.
Three members of the crew are saved by people from Batenburg who have rushed to the scene. Sadly, the rescuers arrive too late for the other crew¬men: the river Maas is too cold and the currents are too treacherous. A few days later three bodies are washed up between Batenburg and Appeltern. The two men who bailed out do not survive, and one other RAF airman is listed as missing. In mid-June 1946 the wreck of LJ-833 is recovered from the Maas, and during the recovery the body of navigator Flying Officer Adamson is found.
Of the 21 aircraft that left Fairford for the re-supply mission on 21 September 1944, nine failed to return. Sixty years on, part of an aircraft is discovered by chance in Dieden, a Brabant village near Batenburg. The aircraft part is built into an access gate to a pig pasture. Historical research by J. Arts, amateur his-torian with the Local History Group Megen, Haren and Macharen, quickly concludes that it is part of the landing gear of Short Stirling LJ-833 from Batenburg. Together with ‘Het Batenburgs Erfgoed’ and the owner of the access gate J. Arts finally suc¬ceeds in finding a fitting ‘last home’ for the aircraft component. A monument! Yes, a fitting monument had to be raised in honour of the servicemen who died saving Batenburg from disaster. On 21 Sep¬tember 2004, sixty years after the tragic event, a monument was unveiled on the Ringdijk at Batenburg, close to the point where the crash hap¬pened.
Because it coincided with the 60th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem, the unveiling of the monu¬ment did not receive the attention it deserved. Therefore, Short Stirling LJ-833 was remembered on Wednesday 21 September 2005. This time it was an exceptional commemoration. Besides representa¬tives from the British and Dutch air forces, the cer¬emony was given an extra-special tint with a fly¬past by an historic British aircraft. After the wreath¬laying, a Dakota from the ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ did a number of low fly-bys, a true tribute to the young, dead servicemen.
The servicemen from 190 Squadron who died were: Flight Lieutenant A. Anderson (RAF), Flying Officer A. Adamson (RAF), Flight Sergeant W. Tolley (RAF), Flight Sergeant A. Bellamy (RAF), Flight Sergeant G.F. Conry Candler (RAF) and Driver A. Abbott (Air Despatches RASC).
Sixty-one years ago they gave their young lives on Dutch soil for our so precious freedom.
(Jac. Arts, Groote Woordstraat 5, 5368 AH Haren, tel.
0412 462592, e-mail: s.arts@planet.nl)

Monument to the Resistance of Arnhem
Sixty years after the end of the Second World War the town of Amhem now has a monument to the memory of the organised civilian resistance to the German occupier in the period 1940-1945. The memorial is affixed to the rear elevation of the Musis Sacrum building, and was unveiled on 17 September 2005 by the lady burgomaster of Arnhem, Mrs Pauline Krikke. The initiative for the raising of the monument came from Arnhem veter¬an Bob Peatling who, after the Battle of Arnhem, was kept out of German hands by the Resistance during the winter of 1944/1945. The monument consists of a huge photograph of a wild, cloudy sky, which is printed on 128 one square metre aluminium plates using the silk-screen printing technique. The inscription reads ‘De meeste mensen zwijgen, een enkeling stelt een daad’ (Most people remain silent. A single one takes action).
See also the article by Bob Peatling below.

17 September 2005. Arnhem veteran Bob Pentling is interviewed by a television crew after the unveiling of the monument to the Arnhem Resistance on the rear wall of the Musis Sacrum building.

The Resistance helped 186 men to cross back over the Rhine!
Little is known in the United Kingdom about the Resistance movement in the Netherlands during World War 2. The organisation of the escape opera-tion Pegasus 1 in October 1944 took a month, and resulted in the successful escape across the Rhine of 138 officers and men who were left behind after the Battle of Arnhem. The story of this escape is bril-liantly told by Major Digby Tatham Warter, com-mander of A Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. It is entitled ‘Dutch Courage and Pegasus’, and is includ¬ed in its entirety in my book ‘Without Tradition 2 Para 1941-45’. In it all honour is given to the Resistance movement for the organisation of the plan and for the reconnoitring of the route during the nightly curfew.
Forty-eight other people were also fleeing the occu-pied area. They were brought together by Resistance people who guided them on their 50 km long jour-ney to Sliedrecht, where they were able to reach the liberated south via ‘De Biesbosch’, a marshy area criss-crossed by waterways. These two to four hour journeys by canoe were carried out in February and March 1945 on freezing cold nights. Some Resistance members made such journeys every night. They were the real heroes. I have never come across this story in English, but everyone who took part is mentioned, with the date and time at which they reached the southern bank, in a 1998 Dutch publication, ‘Gevangen op de Veluwe’ (Imprisoned on the Veluwe), by W. Noordman.
My own interest centres mainly on the Arnhem Resistance group because I spent from 31 October till 31 December 1944 with them in the heart of the town. After writing about them in my book ‘No Surrender at Arnhem’, published in 2004,1 contact¬ed the editor-in-chief of ‘De Gelderlander’ newspa¬per with the question: ‘Why, in a town with so many monuments, is there no memorial recognising the people who took so many risks for us under such dangerous circumstances?’ My ideas were taken seriously, and were made known to its readers by De Gelderlander, whereupon proposals were made and money collected. On 17 September this year the monument was unveiled on the south wall of the Musis Sacrum in Arnhem.
In most places the Resistance was well organised. For me they found good hideout addresses with farmers, who could not do enough to help me. At the last address I had the additional luck that there were eight children, who called me uncle Karel or uncle Kees!
I saw how these people worked and cared. They forged identity papers for those who needed them. For me they made an ‘Ausweis’ with photo that did its job when I wanted to leave Arnhem and was stopped at a checkpoint. They found hideout addresses and organised food where and when nec¬essary. When a Jewish family was discovered by the Germans, their small daughter was taken into a lov¬ing Dutch family. Every day broadcasts by the BBC were listened to. The news was typed up, duplicated and brought around to the people in the country¬side. Everything was done to frustrate the enemy. On Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday in 1943 a man climbed a tall factory chimney and painted ‘Long Live the Queen’ on it from top to bottom. The fol¬lowing year a banner with the same text was fixed to the Rhine bridge in Arnhem. Without doubt these sorts of actions greatly irritated the occupier, but the message was clear.
The Underground Resistance paid a high price. After I left Arnhem at the end of December 1944, five men from my surroundings were picked up by the ‘Sicherheitsdienst’. Only two of them returned alive from the camp in May 1945.
Next time you are in Arnhem make sure you visit the monument to the Resistance!
(Bob Peatling)

The supply pannier bearing the letter T which was used for the dropping of ammunition during the Battle of Arnhem, and doubled as a baby’s crib after the war.

Gift of supply pannier
The Airborne Museum was recently been given a British supply pannier. It is the so-called outer pan-nier which was slid over an inner basket. This par-ticular pannier came down near Jacobaweg 9 in Oosterbeek on 21 September 1944. A letter T was marked on the outside. According to an eyewitness its parachute was blue, and it contained two crates of 6-pounder anti-tank ammunition.
After the war the pannier was used for years as a cradle. Alas, there are no surviving photographs of this period. If by chance you should have a photo of a similar supply pannier being used as a crib or trav¬el trunk, would you please contact the Airborne Museum. We would like to have a copy of such a photo for the museum collection.
(Roland Boekhorst, maintenance staff)
Rectification
On page 3 of Ministory 87 (Newsletter no. 99) the name Miep Mekkink-Verdoorn is given in a caption. Mrs E. Staf from Leidschendam let us know via the author of the Ministory that the name should be Miep Verdoorn-Van de Brink.

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editor: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil
Editorship address: Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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From the Board
The issue of this edition coincides with Geert Maassen’s decision to relinquish his position as member of the Newsletter editorship, a post he has held for 10 years. Pressure of work has brought him to this decision. Geert joined the Newsletter editing team in 1993, with number 49 to be exact. Over the years that followed he regularly produced articles covering a wide range of topics. Besides this he edit-ed the contributed Ministories with painstaking accuracy, often accompanied by critical comment. In this his encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of our municipality was of inestimable value.
The members and board of the Society of Friends would like to thank Geert for all he has done for the society. Fortunately, he has indicated that he will still be available for editorial work if required. Geert will also continue his work with the publication commission.

25th Jubilee
The celebration of the Society of Friends’ Silver Jubilee on Saturday 21 May attracted several hun-dred members and other interested parties to the Airborne Museum. A number of stands had been set up around the museum in which representatives of the SFAM and other organisations exhibited muse¬um pieces and gave demonstrations. There were stands displaying radio equipment, medical items, model making, books, etc, and a large tent in which all sorts of weapons were on show. Also there for inspection were a Bren carrier, a 25-pounder artillery piece and a howitzer. The public was able to view all the museum exhibits at close hand, even being allowed to handle and/or touch them, something which a museum does not normally allow. All ques¬tions were expertly answered. The weather was ideal, which encouraged many people to remain in the grounds for quite a time, enjoying the snacks and drinks provided by the Schoonoord restaurant. Later in the afternoon a number of members gathered in the museum’s large room for the more ‘official’ part of the day. In his speech our chairman Ben Kolster spoke in glowing terms of the close bond between the society and the Airborne Museum. The SFAM’s support of the museum was emphasised by the presentation of a cheque to Mr Groeneweg, who thanked Ben on behalf of the Airborne Museum Foundation.
Thanks to the efforts of legions of volunteers, among others, the SFAM can look back on a wonderfully successful jubilee!
(Erik van der Meiden)

Three members of the Society of Friends sit chatting one of the 17-pounder guns next to the Airborne Museum during the SFAM’s Silver Jubilee on 21 May 2005

 

61st Commemoration programme on internet
The Stichting Airborne Herdenkingen (Airborne Com¬memoration Foundation) has put the programme for the 61st Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem on internet: see www.airbome-herdenkingen.nl.

Wybo Boersma standing down as director
On 17 September 2005 Wybo Boersma will be leav-ing his function as director of the Airborne Museum. He will be succeeded by Frans Smolders – deputy director/curator since June 2004 – on 1 October 2005. Wybo began working at the museum as a volunteer in 1972 and was elected to the Airborne Museum board of directors in 1974. After taking early retire¬ment from the Dutch Army in 1991 he was to be found every day working as a volunteer in the museum. He was also the guiding force behind the big renovation project in 1993/1994. After the reno¬vation he became director of the Airborne Museum. Mr Boersma will retain his links with the museum as member of the foundation board.
A reception to mark Wybo’s farewell as director will be held in the Airborne Museum on 23 September next, starting at about 17.00 hours.

Changes in the foundation board
Over a very short period we have lost three mem¬bers of the Airborne Museum Foundation Board through retirement from their respective functions. Mr Andre de Vries resigned as chairman for person¬al reasons. He took up this position in 2004. It was under his guidance that the museum’s innovation plans came into being. Vice-Chairman Jook van Slooten takes over as ad interim chairman
Aad Groeneweg and Gerrit Pijpers intend standing down as board members as soon as replacements can be found. Aad Groenweg has been a foundation board member since 1975. He will continue as advi-sor to the museum. Mr Van Slooten took over Aad’s function as vice-chairman at the beginning of July 2005.
Gerrit Pijpers joined the board in 1995. His present work with the Royal Dutch Air Force gives him too little time to carry out a board function at the Airborne Museum.
The Foundation’s board of directors owes a great debt of gratitude to this retiring trio for the massive amount of work they have done for the museum over the years.
The Airborne Museum Foundation will very shortly be looking for new members to fill these vacancies.

Lecture on re-supply flights
On Saturday 3 December 2005 society member Arie- Jan van Hees will be giving a lecture on the re-sup¬ply flights carried out by British Stirling and Dakota squadrons to the Arnhem battle zone between 17 and 26 September 1944. The organisation of air despatch operations will also be gone into in detail. Arie-Jan published a book on the subject in 2004, entitled ‘Green On, The Story of the Arnhem re-sup- ply’. Signed copies of the book will be on sale on the afternoon of the lecture.
The lavishly-illustrated lecture will be held in the Concert Hall in Rozensteeg, Oosterbeek, starting at 14.00 hours (doors open 13.30 ours).

Questionnaire
In March this year all Dutch members of the Society of Friends received a questionnaire. We propose using the results of this questionnaire to help for-mulate a future vision for the society.
1035 forms were sent out and up to now 213 have been returned completed, for which we thank you! If you have not yet filled in the questionnaire but intend doing so, you still have time to send it to: Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, c/o St.Bernulphusstraat 8, 6861 GS, Oosterbeek. The data contained in the returned questionnaires will be processed during the winter.
(Erik van der Meiden)

Photo site located
A photograph appeared in the September 2004 issue of the Newsletter (number 95) showing an open area with a number of houses in the background. Clouds

Until last year we had no idea that this photograph had been taken at Beethovenlaan in Arnhem. Date. 17 September 1944.

of smoke are visible on the left. The only informa-tion we had at the time of inclusion was that it was taken on 17 September 1944 by Dr. R.S. Tjaden- Modderman, probably in Arnhem. Our question then was: where was the photographer standing when he took the photo and what caused the smoke?
Shortly after Newsletter no 95 had been issued we came across Mr Tjaden-Modderman’s name in the book ‘De illegale camera 1940-1945, Nederlandse fotografie tijdens de Duitse bezetting’ (The illegal camera 1940-1945, Dutch photography during the German occupation), by Veronica Hekking and Flip Bool (Naarden, 1995). The compilers of the book had been allowed to borrow the original album from a private collection for their research. The photo in question had the following caption: ‘the airborne landings at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. This was a limited bombing raid on houses in Beethovenlaan in Arnhem…(photo taken a few sec¬onds after the first bomb fell)’. This text is missing from the photo in the Gelders Archive, which pos¬sesses reproductions only, without text.
Five of our society members, Messrs J. de Vries, K.H. Kwabek, J. Back and H.Timmerman from Arnhem, and Mr D. Kolenbrander from Velp, confirmed the location as being Beethovenlaan in the Alteveer dis¬trict of Arnhem-Noord. All five came to the conclu¬sion that the photographer took the picture from Lisztstraat, looking in a north-westerly direction. On the left, along Mahlerstraat, one can see the fir trees on the steep slope down to the former Municipal Hospital, now the Rijnstate Hospital. The trees are still there, and the house furthest right in Beet¬hovenlaan is numbered 27 and 29. Flats have now been built on the open area in the foreground, so a comparable photo can no longer be made.

Aerial photo taken on 6 September 1944 showing, in the centre, the area photographed by Dr. R.S. Tjaden-Modderman on 17 September 1944. 1. Lisztstraat, where the photographer was standing when he took the photo. 2. Beethovenlaan, with houses on the north side. 3. Mahlerstraat, with the slope – with a strip of darker coloured fir trees at the top – down to the former Municipal Hospital. The triangular open ground lying between the three above-mentioned streets is visible in the foreground of Mr Tjaden-Modderman’s photo. After the war this area was built on.

Mr Kolenbrander had something else to add con-cerning the plumes of smoke. According to him they were caused by an attack from a fighter aircraft, probably a Typhoon. At that moment he was at the corner of Bachlaan and Cattepoelseweg, and he thinks the attack occurred around midday. He refers us to the book ‘De Zwarte Herfst’ (The Black Autumn) by C.A. Dekkers and L.P.J. Vroemen (Weesp, 1984). The following police report from 17 September 1944 is reproduced on page 25: ‘12.30 hours: telephone call reports bomb explosions in
Bachlaan, 3 to 4 houses hit, possible casualties’. We have been unable to verify if the above-mentioned incident actually caused the smoke that can be seen. Any further information would be gratefully received.
The editors would like to thank those members who took the trouble to respond to our appeal.
(Robert Voskuil)

UK Members Weekend 16-18 June 2005
Once again I was privileged to be part of the UK members’ weekend. Even though I missed the walk on the Friday afternoon I’m told it was, as usual, expertly led by Niall Cherry, with a number of stops at salient points around Oosterbeek. They ended up at the relatively new Operation Berlin memorial which few people had been to before. Anyway, Saturday morning came hot and sunny, and this year it was to be a 1st Parachute Brigade day. Various locations were visited and numerous new stories told. Indeed, on the Bredelaan I was interested to hear from a group member the story of a pistol lib-erated from the Kussin car by a member of the 3rd Parachute Battalion. The majority of the day was spent looking at the actions of B Company of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, led by the highly knowl-edgeable David van Buggenum. One of the high¬lights was going to the scene of their action at the now disused Oosterbeek Laag station. Whilst David was recounting the events of 17th September 1944, the current owner produced a WW2 Army green right angled torch that he had recently dug up from his garden.
Neither was C Company of the 2nd Parachute Battalion ignored, and Marcel Anker walked and talked about their actions in the St Elisabeths Hospital area towards Arnhem. Later on we fol- 3 lowed the route of B Company from the pontoon bridge to the road bridge, taking the opportunity on the way to match up some of the famous Sem Presser photos. I was quite unaware of the actual spot before the weekend. All in all an excellent day, with Niall and Eugene providing a booklet contain¬ing maps and photographs to help orientate us.
Sunday was a bit of a journey into the unknown for many of us, as we looked at some areas away from Arnhem. We visited a couple of the US dropping and landing zones before arriving at the LZ of Browning’s 1st Airborne Corps HQ. Visits also fol-lowed to the Groesbeek Memorial to the Missing and Nijmegen to look at the Guards Armoured Division actions. We walked across the road bridge before meeting the vehicles for a most welcome lunch on the banks of the Waal. After lunch we drove round the Island looking at various scenes of actions of the Polish Parachute Brigade and the 43rd Wessex Division. On the banks of the Rhine at Driel, Niall offered us the option of taking the ferry across the river or driving around. The whole party went with Niall on the passenger ferry- a bargain at 60 cents. This gave us all an excellent view down the Rhine towards Arnhem.
All in all another excellent trip, and thanks must go to Eugene and Niall for the tour notes and adminis-tration, the speakers at various locations, the Dutch friends who helped with transport and lunches, notably Bob, Robert, Erik, Annejoke van der Meiden and Monique Wijnhoud. If I’ve missed anyone it is entirely accidental and please accept my apologies. There is talk of a further weekend in 2007 and I’d wholeheartedly recommend the weekend to any UK member. Anyone who’s previously thought about going and hasn’t has certainly missed an excellent trip.
(Lawrence Le Carre)

Hideout remains visited
During the Battle of Arnhem, nine men of the 10th Parachute Battalion hid-out in a hut in the woods near the Kleine Kweek area to the north of Dreijenseweg. They probably arrived at this spot when, after the fighting at the La Cabine pumping station on 19 September 1944, they saw no real pos¬sibility of rejoining the bulk of the force on the south side of Amsterdamseweg. Information on this can be found in the books ‘Zwevend naar de Dood’ (chapter 14), ‘De Zwarte Herfst’ (chapter 46) and ‘Blik Omhoog’, part 3, page 898.
During a meeting with Mr Ben Oosting, South Veluwe supervisor of the Gelders Landscape, he mentioned that the remains of this hideaway were still to be found. He offered to show me the place, which a week later he did. When we got there the remains of the hut were clearly visible in two adja-cent places in the woods. Once the various twigs and branches had been removed the search could begin. A dangerous phosphorous grenade lay next to a piece of webbing and some bullets at the spot where the hut originally stood. Thirty metres or so further on lay more than a thousand rounds of British .303 rifle ammunition. We also came across three 20 mm cartridge cases from the guns of allied fighters. The munitions were removed to a safe spot and reburied. They were removed later by the Explosives Clearance Unit.
It is interesting that even now, 61 years after the Battle of Arnhem, there are still places to be found in the field that played a part in the battle.
(Philip Reinders)

British rifle ammunition and a phosphorous grenade found recently in a former hiding place of soldiers from the 10th Parachute Battalion in Kleine Kweek woods, north of Amsterdamseuieg, level with the ‘De Leeren Doede!’ restaurant.

’De Vergeten Executie’, (The forgotten execution)
In the book “Arnhem 44/45” (1981) by the former head of the Arnhem Municipal Archive, the late Mr P.R.A.van Iddekinge, is a passage on page 34 which tells of the shooting of three civilians at Sonsbeek Park. This is said to have happened on Wednesday 20 or Thursday 21 September 1944. A fourth civilian escaped. Van Iddekinge gave no further details.
Jos Diender, who works at the Sonsbeek visitors’ centre, has recently completed detailed research into this scarcely known piece of history, which even some ‘Arnhem connoisseurs’ doubt ever hap¬pened. The result of his investigation has now been described in a brochure and published by the Sonsbeek Visitors’ Centre. It is admirable how, thanks to intensive detective work, Mr Diender has bought to light the history of this execution in which two civilians were killed and two escaped. The booklet, illustrated with photos, highlights this dramatic event that took place at Sonsbeek Park more than 60 years ago. Fortunately there are still enthusiastic people about who are prepared to put in the time and effort to research these aspects of the Battle of Arnhem. The booklet is also a must for the Arnhem aficionados, and no one can quibble at the price of just € 1.
‘Arnhem, 20 September 1944, De Vergeten Executie’, by Jos Diender, is a Sonsbeek Visitors’ Centre, Arnhem publication. This 17-page booklet is avail¬able at the Sonsbeek Park visitors’ centre, Arnhem. (Wybo Boersma)

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editor: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil
Editorship address: Utrechtseweg 232,
6862 AZ Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.

English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbomemuseum.com

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From the board
As you will read elsewhere in this Newsletter, the Airborne Museum has great plans for the future. The museum will be expanded over the coming years and the exhibition itself will undergo thor¬ough modernisation.
The Friends Society is also busy considering the future. Much has been achieved and organised dur¬ing the past 25 years, but, as our chairman Ben Kolster made clear in his letter to the Dutch mem¬bers in March 2005: if we wish to continue in this vein we are going to need a lot of help. A society can only run smoothly if, besides the board of manage¬ment, there are sufficient volunteers who are will¬ing to help in the organising of events, giving lec¬tures, issuing of Newsletters and publications, and so on. In this way we, in conjunction with the Air¬borne Museum, can continue to ‘spread the word’ about operation Market Garden in the future.
The internet has developed at breakneck speed over the past few years. The amount of information available, including on subjects related to operation Market Garden, increases by the day. We, too, intend making far more use of this medium in the near future, and plans are now being made with a view to achieving this.
We would like to know how the membership sees our society, and for this reason the chairman has sent a copy of the above-mentioned letter and a questionnaire to all our Dutch members. So don’t forget to complete the form and return it to us. Thanking you in anticipation!

Opening of ‘Operation Amherst’ exhibition
Sixty years ago the centre and north of the Nether¬lands were liberated, chiefly by units from the Canadian and British armies. However, less well- known by far is the fact that French soldiers were also involved. During the night of 7/8 April 1945, two regiments of French parachutists, 702 men in all, were dropped in Drenthe and south-east Friesland. They were split up into 47 groups. Their orders were to secure all bridges along the allied lines of advance, and sow confusion among the German defenders. They were also required to capture the airfields at Steenwijk, Eelde and Leeuwarden, assist the local Resistance, and gather information. The operation was codenamed ‘Amherst’. Not all of the objectives were achieved and 33 French soldiers lost their lives in the fighting.

Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’, 8 April 2005. After offi cially opening the exhibition about operation ‘Amherst’, Mr Ihpet-Thome was presented with a commemorative plate by director Wybo Boersma. In April 1945, as a 1st Lieutenant, Mr TUpet-Thome took part in the airborne landings in the north of the Netherlands,

An exhibition was opened in the Airborne Museum on 8 April last featuring this final airborne operation in the Netherlands in World War II. A number of French veterans – who as young men had taken part in ‘Operation Amherst’ in April 1945 – were present at the opening. The exhibition runs until 30 October this year.
The book ‘Operation Amherst’ by Roger Flamand was published earlier in the Netherlands. It was translated from French into Dutch by J.H. Jansen and was published by Boom of Amsterdam (ISBN 90 5352 770 2). The book comprises 225 pages and is lavish¬ly illustrated with photographs. It is on sale in the Airborne Museum, price € 24.90.

Expansion plans for the Airborne Museum
On 1 July 2004 Frans Smolders was appointed new deputy director/curator of the Airborne Museum, his most important assignment being the producing of a plan for the modernisation and expansion of the museum. One of the basic reasons for this is the steady decline in the number of visitors who actual¬ly lived through the Second World War. This means that the museum must identify and aim at attract¬ing other target groups. Another problem is the museum’s size. It is too small to allow the develop¬ment of new initiatives relating to a more modern exhibition. With these and other points as the guid¬ing principles, Frans set about the task with great energy, and on April 11 was able to present the ini¬tial version of his plans. Accommodation is the fore¬most point in the plan. Huize Hartenstein was orig¬inally a private dwelling, later becoming a care home and later still an hotel. The house is now a listed building, therefore any possible extensions have to be handled with great care.
Some time ago former Society chairman Chris van Roekel proposed a plan for the building of an under¬ground extension on the south side of the Harten¬stein, and this plan has now been chosen. This will provide an increase in space of some 800 square metres, which, besides creating room for exhibits, will need to include an auditorium. The new entrance will be on the east side, and an external lift will be built on the west side. The extension design is the work of Oosterbeek architect Wim Visser. During the presentation it was emphasised that this is a provisional design which has still to be studied thoroughly by all concerned. Further details of the plan will be gone into in coming editions of the Newsletter.

Lecture about General Sosabowski
On Friday 18 March, Dr. Michael Hal Sosabowski, the great-grandson of Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski and lecturer at Brighton University, gave a lecture on his famous great- grandfather. The lecture was organised by the Airborne Museum in conjunction with the Royal Military Academy, Breda. Almost 150 interested people turned up at the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek to listen to Michael Sosabowski who, with the aid of many photos, gave an overview of the history of the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. He talked about the raising of the brigade in England, the military exer¬cises, the planning for Operation Market Garden, the deployment at Arnhem, and the subsequent fate of the Polish Brigade. He also gave his personal comments on the life of the General, both during the war and after. And of course, the controversy that arose between General Sosabowski and a number of Allied commanders was not ignored.
It was a lively evening, and after the lecture plenty of time was allowed for questions from the floor.
To give this Polish evening an extra dimension Airborne Museum personnel had set up an exhibi¬tion in the lecture hall. It displayed material that has been excavated over the years from the former Polish dropping zones at Driel.

18 March 2005. Dr. Michael Hal Sosabowski gives a lec ture about his great-grandfather, General Stanislaw Sosabowski, in the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek.

Wybo Boersma made ‘Honorary Member’
During the recent AGM on 2 April, Wybo Boersma was made ‘Honorary Member’ of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum.
For many, many years, Wybo has attended the board meetings of the Friends’ Society as the Airborne Museum Foundation’s representative, and as such he acts as contact person between both boards of management. On request he regularly advises the SFAM board on issues concerning both the museum and the society.
“Universities honour the lustrum of people who have betokened much for the world of science with an Honorary Doctorate. The Friends’ Society marks its 25th Anniversary by conferring this ‘Honorary Membership’”, said Chairman Ben Kolster. Besides a charter, Wybo Boersma was given a number of book tokens in appreciation of his exceptional efforts.

Burial of Private Arthur Foster
In Newsletters number 92 (December 2003) and number 94 (June 2004), I wrote two small articles about Private Arthur Foster of the Border Regiment, whose remains were found two years ago in the gar¬den of a house in Veerweg, Oosterbeek. The latter article was able to reveal that the identity of the sol¬dier in question had been released, but that the members of his family in the UK were apparently untraceable. Partly owing to this, Private Foster’s remains had still not been buried in the Airborne Cemetery more than a year after they had been recovered.
Very shortly afterwards, British member Mike Gallagher from Heaton reported that he, with the aid of a local newspaper, had tracked down a mem¬ber of Arthur Foster’s family. Arthur had been bom in Bolton, and the 31 August 2004 issue of the Bolton Evening News carried an article containing the relevant details.
Information on the family concerned was immedi¬ately sent to the British Ministry of Defence. I don’t know what happened then; probably nothing. There was still a faint hope that Arthur could be laid to rest alongside his comrades during the September 2004 Airborne Commemorations. But this did not happen, understandable in view of the short time available.
And six months further on things were still omi¬nously quiet. The amazing sluggishness shown by the British government in this matter was really unbelievable! But in another sense you have to admire them… In the first place, they failed to do in a year what Mike Gallagher managed to achieve in a day. And when they had all the details, it seems they simply fell asleep again at their desks. It is heart¬warming to see how the British authorities treat their war dead! On that point, therefore, it was enlightening, and sobering, to read what the British Ambassador in the Netherlands had to say in an article in De Gelder- lander of 9 September 2004. Mr Colin Budd stated from his residence in Den Haag that the British gov¬ernment is not greatly interested in the finding of the remains of servicemen. ‘We prefer to leave the people in peace’, said he. Meaning, therefore: ‘Simply leave them where they are and just accept that the next-of-kin will never know where their father or brother lies buried’. I call this a scandalous attitude with respect to the dead and their families.

23 March 2005. Private Arthur Foster is buried with military honours at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek.

Well anyway, the notification finally came through that Arthur Foster could be buried amongst his comrades in the Arnhem (Oosterbeek) War Cemet¬ery. And that came to pass on 23 March 2005. With military honours and an appropriate British cere¬mony, and in the presence of old comrades and family members, this soldier of the Border Regiment was given his final resting place.
Above all else, it was gratifying to see that his grave¬stone was already available, ready to be placed over his grave. This has not always been the case: we usually have to wait for months.
It would appear that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has brought about a positive policy change. At least there is now one British organisation that goes about its work efficiently!
Meanwhile, ten months ago the identity of a soldier, till then buried in Oosterbeek war cemetery as ‘unknown’, became known. Diligent research by the Dutch Army’s Recovery and Identification Service, led by Sergeant Major Geert Jonker, brought to light the identity of the soldier in question – Lance Sergences during and after the Battle of Arnhem and was based on a diary he kept at the time. Last September, the complete, detailed story was published in book form under the title ‘No Surrender at Arnhem’.
Private Peatling belonged to HQ Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, and he arrives at the Arnhem road bridge with this unit during the evening of Sunday September 17 1944. He is ordered to accom¬pany Major Wallis (second-in-command of the bat¬talion) in a search for boats in which the British could cross to the south bank of the Rhine. On the way they become separated in the dark. On his way back to the bridge, Peatling meets a section of Military Police who are taking German prisoners to the police station in Boven-Beekstraat. They ask Peatling to join them, and on arriving at the police station he is ordered to remain with the section. A German attack follows, and after a fierce gun battle the British surrender. However, Peatling decides against surrender, and dashes up to the police sta¬tion attic, there to await the arrival of the British Second Army in Arnhem.
He manages to hide out for six weeks in the attic. After the Battle of Arnhem the civilian population is forced to leave the city, and every day Peatling searches the empty houses and buildings in the sur¬roundings of Boven-Beekstraat for water and food to help him survive.
On 31 October he is discovered by Dutch people who inform the Arnhem Resistance movement. He is picked up by a well-known Arnhem resistance fighter, Johannes Penseel, who hides Peatling in his own (Penseel’s) house in Velperplein. Penseel’s resistance group operates out of this house, and its members move about the empty city wearing stolen police uniforms.
At the end of December 1944 things become too hot for Peatling in Arnhem. Via a number of evaders’ addresses in the Veluwe, he arrives in Achterveld, where he again experiences numerous adventures. An end is finally brought to this nomadic way of life in April 1945, when he is liberated by Canadian troops.
Peatling describes this bizarre period of his life in an enthralling manner, and speaks of his enormous admiration for the Dutch Resistance.
‘No Surrender at Arnhem’ (ISBN 0-9522992-1-6) was published by the author. The book consists of 144 pages, is illustrated with photos and maps, and costs € 22.50. It is on sale in the Airborne Museum and Oosterbeek bookshops.
The book can be ordered direct from the author in the UK at 36 Park Lane, Wimborne, BH21 1LD, tele¬phone 01202 889645. The price is £ 16.95, including post and packing.

Appeal from Down Ampney
Down Ampney is a small village in Gloucestershire, England. It numbers 230 houses, and a beautiful old church dating from 1263. In 1943 an airfield for No. 46 Group RAF Transport Command was constructed close to the village. From 17 up to and including 23 September 1944, Dakota squadrons flew numerous flights to Arnhem. On 17 and 18 September they towed Horsa gliders, and over the days that followed they carried out re-supply missions.
Flight Lieutenant David Lord left Down Ampney for Arnhem on 19 September on a re-supply flight that was to end in tragedy.
The airfield was abandoned in April 1946, and the runways were largely demolished in the years that followed. The church still recalls the war years with various images and objects, but the most impressive memorial by far is the wonderful stained-glass win¬dow depicting the coat-of-arms of 271 Squadron and David Lord’s Dakota. Sadly, it now seems that the church roof – whose last thorough restoration was carried out 140 years ago – is in a dreadful state and leaks badly.
An architectural survey has revealed that the pres¬ent roof is beyond repair. Complete renewal is nec¬essary. Down Ampney’s small village community will never be able to raise the cost on its own (£ 120,000) for the restoration; therefore an action has been started aimed at saving this beautiful little church. If you would like to contribute to the restora¬tion fund, please contact Mrs. Sheila Burgess, 44 Riverway, South Cerney, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6HZ, United Kingdom, telephone 01285 860796, e-mail sheila@smburgess.fsnet.co.uk.

20 August 2004. Three volunteers: Henk van de Brand, Cees Wichhart and Oost Rodermond, pose by the Sherman tank next to the Airborne Museum, which they refurbished.

Facelift for the Sherman tank and 17-pounder cannons
You notice it immediately as you walk by: the Sherman tank and the 17-pounder anti-tank guns at the Airborne Museum are again bright and shiny. This is thanks to three of our society’s volunteers: Cees Wichhart, Oost Rodermond and Henk van de Brand, who were busy for days last August giving these muse¬um pieces a new top coat. The tank’s emblems and reg¬istration numbers have also been refreshed. The anti¬tank guns were provided with a Pegasus emblem.
This Sherman belonged to the Lord Strathcona’s Horse, which took part in the liberation of the Veluwe in April 1945. Ministory XIX (appended to Newsletter number 30) described its history.

German field graves in Oosterbeek
The Dutch edition of Ministory No. 84, ‘German field graves in Oosterbeek’ (with Newsletter No. 96), con¬tained two irritating errors in the piece about Artur Wossowsky. In the left-hand column of page 6 (17th line from the bottom) one reads ‘Wossowky’, while in the right-hand column (4th line from the bottom) ‘Wossoswky’ is written.
Of course, this should be Wossowsky in both cases. The editors also failed to eradicate the imperfec¬tions in the English version. ‘Wossoswky’ appears on page 6, two lines from the bottom in the right¬hand column. And on page 7, two lines from the top in the left-hand column, we find the same name. Here, too, it should have been Wossowsky.
Our apologies for the confusion!
(Hans Timmerman, Geert Maassen)

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry,
3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD,
tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232,6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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AGM
You are invited to attend the 25th AGM / Annual Meeting of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum on Saturday 2 April 2005. The meeting will be held in the Concertzaal, Rozensteeg 3, Ooster- beek, starting at 14.00 hours.
The agenda is as follows:
1 Opening
2 Minutes of the AGM of 3 April 2004
3 General report 2004
4 Financial report 2004
5 Budget for 2005
6 Audit Committee report
7 Alteration to Statutes
8 Board of Management elections
9 Appointment of reserve member to the Audit Committee
10 Questions
11 Closure of meeting
Points 3 and 4: you will be given the General and Financial reports on arrival, and the Audit Commit tee report will be available for perusal at the hall entrance half an hour before the opening of the meeting. You can also request copies of the General and Financial reports by writing to the Treasurer, Mr F. Miedema, Woudstralaan 24, 6862 XE Oosterbeek, enclosing a stamped (70 Eurocent stamp), selfaddressed envelope.
Point 7: Frits Miedema has reached the end of his term of office but is prepared to stand for re-elec tion.
Members may propose alternative candidates in accordance with article 8 of the Statutes. Written notification to this effect should be sent to the sec retary of the SPAM (c/o Airborne Museum, Ooster beek) at least ten days before the meeting. This should be signed by at least ten members and accompanied by a declaration of willingness to serve from the proposed candidate, who must be a member of the society and of age.
After the AGM a number of films will be shown about the liberation of the Netherlands, which took place sixty years ago.

The jubilee and other events in 2005
This Newsletter includes a folder containing a list of the most important Airborne’ events in 2005. The programme for the 25th Jubilee of our society on 21 May this year will be sent to you shortly.

Wanted: ‘Webmaster’
With this Newsletter the board would like to get in touch with someone who would be prepared to take on the development and updating of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum’s website.
This has mainly to do with the content. Together with the Newsletter, the website has to become the Society’s ‘shop window’. Eventually it is intended that current news will be featured increasingly on the web site. The present newsletter can then be used more for subjects of ‘documentary’ value. If you are interested in becoming the webmaster of the SFAM’s website, please contact the secretary of the SFAM board, Ivar Goedings, e-mail: goedings@van-lotringen.nl

Statutes
As you might have been following in the media, the SFAM has been involved with the recent developments at Dreyenseweg. Late last year all the trees lining this beautiful lane, which runs through the municipalities of both Arnhem and Renkum from Amsterdamseweg to Oosterbeek-Hoog Station, were

13 February 2005. The Jelling of the trees along Dreyen seweg to the north of Oosterbeek at the end of last year has given the lane a very bare look. Meanwhile, saplings have been planted. On the left is the monument to 156 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment.

felled. These trees had a special significance to the Battle of Arnhem. Fierce fighting took place at and near Dreyenseweg in September 1944, and many a combatant was killed within sight of this lane as well as under the very trees. Numerous trees were riddled with bullets and shrapnel. Of course, I would like to point out that the SFAM has absolutely noth-ing against the laying of a new cycle path along the eastern side of the road, but the felling of the trees was a separate issue. The SFAM also share the view that trees in a really dangerous state should be felled. However, from the report of the expert brought in by Arnhem council it appears that most of the trees were perfectly safe.
At a certain point the SFAM was forced to accept that Arnhem council had nevertheless issued plan ning permission, which included a permit for felling the trees along Dreyenseweg. The SFAM and a num ber of members filed an objection to this permit. When, in mid-October 2004, it became evident that Arnhem council was not prepared to postpone the tree felling in spite of urgent requests not to, and in spite of the procedure that was in progress, the SFAM sought a so-called ‘provisional relief via the Arnhem Court. In this manner we hoped to bring about deferment of the felling by the council until the result of the complaint procedure was known. However, despite the link between the trees along the lane and the Battle of Arnhem, the court found that we, as SFAM, could not be regarded as an inter ested party and our request was turned down.
Our statutes were then carefully looked into which showed emphatically that our interest lies princi pally in the provision of support and financial assis tance to the Airborne Museum. Standing up for interests outside of those mentioned above – even if they are related to the Battle of Arnhem – is there fore outside our remit. The SFAM board then decid ed to raise the issue of a change to the statutes at the forthcoming AGM. This change must enable the SFAM to make its voice heard on matters directly related to ‘the Battle of Arnhem’. One example which immediately springs to mind concerns future developments involving Park Hartenstein.
The board’s proposal is to modify the statutes to include the point that the SFAM’s objectives will also incorporate: ‘the protection of the interests and rights – in the widest sense – related c.q. linked to the Battle of Arnhem. If necessary, by resorting to legal pro cedures.’
A transcript of the statutes concept is available for perusal at the Airborne Museum counter.
(Ivar Goedings, secretary)

‘Arnhem Weekend’ 2005
The ‘Arnhem Weekend’ for UK members of the SFAM has been fixed for 17,18 and 19 June 2005. The provisional programme is as follows.
On Friday 17 June a walk through Oosterbeek will be made during which the stories behind a number of photos taken at the time of, or after, the Battle of Arnhem will be told. We shall also visit the monu ment commemorating ‘Operation Berlin’, located on the flood plains behind the Old Church. In the evening there will be a get-together in the Airborne Museum where British and Dutch members can meet one another.
Saturday 18 June is given over entirely to the 1st Parachute Brigade, with emphasis on the actions that took place in the area stretching from the viaduct near Oosterbeek-Laag station to the bridge in Arnhem. David van Buggenum will explain the part played by B Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. ‘Den Brink’, the highest feature in the area, will also be visited. Other subjects covered will be the fate of the Gronert twins who were killed within minutes of each other near Oosterbeek-Laag station, the men of the South Staffordshire battalion in west Amhem, Captain Killick’s patrol in Weerdjesstraat (in which the story of the weaponry he carried will be told for the first time), and the actions of the 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions. We end the day at the bridge in Amhem, where sites visited will include a selection of places where German photographers took pictures during the fighting.
On Sunday 19 June we travel first to the area around Nijmegen, taking in Groesbeek, Landing Zone ‘N’ and the war cemetery at Jonkerbos. The trip will then continue to the region between Nijmegen and Arnhem, where among the places looked at will be the spot where the Valburg Conference was held. After this we shall focus on the actions of the Guards and the 43rd Wessex Division. The landing zone of the Polish Parachute Brigade at Driel will then be visited.
Prior to the excursion all participants are strongly advised to read David van Buggenum’s book, ‘B Company Arrived’. I still have a few copies left, so you can order one from me if you wish. Supplies in the Netherlands are almost exhausted too, so hurry up and buy a copy before this excellent work is sold out. Till June 2005!
(Niall Cherry)

A lookback at September 2004. There was one veteran wearing a traditional bowler hat instead of his beret at the memorial service at the Airborne Cemetery on the 19th. He was Society member Major (retd.) Douglas Goddard, co author of the book ‘112th (Wessex) Field Regiment RA, TA., 1938-1946’. Units of this regiment gave artillery support to the British troops in Oosterbeek from 23 September 1944 onwards. Major Goddard was accompanied by his daughter Tina during the commemoration.

 

The unusual Stengun bayonet recently found on Ginkel Heath at the place cohere C Company of the 7th Battalion, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers was dug in on 17 and 18 September 1944.

Rare Stengun bayonet excavated
Philip Reinders of the ‘Arnhem Battle Research Group’, who regularly combs the former battlefields around Arnhem with a metal detector, recently unearthed a very unusual Stengun bayonet near Ginkel Heath. It is the type that is officially known as ‘Bayonet Machine Carbine Mark I’ which only fits the Stengun Mark II, the one with the open, metal butt. In 1944 the British airborne forces were mainly equipped with the more modem Sten Mark V, which had a wooden butt and two wooden handgrips. But apparently some troops were still using the old Mark II. The bayonet was found near Ginkel Heath at the spot where C Company of the 7th Battalion, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers was positioned on 17 and 18 September 1944
True enough, this type of bayonet was produced in great numbers during the war but the majority were never issued. They were destroyed some time later, so this type is really very rare, and is often ‘faked’. The Airborne Museum has an original example.

‘Green On!’
The book ‘Green On!’ by member Arie-Jan van Hees was presented in Oosterbeek library on 17 Septem ber 2004. As the sub-title, ‘A detailed survey of the British parachute re-supply sorties during operation “Market Garden” 18 – 25 September 1944’, suggests, the publication gives a detailed survey of the re supply drops during the Battle of Arnhem. The title, which was also used for the exhibition in the Airborne Museum in 2000, is taken from the order that was given to drop the panniers and containers when the green light in the aircraft came on. However, the book is not restricted to just the re supply facet. ‘Air Support’ is also dealt with very thoroughly. In common with his previous book, ‘Higs and Gliders to Arnhem’ this publication is also characterized by its enormous quantity of informa tion, accompanied by many personal accounts. The day to day flights from all the airfields are system atically described, starting with the ‘Air Support’. The book is rounded off with chapters on personal experiences, the escapes, the prisoners of war, an evaluation and an extensive register. His chosen structure does not make the book easy to read; it is more a good reference work. And that is obviously the author’s intention.
Some sections of the book have been used by Arie- Jan before. The history of the US Air Support Teams and the Radar Unit were covered extensively in ‘Tugs and Gliders to Arnhem’. It would appear that the few new details available in the Airborne Museum could not be used. The report by the American Lieutenant Bruce Davis has also to be taken as well known. And when we come across the meagre sources on these units again in the ‘Personal Stories’ chapter, perhaps that is going a bit too far. This in no way diminishes the admiration one must have for the number of details and photos the author has obtained. A loose index simplifies the search for information and, as one would expect from him, the finished article is excellent. The font used is indeed small, but legible.
The photo prints are generally good with a few exceptions, for example the photo on page 310 that was taken in front of the Hartenstein. The source acknowledgement of the photographs is an im provement on the previous book.
‘Green On!’ is in English, comprises 379 pages, and is published by the author himself (ISBN 90-806808-2-6). It is a must for any library about Market Garden.
The book can be ordered direct from A.J. van Hees, Courtpendu 7, 6245 PE Eijsden (e-mail ariejan@mar- ketgarden.com) for € 50, including p & p (€ 55 for the UK). It is for sale, at higher cost, in the Airborne Museum and local bookshops in Oosterbeek.
(Wybo Boersma)

The Thirteenth Platoon
A book with the above title was published in September 2004, and the story of how it came into being is very unusual. In 1998 the author, Dutch journalist Haks Walburgh Schmidt, assisted with the setting-up of the exhibition in the Airborne Museum about the British and Polish servicemen who became German POWs after the Battle of Arnhem. He wrote a special museum newspaper for the exhibition entitled ‘Bevrijders achter Prikkel- draad’ (Liberators behind barbed-wire). During his preparatory work for the paper, Haks read an account by Bill Williams, a sergeant in the Glider Pilot Regiment in 1944. On 18 September 1944 Bill flew Horsa glider number 166 to Arnhem, landing just west of Wolfheze. His address was known and Haks got in touch with him to find out more about his adventures. He also wanted to know which unit Bill had carried in his glider. However, Bill was unable to provide much information on that point. Haks therefore decided to start his own investiga tion into what became of the men in Horsa 166.
Archive photos showed that they must have belonged to 13 Platoon, 1st Battalion, The Border Regiment, 25 men in all. Via letters, telephone calls, newspaper appeals and, especially, the internet he tried to trace the men in question.
In the end this quest was to take four years. The result is summed up in this fascinating four-part book. The following are described in sequence: the experiences of Bill Williams, the author’s search for the men who were carried in Horsa 166,13 Platoon’s actions during the Battle of Arnhem, and the fate of the soldiers after September 1944. What makes the book so unusual is that the human aspect and per sonal experiences form the focal point. The book is aptly subtitled ‘Levensverhalen rond zweefvliegtuig Horsa 166’ (Life stories around Horsa glider 166). Highly recommended!
‘Het Dertiende Peloton’, by Haks Walburgh Schmidt (ISBN 90-5911-340-3), comprises 266 pages, and is illustrated with maps and many photographs. It is published by ASPEKT in Soesterberg. Price € 24,95.

Schoolchild in wartime
There are numerous publications written by people after World War II describing the experiences of their early years during the 1940-1945 period. But there are very few young Dutch folk who kept a diary dur ing the war years, and very few have ever been pub lished. At last, 60 years on, such a diary became available to the reading public in September 2004. It is the story of Arnhem schoolboy Felix Valk who, from early August 1943 until the end of April 1945, recorded the events he experienced in two school exercise books. After Felix Valk’s death in 1999, his sister Else came across his writings while going through his estate. The diaries came into the hands of emeritus Professor in Developmental Psychology Dolf Kohnstamm, who became so fascinated by what he read that he decided, in consultation with the family, to edit the diaries and publish them.
Felix Valk, born in 1929, lived with his family in Bovenbrugstraat 7 in Arnhem. He attended the Stedelijk Gymnasium (City Grammar School) in the city. The diary shows that, at first, he sees the war as an adventure, doubtless in common with many lads of his age. He notes down any aircraft that fly over, collects dropped pamphlets and goes in search of crashed aeroplanes with his friends. But as time passes the diary takes on a more serious note.
When the Allied airborne landings begin near Arnhem on Sunday 17 September 1944, he goes to stay with the Roell family in Schaarsbergen. During the period of the Battle of Arnhem his inquisitive and enterprising nature lead to the due adventures, which he describes meticulously. Especially the dropping of supplies by British aircraft near Warns- born engages his interest.
On 6 October 1944 he leaves Schaarsbergen in order to move to the North Veluwe with his family. He records all the events of this period, as well as the liberation by the Canadians in April 1945, with a great eye for details.
This book makes very easy reading and is of great interest to adults, as well as being recommended to younger folk.
‘Scholier in Oorlogstijd 1943-1945, Arnhem-Veluwe’, by Felix Valk, is published by Uitgeverij Kontrast in Oosterbeek. The edition (ISBN 9075665679) numbers 96 pages, and is illustrated with many photos and maps from the original diary. The book costs € 13,95.

Co-operation between Airborne Museum and Gelderland 1940-1945
The board of directors of the Airborne Museum and the initiators of the website Gelderland 1940-1945 (http://www.gelderlandl940-1945.nl/nl/) have re cently decided to join forces: the museum is to par ticipate in the project.
The website is the product of a joint venture involv ing the Gelderland Library – a department of Amhem Library – and the Gelders Archives, both located in Arnhem. The aim of this site is to familiarise those interested in the Second World War with the con tents of the archives and collections managed by the associated bodies.
Within the framework of the discussion between archive, library and museum, the first step was the compilation of an overview of the files available in the Hartenstein (library, documentation, newspa pers, photos, films, audio tapes etc) which will be included in the museum’s collection plan, shortly due for completion. With the aid of this plan, it will then be possible to establish how the co-operation with respect to the website will be given shape.
The museum’s documentary collection is principal ly concerned with the hostilities in September 1944, within the overall picture of operation Market Garden. The emphasis of this material is on the area around Arnhem, Driel, Ede and Oosterbeek.
Expectations are that the first collection will be accessible on the internet within a foreseeable timeframe. Anyone wishing to get a preview of the above-mentioned collections will need to make a prior appointment. For the record: the above refers to the so-called documentary collection. The per manent museum collection (uniforms, weapons, dioramas etc) can of course be seen in the Harten stein during normal opening times.
Information about the museum can be found on its own website (www.airbornemuseum.nl).
(Geert Maassen)

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: vvam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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From the editors
The 60th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem is now receding into history. They were memorable days which we shall look back on in this Newsletter via photos – all in colour for this issue – and articles. A great many new books about the fighting in the Netherlands in September 1944 have appeared recently, both here and abroad. These publications will be reviewed in this and subsequent Newsletters.
In Memoriam: HRH Prince Bernhard

HRH Prince Bernhard, who passed away on 1 December last, visited the Airborne Museum on 11 May 1988 on the occasion of its 10th year in Huize Hartenstein.

On 1 December 2004, HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands passed away. In his capacity as commander of the Forces of the Interior, the prince was closely involved in, among other things, the military operations between September 1944 and May 1945 that led to the liberation of the Netherlands. After the war he attended the commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem on a number of occasions, such as in 1947 and 1969. He visited the Airborne Museum on 21 June 1980 and again on 11 May 1988 for the 10th anniversary of the museum’s opening in Huize Hartenstein.
objects from the Battle of Arnhem, probably saved by my father-in-law, the late Evert Jan Breman, after the bodies of the dead who lay buried in his garden had been exhumed and removed to the Airborne Cemetery. Among them was an item that attracted my attention because it was unlike any of the other pieces of equipment. It consisted of two pieces of weathered roof-tile batten tied together with a length of brown telephone cord. At first I considered throwing this trifling thing onto the fire, but the fact that someone had so carefully tied two pieces of wood together intrigued me. Suddenly, I realized that if you turned the two small battens through a quarter of a turn they formed a cross. Outside, in the daylight, I could just make out a name written in pencil on the cross: Gnr. Baisden.
These, at first sight, worthless pieces of wood immediately took on the significance of a crucifix for me, and I decided to pass it on to the Airborne Museum.
But my curiosity was aroused and over the next few years I learned a fair bit about this gunner from the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment Royal Artillery. Alas, I knew nothing of his family.
During the 60th commemoration someone rang our doorbell. It turned out to be a group of four English people, who introduced themselves as a nephew of Gunner Baisden, his wife, and a granddaughter with her son. At last we had made contact with the family!
A few weeks later I received the following, moving letter:
Dear Mr Roekel,
I am Michelle-Marie, the granddaughter of gunner Alexander Baisden.
Thank you very much for inviting myself and my family into your home and showing us around.
On behalf of my family I wish to express our deepest gratitude towards Mr. Evert Jan Breman and his family for their courage all those years ago.
This was my first visit to Holland, and I hope not my lastl Sadly I wish I could have taken my trip years ago and maybe got to meet some of my grandfather’s fellow soldiersl
What an honour that would have been?
Thank you once again from
Michelle-Marie.
While such letters continue to arrive in Oosterbeek, two generations on nota bene, there can be absolute¬ly no question of abandoning the commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem.
(Chris van Roekel)

Children admire a veteran’s medals during the commem oration get-together in the Gelredome on 16 September 2004.

Wybo Boersma continuing as provisional director
The previous Newsletter contained an article about the new deputy director of the Airborne Museum, Mr Frans Smolders. The article also announced that Mr Wybo Boersma would be relinquishing the post of director as of 1 October 2004. In view of a number of changed ideas, the situation itself has altered slightly. We have received the following notification from Mr Andre de Vries, chairman of the Airborne Museum Foundation, concerning the make-up and responsibilities of the Airborne Museum director¬ship. The content is as follows:
‘During the last board meeting on 14 October 2004, the Board of the Airborne Museum Foundation dis¬cussed and confirmed the job descriptions of the directors of the museum. For the in-house employ¬ees and volunteers and for the many outside con¬tacts, it has to be clear who in the museum is responsible and contactable, and for what.
The division of tasks within the directorship is pro¬visional for two years and will be revised when the future plans for the museum have been completed and a long term policy has been developed. The out¬lines of the task division are as follows:
Director: Wybo Boersma.
The director reports to the Board of the Airborne Museum Foundation and has the general manage¬ment of the museum. The director is responsible for the PR policy and outside contacts. The director rep¬resents the museum at the meetings of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, the municipal council and joint projects with other museums. The director maintains contact with tour operators and arranges contracts.
The director is responsible for the volunteers’ poli¬cy, the appointment of volunteers, and the appoint¬ment and training of guides.
Deputy director/curator: Frans Smolders.
The deputy director sees to the daily running of the museum, the staff and volunteers, and is responsi¬ble for these to the director. The deputy director is tasked with producing a future plan for the muse¬um. The deputy director is responsible for the daily management of the exhibits as well as for the good working practices of the staff and volunteers, giving directions to that effect. The deputy director main¬tains contacts with the media in conjunction/con- sultation with the director’.

Social Evenings
As in 2004, two ‘Social Evenings’ are to be held early next year in the Airborne Museum. As usual on these occasions, the ‘socialites’ will have the opportunity of taking a look behind the scenes. The first is planned for the evening of 11 February 2005, with part of the evening being given over to the most recent museum acquisitions.
The second Social Evening is scheduled for Monday 14 March 2005, when Professor H. Sosabowski, great-grandson of Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski and lecturer in Brighton, will give a talk on the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group and on the role of his great-grand-father during and after the Second world War. The lecture will be in English. Because of the limited room available prior booking is necessary, prefer¬ably per e-mail, info@airbornemuseum.com, or by telephone, 026 3337710. The date 14 march is not yet entirely certain. Any eventual changes will be given on our website www.airbornemuseum.com.
The museum doors will open at 19.30 hours on both evenings, and interested parties will be most welcome in ‘Hartenstein’ from that hour onwards. (W. Boersma)
Arnhem Weekend’ 2005
The Arnhem Weekend’ for our UK members has been fixed for 17, 18 and 19 June 2005. The pro¬gramme will be included in the next Newsletter.
Because of logistical and organisational limitations, the maximum number of participants has been set at 25. 22 Bookings have already been received, so if you still want to come along you will need to con¬tact me as soon as you can.
(Niall Cherry)

Prince Charles talks to some of the invited guests at the reception in the Airborne Museum on Saturday 18 September 2004.

Film subtitling sponsored
One of the last events of the 60th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem took place on Sunday evening 19 September 2004 with the open-air show¬ing of the film ‘Theirs is the Glory’. The lawn of the Airborne Monument in Oosterbeek became a film theatre for the evening.
During the preparations for the showing it appeared that no good recording with Dutch sub-titles was available, meaning that much of the spoken word could be missed by the Dutch members of the audi¬ence. Society member Cees van den Bosch found this a great shame and began an action to collect money to enable the production of a Dutch sub¬titled version. Video Studio Bal from Oosterbeek offered to do the technical work at cost price, and the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum made a considerable contribution. The rest was donated by society members Cees van den Bosch, Robert Voskuil, Geert Maassen, Eugene Wijnhoud and Erik van der Meiden. Robert Voskuil and Joop Bal took care of the translation.
Immediately after the showing requests were received as to the possibility of producing this ver¬sion of ‘Theirs is the Glory’ on DVD.
The possibilities of this are being looked into at the moment. We shall keep you informed!

‘Nine Days at Arnhem’
There is still a lot to be told about the Battle of Arnhem, as shown by the appearance of another new book, ‘Nine Days at Arnhem’, the second book about the 7th Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers by Robert Sigmond. In it the author high¬lights the experiences of the ten CANLOAN officers who served with the battalion. The book is in English, as was Sigmond’s first publication.
The CANLOAN scheme was the name given to the loan – on a voluntary basis – of hundreds of Canadian junior officers to the British army during World War II. They remained in service with the Canadian army but were commanded by British officers, with their deployment being restricted to Europe and the Middle East. In total Canada provid¬ed 673 officers on loan, 102 of whom were killed, 21 died of wounds, 310 were wounded, five have no known grave and Tl POWs were liberated from cap¬tivity. Many of them received decorations. In gener¬al, they were praised by their superiors for their efforts.
Ten of the 90 CANLOAN officers attached to the British airborne troops were allotted to the KOSB battalion. Shortly after the Battle of Arnhem one of the Canadians, Lieutenant Erskine Carter, wrote a diary called ‘Nine Days at Arnhem’, part of which forms the basis of this, Sigmond’s, book
The book gives brief pen-pictures of some of the CANLOAN officers including Lt. Carter, the author of ‘Nine Day’s at Arnhem’. The history of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers is also described. The 7th (Galloway) Battalion was raised in 1939 as a sister battalion to the 5th Territorial Battalion KOSB. Late in 1943 the 7th was attached to the British airborne as glider infantry, and at the beginning of 1944 it received the red beret and Pegasus emblem. The reader follows the training of the CANLOAN officers in Canada, their sea voyage to Britain, their recep¬tion and training in their allotted units, mainly as platoon commanders. It was remarkable that these officers were much closer to their men than the British.
After a number of cancelled operations, Market Garden begins with ten CANLOAN officers in the KOSB battalion, one of whom as a deputy company commander. The 42 officers and 720 men take to the air in 65 gliders. In the chapter about Arnhem, Carter describes his daily experiences, and his story is interspersed with those of others, the whole giv¬ing a lively account of events. The book describes the task of the battalion, the securing of the drop¬ping and landing zones on 18 and 19 September, the overnight movements, the battles against the Germans, the landing of the Poles on Johannahoeve, the lack of sleep and the hunger. We see the battal¬ion withdraw to Oosterbeek, the fighting around the Dreyeroord hotel and in the ‘South Africa’ district of Oosterbeek. Because of the increasing number of dead and wounded the battalion becomes smaller and smaller. Despite this it still manages to pull off some astounding feats, such as daring two German tanks to come into the open so that an anti-tankgun can get a better shot, and bayonet charges. By Monday 25 September the situation has become hopeless, and the remnants of the battalion are withdrawn across the Rhine. The KOSB leaves behind 105 dead and some 580 men are taken pris¬oner, including eight CANLOAN officers. The rest of the men of the battalion are wounded. Five of them die of their wounds within a week. Nine men die in German camps and one officer is killed during Operation Pegasus. We meet the officers again in various POW camps such as
Braunschweig, Spangenburg and Fallingbostel, and read about the death marches of the retreating German army.
After its return to England the battalion is re¬formed with the addition of many new recruits and junior officers. On 9 May 1945 the unit and its new commander leave for Norway, where it is to help with the repatriation of the German army of occu¬pation and the imprisonment of war criminals. Over the coming months 400,000 German servicemen are disarmed, screened and sent home. By August 1945 the task is complete and the battalion returns home. At the end of November the 7th Battalion KOSB is disbanded. The book closes with numerous information appendices.
The book has been thoroughly researched, which makes it a pleasant read for the knowledgeable. The personal accounts paint a lively picture of events, to the extent that readers almost feel they were there themselves. As we have come to expect from R.N. Sigmond Publishing, the book is beautifully pro¬duced, contains many illustrations and good maps, and, as already mentioned, reads easily. The 180 page book costs € 32,50 (ISBN 90-804718-7-9).
(Okko Luursema)

Border Regiment plaque unveiled
On 17 September 2004 a large plaque was unveiled on the east wall of the Westerbouwing restaurant in Oosterbeek. The plaque is dedicated to the 800 offi¬cers and men of the 1st Battalion The Border Regiment who fought at Arnhem between 17 and 26 September 1944. During the battle this battalion defended the western edge of the ‘Perimeter’, from Sonnenberg up to the Westerbouwing. The Wester¬bouwing heights upon which the restaurant stands were defended by B Company. On 21 September 1944 this area became the scene of heavy fighting when strong German units, supported by tanks, opened the attack. This historic place is therefore the perfect location for the plaque which remem¬bers a battalion that suffered heavy casualties. 125 Men were killed and 400 were taken prisoner, many of them wounded.
The unveiling was attended by many people, includ¬ing a group of Border Regiment veterans.
25th Anniversary and other important dates
A jubilee committee of Friends’ Society board members are busily engaged with the organisation of the 25 year jubilee. Programme details will be included in the first Newsletter of the New Year. But make sure you keep 21 May 2005 open!
Other activities and dates that you can make a note of are: the AGM on 2 April 2005, the Book Fair on 23 April, and the Normandy Excursion from 25-31

Historic unveiling at commemoration in Brummen
On Saturday afternoon 18 September last a dramatic commemoration took place in front of the Old Post Office in Brummen, recalling a drama that occurred there sixty years ago.
On 23 September 1944 a German SS soldier opened fire with a Schmeisser machine gun on a passing lorry containing 25 British parachutists, who had landed six days earlier near Arnhem.
A true bloodbath ensued, leaving six dead and many wounded. A war crime plain and simple, because it was a group of helpless prisoners of war that was fired on.
The details of this drama were only made public ten years ago – with the opening of archives in London – and a monument was raised at the site. Being the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, this year’s commemoration had a special tint. There were extensive daily reports on television about Arnhem and Oosterbeek, but Brummen did things its own way, partly in the street – the roads were closed for two hours – and partly in the old building, nowadays the Old Post Office hotel. Of course there was an emotional placing of wreaths, besides which

17 september 2004, a large plaque was unveiled on the east wall of the Westerbouwing restaurant.

The four people made short speeches, one speaker revealing unique details of a resistance plan from September 1944.
The now 87 year-old ex-resistance fighter Gerard Schut recalled how the then head of the Resistance, Baron Loet van der Feltz, brought him into contact with Major Tony Hibbert, who had escaped near the post office (Major Hibbert, also 87, was present at the commemoration). A few days after the air land¬ings the two men met up at the baron’s home in Eerbeek, together with Grote Gijs (Piet Kruijff), head of the Arnhem Resistance, and a few of his com¬rades. Tony Hibbert talked about the hopeless bat¬tles that were still raging in Arnhem/Oosterbeek. He came up with a plan to give Arnhem ‘breathing space’ by carrying out a new airborne landing between Eerbeek and the Gelderland capital! This has never been mentioned in any of the dozens of history books about Arnhem’. At least, it can now be added, even as just a footnote, to the equally glori¬ous, as sad, history.
How did it end up? Gerard Schut talking in the Old Post Office: ‘Up till then we had had a peaceful exis¬tence, apart from regularly finding a hiding place at Coldenhove or wherever for downed airmen. Then, on 17 September 1944 we received a joyous phone call from Oosterbeek telling us of the British air¬borne landings. We are free! Alas, it didn’t last long although we couldn’t have known that at the time. But we did know that the airborne were beginning to have a tough time in Arnhem and Oosterbeek. An attack at the German rear could bring some relief to the men battling in Arnhem. I don’t remember how many parachutists we had in mind; nothing was ever written down. Maybe a battalion of 500 men or so. We Resistance men knew of suitable places for a landing, such as Imbos and Rozendaal Heath. Ordnance survey maps were fetched. A lovely plan, the Brummen and Arnhem Resistance would pro¬vide support. Personally I didn’t see much in it. After thorough staff meetings at my house not much more came of it. Logical. Tony Hibbert might have been a great strategist, but meanwhile the fighting in Arnhem and Oosterbeek had come to an end. There was now no point in a new airborne operation’.
The main person at the Brummen commemoration was of course Tony Hibbert, who fought together with Colonel Frost for four days at the bridge in Amhem in September 1944. He was one of the POWs who jumped from the lorry in Brummen. It is still a source of great sorrow to him that his (totally justified) escape attempt cost the lives of six of his comrades. He expressed the hope that this com¬memoration would last forever, and that in 100 years time, our great-grandchildren would still know of it. He thanked the courageous and brave people of Brummen who provided British escapees with secret hiding places, medical help and food in September 1944. He then placed the first wreath at the plaque on the wall of the Old Post Office, fol¬lowed by the burgomaster and a number of citizens. There was also a moving speech by Henk Peters who, as a 17 year-old, remembered an exhausted, wounded British soldier knocking on the door of his parent’s farmhouse in Knoevenoorstraat, saying: I am a British soldier, I am Tony Hibbert”. He was warm¬ly welcomed inside and fed, and then spent three days in a chicken coop. Meanwhile, Henk tipped off the Brummen Resistance, after which the officer laid low for three weeks in a secret hideout at the home of the Tjeenk Willink family in Burgemeester De Wijslaan. In that time the ever-active Hibbert outlined plans in conjunction with the resistance in Eerbeek that would lead to the great escape opera¬tion across the Rhine, Operation Pegasus I, in October 1944.
(Piet Willemsens)

Photo: location of British patrol
In Newsletter No. 94 of June 2004, we asked readers if anyone could identify where the widely-known photo of a 4-man British patrol ‘somewhere in a building in Oosterbeek’ was taken. We said then that the photo was taken by Sergeant Lewis of the Army Film and Photographic Unit, and refers to frame 7 (not 8 as mentioned in error) from film 4. All the pictures on this film were shot near the Hartenstein.
Various members have responded to our appeal and here is a short survey: Mr J. Visser in Zelhem writes that the man in the beret is Staff Sergeant Mark Leaver, G Squadron Glider Pilot Regiment. Mark Leaver, who died on 31 October 2000, said at the time that the photo was taken in ‘Beekweg’. This probably meant the Van Hofwegen laundry in present day Zuiderbeekweg. Mrs Betty de Roder from Renkum suggests it could be the premises of Aits forge in Paul Krugerstraat. Ir. F. Oudendal from Huizen says that the concrete reinforcing bars were probably intend¬ed for some sort of German building work because, by 1944, such material had been unavailable for pri¬vate use for many years. Mr J.C. Bierdrager in Eelde points out that in Stuart Eastwood’s book ‘When Dragons Flew, An Illustrated History of the 1st Battalion the Border Regiment 1939-1945’, the pic¬ture caption says: ‘The location is unknown, but may be the stableblock of the Hartenstein Hotel’.
In our opinion this last possibility is closest to the truth, a conclusion based partly on our own research. Our detective work led to the following result.
It is known that the Germans were building a com¬munications bunker to the east of the present Kleyn Hartensteyn Restaurant, the (former) coach house of Huize Hartenstein. Unfortunately, because of the thick foliage there is not much of this work to be seen in the aerial photos taken on 6 and 12 Septem¬ber 1944 as preparation for the forthcoming air¬borne landings.
Sixty years ago the estate orangery stood to the east of the coach house, where large potted plants were stored in winter. We concentrated our research on this building. On 15 March 1945, No. 4 Reconnais¬sance Squadron RAF flew a reconnaissance mission over the South Veluwe, It must have been an excep¬tionally clear, sunny day because most of the aerial photos taken that day are razor sharp. The series of

Detail from an RAF aerial photograph taken on 15 March 1945. In the centre is the coach house, now the Kleyn Hartensteyn restaurant. Left are the greenhouses, long since demolished, and far left is the gardener’s house. Right of the coach house is the orangery, minus roof. Utrechtseweg can be seen at the top of the photo, with a couple of villas and the turn off to Steijnweg just visible. This photo detail is not as sharp as it could be because of the high magnification. On the original photo the ‘cut-out’ detail measures just 18 x 15 mm!

photos on which the Hartenstein estate appears were viewed under a mirror stereoscope using an extremely high magnification. The analysis of the orangery building revealed various interesting details, which led us to the conclusion that this was where the photo of the patrol was taken. A greatly enlarged detail from the aerial photographs is used to illustrate this article.
The aerial photo shows that the building no longer had a roof at the time, so you seem to be looking at a floor plan of the building. It can be assumed that the roof was of light construction using a lot of glass, common in buildings used for over-wintering plants. This construction could have been damaged, or collapsed, during or after the battle. Sergeant Lewis’s photo shows that the wall in the background turns a corner so that the right hand part of the wall is further back than the left. This feature is clearly shown in the aerial photo of the orangery. Behind the wall top left was a separate room, walled off from the large L-shaped main room. From the stereo image and analysis of the shadows it can be seen that there was probably a wide door in the south wall of the main room with large windows or doors on each side. Lewis stood outside, camera pointed at the door opening in the centre, and the patrol moved from inside the room towards him. Un-doubtedly this was a posed scene.
The concrete reinforcing and pipes stored in the orangery were almost certainly intended for use in the building of the German bunker mentioned above.
After the war the badly damaged orangery was demolished. Today, the spot next to the Kleyn Hartensteyn restaurant has been given over to greenery and a car park.
Alas, up to now we have been unable to find any pic¬tures of the orangery. If any of you could help us here we would be most grateful. Information about the building would also be very welcome!
(Robert Voskuil)

The floor of De Tofelberg
As many of you are aware, very little remains of that once-stately building, Huize De Tafelberg in Oosterbeek, just the front elevation and a small sec¬tion of the west elevation. During the Battle of Arnhem De Tafelberg was used as a hospital, which changed hands between the British and Germans on several occasions. Many heart-rending scenes were played out here, where British medical person¬nel, Dutch doctors and volunteers struggled hard to save human lives. The Society of Friends, and oth¬ers, offered to conserve and maintain the building, but – partly due to the poor structural state of the building — this was considered unfeasible. Discussions and negotiations between Renkum council and the property developers, in which the society was involved, led to the retention of the front elevation and sections of the floor, as well as the striking and recognisable staircase and wain¬scoting.
As the story has it, here and there the hall floor of De Tafelberg bears the stains of blood shed by British soldiers, visible as hazy, light-brown spots. On September 1 2004, representing the friends, I indicated two places on the floor which were then cut out by one of the property developers’ employ¬ees, using a concrete cutting disk. One of the floor segments was given to the Airborne Museum, while the other section will eventually be displayed in the hall of the apartment block when the building is complete.
We presume that the staircase and part of the wain¬scoting will also be put back in place in the ‘reno¬vated’Tafelberg. These items appear prominently in the film ‘Theirs is the Glory’, made in 1945.
(Ivar Goedings)

Obituary: Commando Knottenbelt
On 19 August 2004, Maarten Jan Knottenbelt passed away in Den Haag. He was 83. In September 1944, Lieutenant Knottenbelt was one of the ten Dutch commandos who took part in the Battle of Arnhem. One of his tasks was to coordinate the deployment of the resistance groups present in and around Arnhem. In the afternoon of 17 September he was with the unit which ambushed the Feldkommandant of Arnhem, Generalmajor Kussin, at the corner of Wolfhezerweg/Utrechtseweg. During the battle, and on his own initiative, he took command of a unit of British soldiers which was defending a key position in a group of houses in Oosterbeek. When the Poles landed at Driel on 21 September 1944, he crossed the Rhine to the south bank in order to establish contact with them. Later on he brought Polish sol-diers back across the Rhine and took them to British positions in Oosterbeek. He did this repeatedly. He was wounded on 22 September but refused to be taken to any of the emergency hospitals. When the withdrawal took place on the night of 25/26 September 1944 he managed to swim across the Rhine to safety. On arrival in Nijmegen he was at last able to have his wounds treated.

Monument to the RAF
On Monday 13 September 2004 a new monument was erected in Doorwerth to commemorate the role played by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Arnhem. In that period 229 airmen and air despatchers lost their lives.
The monument is in the form of a pillar wit plaque, and stands at the Rehoboth School in Bentincklaan. A British Stirling of 196 Squadron RAF crashed at this site on 21 September 1944 dunng a re-supply flight to the British isolated in Ooster¬beek. All crew members and air despatchers died in the crash.
The memorial was the brainchild of Philip Reinders and, thanks to private donations and the co-operation of the school governors, the dream is now reality.

The new monument to the Royal Air Force at Bentincklaan in Dooruierth, which was raised on 13 September 2004 to commemorate RAF operations during the Battle of Arnhem.

The press and the Battle
Early in September this year I felt compelled to compose the following letter and send it to De Gelderlander (regional newspaper). On the 13th of the month it was published in the paper under the heading ‘Fabeltjeshrant’ (a children’s TV programme of fairy stories).
‘The Airborne commemoration time approaches and once again the fantasists and fibbers crawl out of the woodwork to spout their nonsense about the Battle of Arnhem. And sadly, the newspaper falls for it, printing a profuse account of the experiences of so-called veterans and historical researchers. Therefore, last Monday (6 September 2004) we were treated to an article in De Gelderlander about an eld¬erly Belgian who distinctly remembers landing by parachute at Wolfheze on 17 September 1944. Not only that: he was accompanied by, n.b., 60 of his countrymen. They were all members of the SAS (Special Air Service), a British army special-forces unit. 59 Belgians died in the battle. Said the Fleming (according to the paper).
For goodness sake, what rubbish! Tripe of the first order, and the journalist set it all down in good faith. Over the 60 intervening years Mr Daenens’ mental powers must have deteriorated drastically, and/or he is just a liar. The man did not take part in the Battle of Arnhem and neither did his so-called comrades.
It is not the first time De Gelderlander has been taken for a ride. The paper of Wednesday 21 July 2004 con¬tained a piece about the Poles in Driel, probably lift¬ed from that awful little ‘masterpiece’ ‘Arnhem 1944, Battle of the SETBACK’ by Bert Kerkhoffs. Among the things I read was ‘the blood-drenched landing of the Polish paras near Driel’. A bloodbath? Not really! Of the 1,000 Poles who landed on 21 September, five were killed and 36 were wounded, mostly injured when landing. Kerkhoffs writes about the men of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group who were fired on by the British: ‘because we Poles wore different uniforms and berets.’ Well, what waffle! The Polish uniforms were exactly the same as the British, and, of course, in battle they wore parachutist helmets, not their grey berets. And again, the helmets were just the same as those worn by the soldiers of the 1st British Airborne Division!
At the moment I am looking forward to the coming editions with fear and trepidation. Not so long ago Red Indians popped up, who had allegedly played an important part in the fighting in our region. We have already had Norwegians, and now I expect Eskimos and gnomes to appear at any minute!” With regard to the newspaper articles in question, I have received support from other Friends who also take seriously the writing of the history of the Battle of Arnhem. The Belgian had to admit publicly that he was not in Oosterbeek at that particular time and that the story of his 60 colleagues is nothing but hearsay.
But that’s not all. De Gelderlander 13 September 2004: ‘‘Volunteer Pauline Otten from the Arnhem War Museum (not to be confused with the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek) in Schaarsbergen, claims that American Indians were attached to the 1st British Airborne Division during the battle.”lndians were used as code-talkers. The Germans could not decode their language”, opines Otten. She even states that there are five Mohawk Indians buried at Moscowa, the Arnhem cemetery. Where? She is unable to say. It is the joke of the day at Moscowa. “We have never come across them, yet!” There are allied soldiers buried at Moscowa, but the majority of these were killed before or after the ‘battle of the setback’.
A number of the newspaper’s subscribers have writ¬ten to me saying that I am really mistaken with regard to both the Indians and the Poles. Of course 1 would be the first to admit that I, too, make mis¬takes, so I intend asking them which sources they have consulted that would prove my claims incor-rect. If there are any Friends who could put me right on this and have something to tell, for example about the deployment of Belgian SAS men or Norwegian soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem, I would be most grateful!
(Geert Maassen)

On 17 September 2004 Major General A. Deane- Drummond unveiled a bench at the Airborne Cemetery. The plaque attached to the bench wall states: ‘In lasting gratitude to the people of this neighbourhood for their loving care of the graves of our comrades who lie here and in other cemeteries nearby and to the children who honour them with their flowers. British and Polish Veterans of 1944, September 2004’

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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From the editors
As you can see, this Newsletter, compiled in August, has landed on your doormat around the time of the 60th commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem. To mark the 60th commemoration it is accompanied by an extra-long Ministory.
The next number of the Newsletter will be enlarged to include full reports on the commemoration’s major events. It will be issued in November.
New curator/deputy director
We introduced him in the previous Newsletter, and now the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ has its new curator/deputy director. He is 49 year-old Frans Smolders from Nijmegen, who took up his post on 1 July last. He was selected from approximately 90 applicants for the advertised vacancy. The appointment is provisional for two years, and his salary will be met by a subsidy made available by Renkum council. For the past few years Wybo Boersma has filled the post of museum director,

Frans Smolders, the new deputy director/curator of the Airborne Museum.

unpaid, during which time he has got through a tremendous amount of work. He takes leave of the post on 1 October next.
Frans Smolders is widely experienced in the field of museum organization. After completing his studies in the History of Art he expanded his knowledge in such places as the Utrecht University Museum, and more recently in the amalgamation of the various museum-connected services in Apeldoorn.
His most important task over the coming two years will be the development of a policy plan for the future of the museum. Main points for attention will be the modernization of the entire collection and a possible extension of the museum.
Mr Smolders is greatly impressed by the Airborne Museum’s excellent and imposing collection, and by all the knowledge that has been gathered. However, he would like to place more emphasis on the human stories behind the exhibited material. At the moment the focus is on the military operation, which is dealt with in roughly chronological order. More attention could be paid to the personal fate of the servicemen and the civilians, whose world was suddenly transformed into a battlefield.
The lack of space in the museum hampers the development of a modem exhibition. Huize Harten-stein is a national monument, so the possibility of alteration/adaptation is virtually non-existent. Therefore, Mr Smolders has in mind an under¬ground extension along the lines of the plan devel¬oped some years ago for the Friends’ Society. This would allow the organisation of large exhibitions with regularly changing themes.
Frans would also like to see the Hartenstein ‘villa’ returned to something like its former glory. For example, at the moment all the windows are shut-tered or boarded-up, thereby excluding visitors from the beautiful surroundings.
The attention of visitors, especially the younger ones, quickly diminishes when the presentation is of a static nature, and for this reason still more use will need to be made of modern audio-visual methods and computer techniques in the future. A small film theatre could also be introduced.
Frans Smolders believes that the library and archives are an integral part of the museum collec¬tion. It would be far better if this material were to be made accessible, catalogued and digitalized, thus enabling optimum use to be made of the facility. Co-operation and exchange of information with other museums and archives will also receive greater priority.
The museum’s financial base needs to be expanded, so efforts will be made to attract sponsors.
Frans Smolders hopes, together with the two other permanent staff – Berry de Reus (logistics manager) and Roland Boekhorst (maintenance) – and the enthusiastic 20-strong group of volunteers, to make the museum even more interesting and educational than it already is. And of course, the Friends’ Society is delighted to be involved in this venture!

Theme afternoon, 20 November
Our Society is organizing a theme afternoon to be held in the Concert Hall, Oosterbeek on 20 November next.
The programme is as follows:
13.30-14.00 hours: Reception of the members.
14.00-15.00 hours: Lecture by Alex Junier about the
‘2nd Battalion The South Staf-fordshire Regiment’. The book ‘By Land Sea and Air’, written by Alex in conjunction with Bart Smulders, was published in 2003.
15.00-15.45 hours: BREAK.
15.45-16.30 hours: Continuation of the lecture by Alex Junier.
Ca. 17.00 hours: Close of the theme afternoon.

Veteran donates motor mower
A very unusual event took place at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek on 13 July last. Eighty-year- old Arnhem veteran Frank Moore handed over a motor mower he designed himself, to the staff of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In September 1944, Lieutenant Frank Moore was Troop Leader of F Troop, 3rd Airlanding Light Regiment Royal Artillery. During the Battle of Arnhem, F Troop’s 75mm Pack howitzers were positioned in the meadows immediately behind the Old Church in the Benedendorp (Lower Village), Ooster-beek. Troop headquarters was located in the south wing of the church. One of the dioramas in the Airborne Museum cellar shows F Troop in action.

Arnhem veteran Frank Moore demonstrates his own design of motor mower at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek.

During this time Frank Moore escaped death on a number of occasions, one being when he was in the church spire directing fire from the Light Regiment’s howitzers onto the German positions. From a small shutter in the east side of the tower he had an excellent view of the surroundings. However, the Germans noticed what was going on, and a German tank fired a salvo which hit the spire just below where Lt. Moore and his signalman were situated. Luckily they were able to come down unharmed.
The second time was during the evening of 25 September. Moore was standing near the church discussing the German positions with a Forward Observation Post Officer from the 43rd Wessex Division, Captain Thomas ‘Zeke’ Rose. Captain Rose, a colleague and a few others had managed to get across the Rhine. The Germans opened fire with a machine gun, narrowly missing Frank Moore but hitting Captain Rose. He died the following day (see Ministory 46 dated May 1995: ‘A 30 Corps veteran recalls’, by Major Douglas G. Goddard, RA (retd)), and the book ‘Arnhem, The Airborne Battle’ by Martin Middlebrook, 1994/2004).
As Frank Moore wrote later: ‘The longer the battle continued, the more F Troop’s position came to resemble a moon landscape. The tyres of the how-itzers were destroyed by shell and mortar fire, mak-ing the guns difficult to relocate and manoeuvre’. The gun crews were forced to dig deep slit trenches, which they roofed over with empty ammunition boxes and earth to provide some sort of cover against shell and mortar strikes.
But every time the order ‘Take Post’ (action stations) was given, the gunners left their slit trenches with¬out hesitation, and manned their virtually unpro¬tected guns in the open field. This created enormous admiration among the infantry units dug-in in the area. Major Cain, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for his part in the battle, later wrote a letter in which he referred to the steadfastness and courage of the gun crews, as an example to the others who shared with them the positions near the Oude Kerk. Frank Moore was among the lucky ones who came back over the Rhine at the end of the battle. He was demobbed in 1948, and then followed a long and successful career in the production of agricultural machinery. When he retired he concentrated on the design of very advanced motor mowers for large lawns. These machines are fitted with all the latest in technical innovation, and are now manufactured by his own company, ‘Moore Mowers Limited’ in Beaminster (Dorset).
Frank Moore recently decided to donate a specially designed mowing machine to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for use at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek and other cemeteries in the region, in memory of all old friends and colleagues who are buried there’.

Photo of an unknown location in Arnhem, taken on 17 September 1944. Does anyone know where this is?

British Weekend 2005
It is intended to organise the third ‘British Weekend’ in Oosterbeek in June 2005 for our members in the United Kingdom. People who wish to book for this trip should contact Niall Cherry, who can also pro-vide additional information. The programme will be more or less the same as for the two previous visits. On Saturday a (probable) walk will take place in a number of historical locations, followed on Sunday by a slightly longer trip in (historic) vehicles.
(Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs, PR4 1BD, United Kingdom,
e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com)

Who can help?
The Second World War Photo Collection at the Gelders Archief (compiled by the former Gemeen- tearchief Arnhem) includes a number of prints from an extraordinary album.
The album was put together in the 1940-1945 period by Dr. R.S. Tjaden-Modderman, and contains many photos taken by him in the Gelderland capital. We have included one of the shots here. Unfortunately, we only know the date: 17 September 1944. Who can tell us exactly what the picture shows? Are the clouds of smoke the result of the allied bombing that preceded the airborne landings? Where was the photographer standing when he took the photo?
Your answers please to the editors! Incidentally, we have received a number of valued responses to the previous ’Who can help?’ question. We shall return to this in the next Newsletter.

Airborne Monument repaired
Earlier this year members of the Friends’ Society and the Monuments Commission issued a warning about the poor condition of the Airborne Monument opposite the Hartenstein museum. Those present at the Friends’ AGM will no doubt recall the lively dis-cussions this subject generated. These seem to have had results because in July this year council employ-ees were to be seen busily carrying out repair work. Sections of the brickwork have been renewed, along with many broken and crumbling bricks. The origi¬nal yellow, soft bricks used in the building of the monument in 1945 are very vulnerable to damage and weather effects. Luckily enough, a brick type was found that was virtually the same colour as the immediate post war-bricks, and far stronger.
Actually, the Jacob Maris sculptures incorporated in the monument are also in need of a thorough reno-vation, but that will be done in due course by experts.

WW II RAF bomb found
On 28 May last, a five-hundred pound British bomb was unearthed from beneath the Zypse Poort rail¬way viaduct in Arnhem during excavation work. Work was stopped immediately, a wide area was cor¬doned off, and railway traffic was halted. Further investigation by the Bomb Disposal Unit, which had been alerted, revealed that the fuse had already been removed, and the bomb was therefore declared safe. The projectile was quickly taken by lorry to the dis-posal site at
Schuytgraaf in Arnhem-South.There is a reason why the bomb only came to light more than two years after work began at Zypse Poort. Work on clearing the tarmac layer, under which the bomb was found, only began in late May. It was just one metre below the surface.
It could be that the bomb was dropped on Sunday 17 September 1944 during one of the bombing raids that preceded the allied airborne landings. The most important target in the area was the Willem Barracks, then being used by the Germans. The bar¬racks, which were destroyed in the raid, stood where Gele Rijdersplein stands today.
It is unclear why the fuse mechanism was missing. Perhaps someone in England forgot to fit it. What-ever the reason, the lucky sequence was that the bomb did not explode; the Zypse Poort survived the attack and has remained standing for almost sixty years! We shall come back to this bombing raid in one of our future issues.

Request for photographs
In June 2005 the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum will celebrate its 25th anniversary, and nat-urally we don’t wish that milestone to pass un-noticed. You will be kept abreast of developments in future numbers of the Newsletter. One of the pro-posed initiatives is for the organizing of a small exhibition and/or a modest brochure of photographs about the Friends’ Society’s 25 year existence. And for these we are looking for photographs of excursions, meetings, theme days and so on. If you have any such material, and are prepared to make it available to us, could you please contact us by means of a short note or e-mail to our management (see Colophon). You will then be contacted some time in the near future. We thank you in anticipation of your help!

News from Niall
We have received the following message from our representative in Britain, Niall Cherry: ‘Sir John Killick passed away last February. Those familiar with the Battle of Arnhem will undoubtedly know that he commanded the 89th Parachute Field Security Section in September 1944. Captain J.E. Killick was photographed on 18 September 1944 while on patrol in Weerdjesstraat in Arnhem. The photograph was taken by the Jewish photograph¬er Sem Presser and is, in my view, one of the best photographs to come out of the Battle of Arnhem. It appears on page 87 in David van Buggenum’s book, ‘B Company Arrived’ – published in 2003 – as well as in other publications. The picture shows Capt. Killick with a holster and pistol strapped to his right leg. The pistol is a German Luger. Last year he told me how he came by the weapon, and I would like to recount this story in a future Newsletter’.

Oosterbeek For ever England
The booklet ‘Oosterbeek For ever England’ was pre-sented in the Airborne Museum on Saturday 31 July last. It is the result of a study by author Jan Crum (1940) into the texts on the headstones in the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek. The inscriptions often reveal something about the personal back-ground of the dead. Relatives were allowed to sug¬gest the words they wanted to have engraved on the stone. Some opted for extremely personal, mov¬ing inscriptions, others for more general words. In his booklet Jan Crum has divided the inscriptions into different categories, such as sorrow, remem¬brance, sacrifice and admiration. He has tried to delve deeper into the backgrounds of all the texts. The booklet pays homage to all servicemen who gave their lives in the Battle of Arnhem.
The first copy was offered to ‘old-soldier’ Norman Rawlings, who came over from Britain especially for the occasion. ‘Oosterbeek For ever England’, by Jan G. Crum (ISBN 90-75665-65-2) is published by Uitgeverij Kontrast in Oosterbeek. The booklet is in two languages, Dutch and English, and comprises 96 pages. It is illustrated with photographs, and costs € 15.
Excavated at Papendal
In common with other places in this region, one also comes across slit trenches from the Battle of Arnhem at the Papendal Sports Centre to the north of Oosterbeek. Last year, Philip Reinders investigat¬ed a large number of these trenches, unearthing various objects while doing so. These were exhibit¬ed in the hall of the Papendal hotel/congress centre in August and September last.
One of the most remarkable finds was a rifle from the First (!) World War. The Germans probably ‘took possession’ of the weapon, dating from around 1917, in France in 1940. Later in the war, when their own weaponry was becoming scarce, this type of weapon was issued to less competent troops in the German army.
Another extraordinary object unearthed in one of the slit trenches was a small jar that had once con¬tained caviar!

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: vvam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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New deputy-director and chairman
On 15 June 2004 Mr Frans Smolders assumed the position of deputy-director / curator of the Airborne Museum Foundation. Part of his job will be to pro¬duce a policy plan for the future of the museum which, when complete, will be presented to the council. His other activities will include fundraising, the presentation of the collection and the organisa¬tion within the museum. A redistribution of the per¬manent staffs tasks will also be implemented. Until recently Frans Smolders was art historian and cura¬tor at the Apeldoorn Museum and is widely experi¬enced due to his work in other museums.
Mr A.P de Vries from Ellecom has been appointed chairman of the board of the Airborne Museum Foundation. Mr De Vries has occupied many differ¬ent posts in the police force, the most recent being Deputy Chief Constable for the Gelderland-Midden region. He succeeds Mr J.W. van Slooten in this func¬tion. Mr Van Slooten became temporary chairman following the departure of Mr J.W. Verlinden, and will continue as a member of the board.

Human remains, Veerweg
In the December 2003 issue of the Newsletter we reported the finding of the remains of an allied sol¬dier in the garden of a house in Veerweg, Oosterbeek.
In April last year a team from the ‘Bergings en Identificatie Dienst van de Koninklijke Landmacht’ (BID – Recovery and Identification Service of the Royal Dutch Army) arrived in south-west Veluwe- zoom, and Warrant Officer Fred Bolle and Sergeant- Major Geert Jonker recovered the almost complete skeleton of a British serviceman. The investigation then carried out by the BID quickly led to a positive identification. The report was sent to the relevant authorities in the United Kingdom, since when everything has gone quiet.
In the meantime the BID has released the identity of the soldier concerned. The remains are those of Private Arthur Foster of 11 Platoon, B Company, 1st (Airborne) Battalion The Border Regi-ment. Private Foster was killed on 21 September 1944 at the age of 27. We may assume that he died close to where his field grave was found. A four centimetre hole in his skull leads one to suppose that his death was caused by shrapnel.
About this time last year there was good reason to believe that this soldier would be laid to rest among his comrades in the Arnhem (Oosterbeek) War Cemetery in September 2003. Sadly, this was not the case. As usual, the wheels of the British govern¬ment turn exasperatingly slowly.
Now it is not even certain that Arthur Foster’s re¬interment will take place during the forthcoming period of commemoration! It would appear that attempts to trace relatives have so far been unsuc¬cessful, not surprising when you realise that a western country such as the United Kingdom, in 2004, does not have a population register!

Private Arthur Foster, B Company, Border Regiment, who was killed in the garden of a house in Veerweg, Oosterbeek, on 21 September 1944. His remains were discovered in the spring of 2003 during excavation work.

So, it is an extremely sad and very regrettable state of affairs that Private Foster’s remains are still in the keeping of the BID in Bussum instead of in their rightful last resting place, the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek.
(Geert Maassen)

News from Niall
1 bought my first book about the Battle of Arnhem in 1975, when I was still at school. It was ‘Remember Arnhem’ by John Fairley. Since then I have collected a large number of publications about Operation Market Garden and the British airborne forces. Some of these books maintain that all Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) personnel belonged to the group known as ‘conscientious objectors’ and never bore arms. This claim has always irritated me because it is incorrect, as one of the well-known ‘Arnhem photos’ proves. The one I refer to is Imperial War Museum photograph number BU 1105, showing Corporal Midge Mills, RAMC, kneeling beside the field grave of Trooper Edmond of the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron, behind Duitse- kampweg 9 in Wolfheze. This photo clearly shows that Cpl. Mills is carrying a revolver or pistol in a holster attached to his belt. Over the years I have spoken to many RAMC veterans and, with a few exceptions, no-one can recall any of their comrades having been a conscientious objector.
I know of just one, a certain Private E. Hewitt, RAMC, who was killed in the fighting in North Africa. He was a conscientious objector and was attached to the 1st Parachute Battalion as a med¬ical orderly.
I was therefore surprised when, earlier this year, I received a letter from the son of an ex-member of 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance. He had recently been given a copy of my book ‘Red Berets and Red Crosses’. His father, Private Cecil Charles Hull, RAMC, had, at the age of 28, taken part in the airborne operation at Arnhem. Enclosed with the letter was an article from the ‘Wood Green Observer’ dated 14 October 1944, about five men from Wood Green who had been at Arnhem. In it Private Hull was explicitly referred to as a con-scientious objector.
According to my information this is the only clear evidence that a conscientious objector was involved in the Battle of Arnhem. I would like to hear from anyone who has more information about conscientious objectors at Arnhem.
A friend of mine has told me that the army number of all conscientious objectors began with ’95’. This indicated that they belonged to the NCC, the Non Combatant Corps. However, Private Hull’s army number was 7687687, a ‘normal’ RAMC number.This could mean that my friend’s theory is not right.
Once again, if anyone has more information on this subject I would be very pleased to hear from them. My address is: 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs, PR4 1BD, United Kingdom,
e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com
(Niall Cherry)

18 September 1944, Wolfheze. Corporal Mills, RAMC, kneels beside the field grave of Trooper Edmond. It is obvious that Mills is carrying a pistol or revolver in a hol ster attached to his belt.

Ede in Wapenrok (Ede in Uniform)
The above-titled book was published on 27 May 2004. It is about two centuries of military history in the municipality of Ede, and was written by Society member Evert van de Weerd from Ede in conjunc¬tion with the Barneveld archivist Gerjan Crebolder. Both gentlemen already have a string of military history books to their name.
The subject of this new study is the Ede garrison, but covers the wide surroundings as well. This area is an important military centre of old, with much happening here during the Second World War. In the section on ‘Bezetting en Bevrijding’ (Occupation and Liberation), those interested in the 1940-1945 period will find a treasure trove of information, stretching from the building of the German airbase at Deelen and the De Harskamp airfield, to a de¬tailed description of the liberation operations in this part of the Veluwe in April 1945.
Chapter 6 focuses on the Battle of Arnhem, as far as that which occurred within the boundaries of Ede municipality is concerned. The authors provide a systematic and detailed description of the events which took place on the ground and in the air. This brings to light different aspects that have never previously received attention, or hardly ever. Here are a few examples from the numerous subjects. For instance, the fact that Ede was bombed three times, not two, on Sunday morning 17 September 1944 is examined, and the organisations and actions of the German ‘Westgruppe’ at Ginkel are analysed. The stories of all six Dakotas, carrying men of the 4th Parachute Brigade, which crashed on 18 September 1944 are detailed, as is the fate of the approximatelyl30 men who were dropped far from Ginkel on the same day.
The role of the Ede Resistance and Operations Pegasus I and II are also dealt with.
The book is beautifully produced and contains no less than 492 pages plus some 450 photos, maps and diagrams. Sponsorship has allowed the price to be kept to just € 19,50. ‘Ede in Wapenrok’, ISBN
90-701506-3-8, was published by the Koninklijke BDU Uitgeverij in Barneveld, and is available at the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’.

September 1944, a British patrol somewhere in Oosterbeek. Where exactly was this photo taken?

Trenches restored
On Saturday 1 May last a group of volunteers cleared out a number of trenches on the Papendal Sports Centre complex, just north of the Utrecht- Arnhem railway line. It was here that Brigadier Hackett established the HQ of the 4th Parachute Brigade at about 11 am on 19 September 1944. After the British advance across Johannahoeve had been halted at Dreyenseweg, and the Polish Parachute Brigade’s artillery had arrived by glider, it was de¬cided to withdraw all troops westward, and then to head south via the level crossing at Wolfheze and the tunnel under the railway embankment to a point east of Bilderberg. A number of men crossed the railway line by climbing the embankment.
4 Brigade HQ left the above-mentioned trenches in the late afternoon of 19 September 1944.
The digging out of the trenches to their original depth was arranged by Philip Reinders in consult¬ation with Willem Wichhart and Frieda van Geest from the Papendal Sports Centre. The holes have been fenced off to prevent people or animals falling in by accident.

Where was this photograph taken?
It is probably one of the most-published photos to come out of the Battle of Arnhem. It shows a four- man British patrol moving through the ruins of a building somewhere in Oosterbeek. Sergeant Mike Lewis, one of the three cameramen from the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU), took the picture between 23 and 25 September 1944. From the ‘Dope Sheet’ used by Sgt. Lewis to record his filming, it appears that this is photograph 8 of film 4. He took the other seven exposures on this roll at the Hartenstein Hotel, so it is reasonable to assume that photo 8 was shot in the same area. The ques¬tion is, where exactly?
The scene is almost certainly not an action photo, but posed, because the patrol is approaching the photographer. On the ground is a large amount of concrete reinforcement and a heap of steel pipes. The area through which the men are passing prob¬ably has no roof (anymore) because it seems to be in full daylight.
As far as we are aware, nobody during the inter¬vening 59 years has been able to come up with an answer to the question: ‘Where was this photo taken?’ Therefore, we are appealing to our mem¬bers to help solve the riddle.
‘Oosterbeekers’ in particular who were living in the village in 1944 might recall where in the vicinity of the Hartenstein such building materials might have been stored. The editors await your response(s) with bated breath!

‘De Plek, Oosterbeek. September 1944’ (The Spot, Oosterbeek, September 1944)
The recently-published booklet ‘De Plek, Ooster¬beek, September 1944’ is the first in a series in which writers take a close look at prominent loca¬tions. In this first part journalist Frans van Deijl tells about a spot which played a role in the Battle of Arnhem. On reading it we wonder what the author had in mind when writing this booklet. Did he intend describing a fictitious place? If so, in view of the historical aberrations, he appears to have allowed his fantasy to run riot. Actually, he is writ¬ing about an existing location, but does not allow any reference to history to hamper him. In September 1944, a lad from Oosterbeek, Frans, experiences the airborne landings and the subse¬quent fighting. At first it is one big adventure, until a wounded British soldier is given shelter in the cel¬lar of his parents’ house. Suddenly the war is wor¬ryingly close, even more so when, later, a wounded German is brought in. Eventually the Englishman is rescued, and years later Frans sees the man at a commemoration.
The story lacks a little depth perhaps but it is simp¬ly written and is certainly suitable for children of group 8 level. One of the few modem children’s books about the Battle of Arnhem, it will undoubt¬edly appeal to the younger reader.

‘Oorlog in Oosterbeek’, by Jan van Reenen, released in 2003 by publishers Den Hertog BV, Houten. ISBN 90 331 1736 3, 94 pages, illustrated.
(W. Boersma)

Appeal
Member Hans Molier from Roosendaal has asked us to include the following appeal in the Newsletter: ‘On 16 May 2004, the STIWOT (Stichting Informatie WereldOorlog Tivee – Foundation for Information about World War II), a voluntary organisation which sets up and maintains internet websites (mainly in Dutch) providing information about the Second World War, launched a new website – www.ww2awards.com. This Dutch and English lan¬guage site is packed with information about decora¬tions awarded during WW II, and their recipients.
A team has already spent more than a year devel¬oping the site and an enormous amount of material on the subject has been compiled. Nevertheless, we are still looking for additional details, hence this appeal to you. Should you have any photographs or information to do with decoration awards which you would be prepared to place at our disposal, we would be delighted to hear from you. It could be that even a family member of yours received a dec¬oration during the Second World War. If so we would love to hear your story and, of course, photos and additional facts would be most welcome. You can e-mail the details to us via the website. If you do not have an internet connection you can contact Hans Molier, Susannadonk 123, 4707 WT Roosen-daal, telephone 00 31 65 554531.’

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the SFAM and the history of the Battle of Arnhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark. Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
SFAM representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: niall.cherry@baesystems.com Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ address: Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbornemuseum.com

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From the editors
As you can see, and as announced in the invitation to the AGM sent to you in early March, we have a ‘new look’ Newsletter. The new design is the work of Michel Hildebrand from Wageningen. In recent years he has also produced the dust jacket and lay¬out designs for various publications about the Battle of Arnhem, such as ‘B Company Arrived’ and ‘By Land, Sea and Air’. Among the other design work Michel does for the Airborne Museum are the exhib¬ition posters and the covers for video and DVD boxes.
Unfortunately, the preparations for the Newsletter facelift and the modernising of the production process cost more time than predicted, partly due to a number of technical problems and to the totally unexpected bankruptcy of our ‘home print works’ in Oosterbeek. All this combined to delay the appear¬ance of the first, revitalised issue.
Many memorable events will be taking place this year, the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem. We hope to keep you right up to date with regular reports in the Newsletter.
In response to reactions from the membership it has been decided that, from now on, the Newsletter will be sent unfolded in A4 envelopes.

New board member
During the 24th AGM/General Members Meeting of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum held in the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek on Saturday 24 April last, Mr Ivar R.M. Goedings was elected to the management board. Thirty-five year-old Mr Goedings was bom in Oosterbeek and is a lawyer in Ede. He has been interested in military history for many years and it almost goes without saying that, from an early age, his special interest has been the Battle of Arnhem, on which subject he has a comprehensive library. His other interests include the struggle on the Western Front during World War I, and he therefore makes regular visits to Ypres and the Somme area.
We Will Remember Them, 1944-2004’
On 21 April 2004, Drs.J.C. vanWaveren, Councillor for Open Space and Monuments for Renkum Munici¬pality, opened the ‘We Will Remember Them, 1944- 2004’ exhibition in the Airborne Museum. The exhi¬bition gives a picture of all aspects of the commem¬orations of the Battle of Arnhem that have taken place over the last sixty years. Subjects include the annual ‘Pilgrimages’, the service at the Airborne Cemetery, the raising of monuments, the issuing of special souvenirs such as commemorative coins, plates and envelopes, the Airborne Walk and many more items. The majority of photos and other objects in the exhibition come from the museum’s collection, but a number are on loan from private collections.
The exhibition continues until 1 November this year.

‘Theirs is the Glory’ now also available on DVD
The film ‘Theirs is the Glory’ has recently become available on DVD. A large part of the film was shot in the ruins of Arnhem and Oosterbeek in August and September 1945. British servicemen, who them¬selves fought in the Battle of Arnhem the year before, played the roles, not professional actors, and the film was premiered on 17 September 1946. A few years ago ‘Theirs is the Glory’ appeared on video. The recently produced DVD is for sale only in the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’, price € 32,50.

21 April 2004. At the opening of the ‘We Will Remember Them’ exhibition, Renkum Burgomaster Bruinooge and Mrs Van Slooten, wife of the Airborne Museum Foundation chairman Mr. J. van Slooten, inspect the com-memorative coin display cabinet.

 

News from Niall
A short time ago a number of British members of the Friends’ Society contacted me about an item they had seen offered for sale on the Ebay internet auction site. Apparently, it was a battledress blouse that had allegedly belonged to Colonel Graeme Warrack, Divisional Chief Doctor of the British 1st Airborne Division in September 1944.
The sellers had placed a reserve price of £ 700 on the blouse. In the advertisement the distinctive features of the jacket were described in detail, and included parachute wings and the initials ‘GW’ on a small label stitched to an inside pocket. Among the medal ribbons mentioned were the MBE and the Military Cross. The advert closed with a short summary of his experiences.
After reading the advertisement alarm bells began to ring. I got in touch with the Curator of the Army Medical Services Museum, Captain Peter Starling, – also a Friends’ Society member – and together we came to the conclusion that Warrack had never won a Military Cross, had never been awarded an MBE, and had never undergone parachute training. I wrote to the sellers expressing my doubts about the originality of the uniform blouse, but they insisted it was genuine. Nevertheless, they removed it from the Ebay site and then offered it for sale on their own website, now at a minimum price of ? 1000!
I would never make an offer for such an item but the lesson is clear for us all: potential buyers beware! It would seem that there are people who manufacture ‘Arnhem’ artefacts themselves in the hope of ripping off the unsuspecting for lots of money.
(Niall Cherry)

Social Evening well attended
On Friday evening 13 February the Friends’ Society held the latest in a series of Social Evenings in the Airborne Museum. Non-members were also wel¬come this time so that they could become acquaint¬ed with one of the society’s activities. Entrance to the museum was free for the non-members, too, as well as the coffee! Aad Groeneweg and Robert Sigmond had opened the library and archives and were available all evening to answer questions. More than 65 people availed themselves of this opportun¬ity. In the area reserved for temporary exhibitions, Roland Boekhorst displayed a large number of objects which have recently been excavated on the ‘De Schuytgraaf building site. This site lies between Driel village and the Arnhem-Nijmegen railway line and was used as a dropping zone by the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade Group on 21 September 1944. Over the months that followed, units of the 101st U.S. Airborne Division and various British army units fought in that area. Many wartime relics were discovered while the ground was being prepared for building work. Using examples, Roland explained how the material is cleaned, preserved and registered.

Social Evening, 13 February 2004. With the aid of the scale model in the Airborne Museum, parents point out to their children the places that played an important part in the Battle of Arnhem. In the centre is our society chair¬man, Ben Kolster

Hans van der Velden brought along a substantial selection of emergency rations (in various packag¬ing) from his collection and Ron van Slobbe exhibited material about the Arnhem Rhine Bridge and surroundings. A pleasant incident occurred during the evening when a visitor arrived with a pair of large, well-preserved German military binoculars which he gave to the museum! A lovely acquisition. On the whole the evening was a great success, but next time we hope that more society members will be prepared to exhibit items from their collection or results of research. Undoubtedly there are more than just two members who have material or docu¬ments that would be of interest to others. One can already put one’s name forward, without obligation, to Eugene Wijnhoud for the next Social Evening.
(W. Boersma)

Gift from the Chaplains Museum in Andover
In November 2000 the book ‘The Torn Horizon, The Airborne Chaplains at Arnhem’ by Chris van Roekel was published. Of course a copy was sent to the Chaplains Museum in Andover, England. At the same time Chris asked if the museum might have uniforms or equipment, as worn by the chaplains in World War II, for our museum. A long-cherished wish has been to place a figure in the aid post dio¬rama representing the Reverend A.H.W. Harlow. Harlow was attached to divisional HQ, and during the Battle of Arnhem he assisted Dr. Randall in car¬ing for the wounded in the Hartenstein cellar.
In reply, the Chaplains Museum staff promised var¬ious items, but the museum had not then been opened to the public and the exhibits were still in their packing cases. However, early in December 2003 Chris received a parcel from Andover for the Airborne Museum. The contents included specific articles of clothing and badges of a chaplain plus items required for field services such as a silver chalice and hip flask for the communion wine, and a small wooden box for carrying the communion wafers. Everything is marked with the well-known British broad arrow and the year ‘1944’, even the wooden host box. It is a generous gift from the Chaplains Museum and very much appreciated by everyone at the Airborne Museum. In the course of next year a mannequin representing an army padre will be placed in the aid post diorama.

Wreck of a German aircraft recovered
In an ‘operation’ lasting from 4 till 8 April last, the remnants of a German single-engined fighter aircraft were recovered by an eight man unit from the Royal Dutch Navy’s diving and dismantling team. The aircraft, a Focke Wulf 190, crashed into the river Rhine just west of the railway bridge in Oosterbeek, probably some time in late September/ early October 1944. Parts of the machine were exposed during last year’s hot summer when the water level was extremely low. The decision was taken to recover the wreck because it was in a recre¬ation area, and for all anyone knew there might be explosives on board, perhaps even a bomb.
No bomb was found during excavations even though a search was made to a depth of six metres. However, some human remains were found, as well as about 25 kilos of ammunition. Among the remnants of the recovered aircraft were cockpit com¬ponents such as an oxygen mask and some instru¬ments. The propeller was also found.
Sadly, the bone fragments were insufficient to allow a positive identification of the pilot to be made, so these will be laid to rest in the German war cem¬etery in Ysselsteyn as ‘Unknown’. The Bomb Disposal Squad of the Royal Dutch Army took the ammunition to a safe location where it was destroyed. The excavated aircraft parts were taken to the Deelen Airfield Museum at Arnhem.
Society member Han Kardol possibly saw the crash of the aircraft in question. Although ordered by the Germans to leave the area, the Kardol family was still living in the house in Paasberg (Oosterbeek) from the end of the battle on 26 September 1944 until 4 October. Han, then nine years old, recalls that one day during that period, around noon, he saw an aircraft trailing smoke crash into the Rhine just west of the railway bridge.

A German naval photograph
Some years ago a series of, until then unknown, photographs from the Battle of Arnhem were ‘discovered’ in the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz. Appar¬ently, a German naval photographer had taken photos in the Dreyenseweg and Amsterdamseweg area of Oosterbeek / Arnhem. Around 20 September 1944 he shot two complete rolls of film. They included photos of German soldiers and vehicles, allied aircraft (Stirlings, Spitfires and Dakotas), a private car and supply containers. They are principally action photos but some scenes are posed.
A number of the prints show a German armoured vehicle. It belonged to the SS-Panzer-Aufklarungs- Abteilung 9, the reconnaissance unit of 9. SS- Panzer-Division ‘Hohenstaufen*. Ten Schiitzen- panzerwagen (SPWs) and other armoured vehicles from this unit were deployed in the surroundings of Oosterbeek. They fought there under the command of Kampfgruppe Spindler.
The photo reproduced here shows an Sd.Kfz. 250/3 ‘neu’ (new) on Dreyenseweg, on Wednesday the 20th. The machine gunner is firing his MG42 towards the northern part of Oosterbeek.
This ‘Sonderkraftfahrzeug’ gives a fine picture of the condition of most of the division’s vehicles. They were filthy dirty, not so much from mud and dust, more through oil and grease marks, with scratches, dilapidated caterpillar tracks, ordinary tyres and sometimes severe damage.

The German armoured vehicle photographed by German Navy war photographer Hoppner on Dreyenseweg in Oosterbeek on 20 September 1944. In the background are two British supply container parachutes.

For example, this SPW is still driving around despite the missing rear outer wheels. The front mudguards are also gone and, strangest of all, the rearmost sec¬tion of the right-hand supply chest has disappeared. The break line is so neat and tidy it almost looks as if the plate has been sawn off, and at first sight one doesn’t notice that it is missing.
The painted on number (7203) is probably black with white edging. The poor finish shows clearly that it was applied in a hurry. The camouflage pattern con¬sists of a dark yellow background with red-brown and green flecks. The camouflaging is reinforced by the multitude of oil and grease stains.
Despite the vehicle’s moderate condition it was a formidable opponent for the lightly-armed parachutists.
The photo described above has appeared in a num¬ber of books published in recent years, although, until now, the authors had no idea who the photog¬rapher was. However, via a private collection in Sweden we now know the details.
Thanks to the Arkiv Mirko Bayerl, we know what is written on the back of an original print: “Panzergrenadiere nach vorn!: Panzergrenadiere greifen im Panzerschiitzenwagen in einer schwierigen Situation gegen britische Fallschirmspringer ein.
PK/M L 5214 Wb
PK-Aufnahme: Kriegsberichter Hoppner”.
In other words: “Panzer grenadiers advance! In a dif¬ficult situation panzer grenadiers go into action against British parachutists.”
On 31 October 1944 the photo was released for pub¬lication by the German Propaganda Ministry. The abbreviation PK/M points to the fact that the photo¬grapher belonged to a Navy Propaganda Company. It is therefore clear that a certain Hoppner took photos of the combat actions concerned. Unfor¬tunately, nothing more is known about the man. It is known that he took more photos of the Battle of Arnhem than the two rolls in the Bundesarchiv. See, for instance, the book “Operation ‘Market Garden’ Then and Now” by Karel Margry (2002), which includes three photos attributed to Hoppner. The Koblenz archive number of the photo is 2KBK771/30. The first section indicates II Kriegs¬berichter Kompanie (Kriegsmarine) {2nd War Reporting Company (German Navy)). This could also indicate that there were at least two naval companies consisting of war reporters.
That is the story of one photo so far. The details in this article were compiled and arranged by Geert Maassen, with thanks to Marcel Zwarts, Bob Gerritsen, Karel Margry and Hans Timmerman. Anyone wishing to make additions and/or correc-tions is cordially invited to contact the compiler: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek (wamredactie@planet.nl)

Action
Last year eleven Dutch museums and organisations began an action on the internet aimed at preventing the disposing of material from the Second World War. They want to ensure that objects, photos and documents, whether in private hands or in the pos¬session of official bodies, do not end up in the waste bin by accident or design. Material sometimes seems unimportant, but this is not so according to the museums. Even now exceptional items are often discovered in attics and cellars, and it has happened that unique material has had to be rescued from the rubbish skip at the last minute. The action is called ‘Don’t throw it away’. Other organisations partici¬pating in the action include the Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (NIOD) (Dutch Institute for War Documentation), the Jewish Museum and the Bronbeek Museum.

COLOPHON
The Newsletter is a publication of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek (SFAM) and appears four times per year. The objective is to promote the Airborne Museum, the Society of Friends and the history of the Battle of Amhem.
Editors: drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil and G.H. Maassen jr. Editorship address: Jan van Riebeeckweg 39, 6861 BD Oosterbeek; e-mail: wam@planet.nl Coordination sending, archiving and distribution of back numbers: Chris van Roekel, Oosterbeek.
English translation: Cathrien and Peter Clark.
Design: Hildebrand DTP, Wageningen.
Print: Drukkerij Verweij Wageningen BV.
Friends’ Society representative in the U.K.: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs PR4 1BD, tel. 01772 632764; e-mail: Niall.Cherry@bae.co.uk Airborne Museum ’Hartenstein’ address:
Utrechtseweg 232, 6862 AZ Oosterbeek, telephone 00 31 26 3337710;
e-mail: info@airbomemuseum.com

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FRIENDS OF THE AIRBORNE MUSEUM
Editors:
Drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil
C. van Roekel
G.H. Maassen jr.
Newsletter No. 92, December 2003
Translated by Cathrien and Peter Clark
Representative in Great Britain: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs, PR4 1BD Tel. home 0177-2632764

20 September 2003. After their parachute jump on Ginkel Heath, British veterans chat with Dutch schoolchildren.
(photo: Berry de Reus)

Social Evening
The Airborne Museum will be holding a Social Evening for members of the society on 13 February 2004, commencing at 19.30 hours.
A number of members will be bringing along items from their personal collections for exhibition, the store and restoration rooms will be open, as will the library and archives.
And of course, there will be plenty of opportunity to exchange views on the multitude of subjects connected with Operation ‘Market Garden’.

AGM
The 24th AGM will be held in the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek on Saturday morning 3 April 2004, in conjunction with the General Members’ Meeting of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum. Lunch will be available after the meeting, and there will be an excursion in the afternoon.
Further details will appear in the next issue of the Newsletter.

Battlefield tours 2004
A large number of battlefield tours are scheduled for 2004.
First off is an excursion to Normandy, from Wednesday 19 until Sunday 23 May 2004 inclusive, organised by the Airborne Museum. The cost is € 495, based on shared double rooms. Contact the museum for a programme overview and further information.
Then in June we begin a repeat of the entire series of Market Garden tours, tour dates being:
12 June, Market Garden ‘T: South Netherlands;
3 July, Market Garden ‘2’: Central Netherlands;
21 August, Market Garden ‘3’: Betuwe; and
11 September, Market Garden ‘4’: Arnhem and Oosterbeek. The cost for SFAM members is € 30 per tour, € 32 for non-members. Anyone booking for three tours at the same time will receive a free Holt’s battlefield map of the Operation Market Garden area. A battlefield tour to the Ardennes is being organised for 7 to 10 October 2004 inclusive. The programme is not yet finalised but will cover such events as: the fighting in and around Bastogne, the advance of Kampfgruppe Peiper, and the battles of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st American Airborne Division (‘Band of Brothers’). Visits to three local museums are included in the excursion. It may also be possible to arrange a visit to fort Eben Emael. Cost per person is € 395 all in.
A programme overview and further information on/for this excursion can also be obtained from the Airborne Museum, or visit our website, www.airbornemuseum.com.
(W. Boersma)

Action for RAF Monument
In Newsletter number 90 we mentioned the initiative of member Philip Reinders for the raising of a monument to the aircrews of the Royal Air Force. Although they were not part of the 1st British Airborne Division, the men of the RAF played a vital role in September 1944. From the 17th up to and including the 25th they flew numerous missions, towing gliders to the landing zones and then transporting supplies to the beleaguered troops in Oosterbeek. 153 airmen lost their lives, and many were wounded during these re-supply flights, which were often unescorted and always flown at low altitude. Despite the heavy losses, enemy fighters and Flak, several runs were sometimes made across the dropping zones to make sure that all the panniers and containers had been dropped, the crews being unaware that most of the supply dropping zones were in German hands.
Various (former) airfields in England have monuments to these courageous crews, but in Arnhem and Oosterbeek there are no memorials where veterans or relatives of RAF aircrews can pause for a few moments and reflect in silence on what happened here nearly 60 years ago. Hopefully this oversight will be rectified in 2004, sixty years after the Battle of Arnhem. As already mentioned, a location has been found where the new monument will be placed. It is in the grounds of the Rehoboth School in Johanniterweg, Doorwerth. Stirling LJ-928 from 196 Squadron crashed there on 21 September 1944 with the loss of all on board. Following discussions with the head teacher and the school governors it was decided to raise a memorial on the site, not just to the crew of LJ-928 but to all RAF airmen who took part in the hazardous missions to Oosterbeek between 17 and 26 September 1944. The cost for producing a simple stone pillar with explanatory text is about € 2000, and although collections have already been made we are still somewhat short of the full amount. Therefore an action has been started whereby people who would like to see the setting up of this RAF monument are kindly asked if they would care to make a financial donation. A special bank account has been opened for this purpose.

New monument at the Rhine
A monument to the allied soldiers who managed to withdraw across the river Rhine during the night of 25/26 September 1944 in operation ‘Berlin’, was unveiled on Sunday afternoon 21 September last. The new memorial is close to the north bank of the Rhine, on the flood plains behind the Old Church in Oosterbeek. Rob van der Zon, from Oosterbeek, instigated the project together with some friends, including Friends’ Society member Axe Jon Versluijs. The group also financed the monument which was designed and made by Rob van der Zon. The unveiling ceremony was carried out by ex-Sgt. M.J. Potter, one of the men who managed to escape across the Rhine 59 years ago. Sgt. Potter, Royal Engineers, was the man who took a small bulldozer to Arnhem by Horsa glider in September 1944. The bulldozer eventually ended up at Sonnenberg in Oosterbeek.
After the unveiling, which was attended by sixty veterans and about a hundred others, a group of thirty swimmers swam the Rhine, a tradition dating from 1998.

21 September 2003. Following its unveiling, Rob van der Zon – who fashioned the monument – and veteran Mr. M. J. Potter inspect the new Operation Berlin monument on the flood plains of the Rhine at Oosterbeek. (photo: Axe Jon Versluijs)

Gift of medal sets
Over the past months the Airborne Museum has received medal sets that belonged to the following people: Captain, the Reverend, R.F. Bowers, in 1944 padre/army chaplain, 10th Parachute Battalion; Trooper R. McSkimmings, Reconnaissance Squadron, who died on 19 September 1944; Lance Corporal Harold E. Back of the 2nd Parachute Battalion; and Private E.V.B. Mordecai, Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
(Roland Boekhorst)

News from Niall
Niall Cherry, our UK rep., has sent us some additional information about one of the photos taken on 20 September 1944 in Utrechtseweg, Oosterbeek, by a German war photographer (Jacobsen, ed.).
The photo, printed here, shows Gunner Eric Milner, C Troop, 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery, Royal Artillery, (right), being searched by a German soldier in the garden of the Berghege family home, opposite Annastraat. (This house was badly damaged during lhe battle but repaired after the war. It was demolished later, and the ABN/AMRO bank was built on the site).
Not long ago Eric Milner told Niall that the photograph was taken just as the German soldier had taken a packet of chewing gum from Eric’s pocket. Horrified, Eric thought for a second that the German was going to pop the chewing gum into his mouth, but luckily he didn’t. He returned the packet, not knowing that it concealed an escape saw!

C Troop 1st AT Bty, commanded by Lieutenant Ted Shaw (later, for many years our SFAM representative 20 September 2944. German soldiers search British wounded in front of the house of the Berghege family in Utrechtseweg, opposite Annastraat, in Oosterbeek. Right, with an arm in a sling, Eric Milner.
(photo: Bundesarchiv, Koblenz)

in Britain!), had provided 3rd Parachute Battalion with artillery support over the previous days in Arnhem. Eric was wounded on 19 September during the withdrawal from Arnhem to Oosterbeek. He arrived at the emergency hospital in the Schoonoord Hotel but things were so hectic there that he was passed on to a 133rd Parachute Field Ambulance first-aid post in houses east of the Vreewijk Hotel, at that time in German hands.
Eric was going into the Berghege house via the back door when he was stopped by a Royal Army Medical Corps corporal. Angrily, the medic asked Eric if he wanted to see everyone in the house shot by the Germans, because he was about to enter a first-aid post while still armed with a rifle! There were two Germans and a number of British wounded at the front of the house. Eric’s arm was dressed, and shortly afterwards the photo in question was taken.
Next day he managed to escape and rejoined his gun crew. However, he was recaptured on 24 September 1944.

Fred Bolle, the BID and Veerweg
On 1 October 2003, Warrant Officer Instructor Fred Bolle took early retirement from the army. During his army career he served for many years with the ‘Bergings en Identificatie Dienst’of the ‘Koninklijke Landmacht’ (BID – Recovery and Identification Unit, Royal Netherlands Army), lastly as commander of the unit in succession to Captain H.J.R. Jongen.
He was involved many times in the exhumation and identification of the remains of servicemen killed in the Second World War.
In April of this year his job brought him to Oosterbeek again. The remains of a British serviceman were discovered during excavation work in a garden in Veerweg (very close to the Westerbouwing). Thirty mortar bombs and two hand grenades of British make were unearthed at the same time. These were destroyed near Doorwerth Castle by the EOD KL (‘Explosieven Opruimings Dienst, Koninklijke Landmacht’ – Dutch Army Bomb Disposal Unit).
Warrant Officer Bolle and his colleague Sergeant Major Geert Jonker were able to recover almost the entire skeleton. There was a four-centimetre hole in the skull, probably caused by shrapnel. Other remarkable finds included two Airborne helmets (1942, first pattern), one pair of ‘ankle boots’, a triangular neckerchief (cut from parachute material), remains of a leather wallet (including a devotional picture among its contents), a sprig of dried heather, a small crucifix and scraps of paper bearing illegible writing.
Investigation by the BID, in which the recovered dental items played a major part, led to a rapid positive identification. The findings were sent to the relevant authorities (such as the British Embassy and the Ministry of Defence in the UK) who, after certain verifications, would confirm the identity of the serviceman.
There was well-founded hope that the Airborne soldier concerned would find his last resting place among his comrades in the Arnhem (Oosterbeek) War Cemetery during last September’s commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem. But as usual in such cases, the British machinery grinds slow. Alas, that means that at the time of writing (5 December 2003), the identity of this soldier has still not been made known. On top of that his remains have not yet been buried in the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek. Sadly enough, they are still being kept at the BID in Bussum, as they have been for the last eight months.

By Land, Sea and Air
Much remains to be told about the Battle of Arnhem, a fact once more emphasised by the appearance of ‘By Land, Sea and Air’, a book about the 2nd Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment. It is written in English by Alexander Junier and Bart Smulders, assisted by Jaap Korsloot. All three are Friends of the Airborne Museum.
The South Staffordshire battalion was one of the nine British combat battalions in the battle, and earned its own place in history, not least through winning two Victoria Crosses. This aptly named book tells all.
The 80th Regiment of Foot, ‘Staffordshire volunteers’, was formed in 1783. In 1881 it was renamed the ‘2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment (80th Foot)’, and in 1941 the infantry battalion, already with a colourful past behind it, was attached to the newly formed 1st British Airborne Division as an airlanding unit. It trained hard for its airborne role, the landing by glider behind enemy lines. We follow the battalion to North Africa in 1943, where it prepares for the invasion of Sicily. In this operation the gliders of a large part of the battalion are released well short of the coast and land in the sea. Many Staffords are drowned.
We witness the fighting for the Ponte Grande bridge and Syracuse. Five days later 288 of the 816 men return to Tunisia. So the battalion had been to war by land, sea and air. We follow the battalion to Italy, where it is deployed in places such as Foggia and Brindisi in order to occupy towns and villages in the fighting there.
On 17 September 1944 the bulk of the battalion lands at Wolfheze. The most important tasks are the holding of landing zone S for the second lift on the 18th, and the crossroads north of Wolfheze. Instead it is rushed to Arnhem to reinforce the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions already fighting there. Due to a shortage of aircraft the rest of the battalion lands the following day. This group is also hurried off to Arnhem.
On 19 September the battalion leads the attempt to push along Utrechtseweg to the centre of Arnhem, where the 1st Parachute Battalion has been held up. After fierce fighting it withdraws to Lower Oosterbeek where it is deployed to defend the eastern side of the perimeter foot. We experience the fighting in which the Germans struggle to cut the British division off from the Rhine, right up to its withdrawal on the night of the 25th. They almost succeed. It is there that Major R.H. Cain and Sergeant J.D. Baskeyfield win their Victoria Crosses.
Being closest to the Rhine the Staffords are among the last to leave, so many are left behind on the north bank when the last evacuation boat has gone, and are taken prisoner. Only 25% of the battalion makes it back across the river.
In various appendices we follow the experiences of 12 Platoon, which lands near Tilburg, and of the Staffords who are taken to POW camps in Poland and Germany after Arnhem. In the spring of 1945 the battalion forms part of the Army of Liberation in Oslo, Norway.
The authors have researched their subject very thoroughly, with excellent results. Admirable. The personal stories of the men bring history to life, and therefore enthralling. One feels close to events, and the reader can almost experience the battle.
The book was presented on 22 November 2003, and, as we have come to expect, is beautifully produced by Robert N. Sigmond Publishing. It contains many illustrations, good maps, and reads easily. ‘By Land, Sea and Air, An Illustrated History of the 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment 1940-1945. From Official Records and Personal Accounts of Members of the Battalion’ is in English, comprises 224 pages, and costs € 27,50. It is available from the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ in Oosterbeek and the Gelders Archief in Arnhem, and from (local) bookshops (ISBN 90-804718-6-0).
(Okko Luursema)

CD-Rom of communications lecture
On Saturday 22 November 2003, Wybo Boersma gave a fascinating lecture in the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek on the communications systems as used by the 1st British Airborne Division during the Battle of Arnhem. The talk covered all the resources used, such as the various radio transmitters/receivers, radar equipment, field telephones, and even carrier pigeons. Wybo gave the lecture using a PowerPoint computer presentation containing layouts, drawings, maps and photographs.
The complete presentation is available on CD-Rom, now on sale at the Airborne Museum for € 5. Copies can also be ordered from W. Boersma. If sent by post the CD-Rom costs € 7.50.
Postage stamps sought

‘Every cloud has a silver lining’, says ex-footballer Johan Cruijff. Thus, when 1 stepped down as chairman of the Friends’ Society, I suddenly had more time to return to one of my hobbies that had been pushed into the background.
For many years I have been putting together a postage stamp collection which reflects the rise and fall of National Socialism. Therefore, they are principally German stamps from the 1932-1945 period, but come as well from other regions involved in World War II.
Because no albums on tills theme exist, I have spent several months compiling a book in which, based on postage stamps, this period is described. Modem scanner and printing techniques, and of course the acquired leisure time, enable me to do this.
My request to you is, could you possibly check to see if you have anything that could add to my collection, and which you are prepared to make available to me? And who knows, in due course I could even surprise you with a small exhibition on the subject.
I can be contacted at my address: Benedendorpsweg 119, 6882 WE Oosterbeek, telephone 026 3333261, or by e-mail: chris.van.roekel@l2move.nl.
Thanking you in anticipation, Chris van Roekel.

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FRIENDS OF THE AIRBORNE MUSEUM
Editors:
Drs. R.P.G.A. Voskuil
C. van Roekel
G.H. Maassen jr.
Newsletter No. 91, August 2003
Translated by Cathrien and Peter Clark
Representative in Great Britain: Niall Cherry, 3 Church Road, Warton, Lancs, PR4 1BD
Tel. home 0177-2632764

Obituary: Mr. Jan ter Horst
Mr. Jan ter Horst passed away in Oosterbeek on 1 August 2003 at the age of 98. For many years Mr Ter Horst had a legal practice in Arnhem. He was a well- known figure, deeply involved in the social, cultural and political life within the region and beyond.
The Ter Horst family came to live in Oosterbeek in 1941, taking up residence in the former vicarage next

Burgomaster Jan ter Horst and Major General Robert ‘Roy’ Urquhart during the first Airborne Commemoration on 25 September 1945.
(photo: R. Voskuil Collection)

to the Old Church in the Lower Village. Mr Ter Horst was not in Oosterbeek when the British airborne landings began on 17 September 1944, and the subsequent heavy fighting in the village prevented him from reaching his home. In the meantime the house had been turned into a ‘Regimental Aid Post’, to which many wounded were brought and treated. Mrs Kate ter Horst, who also had her children to take care of, did everything in her power to relieve to some extent the suffering of the wounded. When the battle ended Mrs Ter Horst and children were forced to leave the village, and Jan ter Horst was at last reunited with his family.
Immediately after the war Mr Ter Horst was appointed interim burgomaster of Renkum Council, a post he held until some time in 1946. The council offices had found a temporary home in the Bilderberg Hotel because the town hall on the Bato’swijk estate had been destroyed. One day in September 1945, Jan ter Horst received news that General Urquhart (who had commanded the British airborne division the year before) was paying an informal visit to Oosterbeek in company with a group of officers. At the time they were visiting the Airborne Cemetery which was still under construction. Jan ter Horst got on his bicycle and set off. When he saw the cars carrying the British officers in Stationsweg he quickly set up a ‘roadblock’ with his bike so as to stop the vehicles. General Urquhart stepped out of his car, and in the conversation that developed Mr Ter Horst emphasised, first and foremost, that despite the lost battle the British were more than welcome in Oosterbeek, something the general had obviously been uncertain of.
In the video documentary ‘Blijvend in Herinnering’ (Forever Remembered), produced in 1989 by Bal Video Produkties of Oosterbeek, both Mr Ter Horst and General Urquhart talked extensively about their first meeting. This meeting resulted in a joint plan for a memorial service to be held at the military cemetery. In fact they laid the foundations for the annual airborne commemoration. The original Order of Service then established is still used today in a virtually unchanged form.
In post war Oosterbeek Mr Ter Horst served for many years on the Renkum municipal council (representing the PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party) and put his mark on many issues, including the reconstruction of the villages.
On 21 February 1992 he lost his beloved wife Kate in a tragic motor accident. Jan himself was seriously injured but recovered after a long rehabilitation period.
Jan ter Horst was a friendly, warm-hearted man, deeply interested in all forms of culture, but in particular in his fellow beings. He enjoyed exchanging views with others on all sorts of subjects, preferably seated in his spacious and comfortable study with its view of the garden and the flood plains of the Rhine.
He was wished farewell during an impressive memorial service in the Old Church in Oosterbeek on 5 August.
(Robert Voskuil)

In Memoriam: Father Dijker
Another man who played a major part in the annual memorial service at the Airborne Cemetery, Father Reinold Dijker, passed away on 30 July 2003 in Nijmegen. He was 88 years of age.
Father Dijker was in Oosterbeek at the time of the Battle of Arnhem. From 19 September 1944 onwards he helped where he could in the large emergency hospital in the Tafelberg Hotel.
In September 1945 it was Father Dijker who suggested to interim burgomaster Jan ter Horst that children be allowed to place flowers on the still-bare graves in the Airborne Cemetery during the commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem. And that is what happened. Children gathered flowers from their own gardens and laid them on the graves in the first memorial service of September 25 1945. As everyone knows this has become a tradition. Each year children put flowers on the graves, and for the British and Polish veterans this is the emotional highpoint of the commemorations. This story is also well covered in ‘Blijvend in Herinnering’, the documentary mentioned above.

August/September 1945. Father Dijker during filming of ‘Theirs is the Glory’ in Hotel De Tafelberg.
(photo: R. Voskuil Collection)

When a British Rank Organisation film crew aighted in Oosterbeek in 1945 to shoot scenes for the film ‘Theirs is the Glory’, Father Dijker was asked if he would take part in this reconstruction of the Battle of Arnhem. After some hesitation he agreed, and so a very young Father Dijker is to be seen in the film, saying Mass in the kitchen of the Tafelberg Hotel. Some time later he left for Indonesia where he remained as a missionary for more than 25 years. On his return to the Netherlands he went to live in Nijmegen, and almost every year thereafter this genial cleric was present at the service in the Airborne Cemetery.
Father Dijker was buried on 2 August in the churchyard of the Heilig Landstichting (Holy Land Foundation) at Nijmegen.
(Robert Voskuil)

Rectification
Unfortunately, the Tn Memoriam’ article included in the previous issue of the Newsletter contained an annoying typing error. The surname of the deceased person mentioned in the article is Roell, not Roell. We apologise for this error.
Excursion to Hamminkeln on 4 October next
As already mentioned, our Society is organising an excursion to the area around Hamminkeln in Germany on Saturday October 4 next. It is here that the last large allied airborne operation of the Second World War took place, on 24 March 1945.
The programme for the day is as follows: 09.00 hours: Departure by bus from the car park at the Goede Herderkerk in Oosterbeek, corner of J.J. Talsmalaan and Utrechtseweg.
10.15 hours: Arrival in Hamminkeln.
10.30-13.00 hours: Battlefield tour to a selection of places that played an important role during and after the landings.
13.00-14.00 hours: LUNCH.
14.00-16.30 hours: Continuation of the battlefield tour. Here we will follow in the footsteps of the famous American war photographer Robert Capa, who took an impressive series of photos of the landings of parachutists of the 17th US Airborne Division and the subsequent fighting.
The battlefield tour costs € 25 per person, which includes the bus journey, lunch and an excursion guide. Payment must be made by 27 September next at the latest, and bookings will be dealt with in order of receipt. There is a maximum of 48 places available and, in the event of over subscription, you will only be notified if you CANNOT be accommodated.

Theme afternoon on 22 November
Our Society is organising a theme afternoon to be held in the Concert Hall in Oosterbeek on Saturday
22 November next.
The programme is as follows:
13.30-14.00 hours: Reception of the members.
14.00-15.00 hours: Talk by Mr W. Boersma, director of the Airborne Museum, on the radio communications during the Battle of Arnhem. 15.00-15.45 hours: BREAK.
15.45-17.00 hours: Continuation of Mr Boersma’s talk and, time permitting, the showing of a documentary.

Acquisition
Last July Jaap Korsloot and Wybo Boersma attended the ‘Airborne Day’ at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, Yorks, taking with them an Airborne Museum public relations and sales stand. Our museum received some exceptional objects from the Air Museum, the most interesting being a sleeve emblem of the ‘General Headquarters Liaison Regiment’ (‘Phantom’), a white ‘P’ on a black background. Some time ago the Airborne Museum managed to buy one of these very rare emblems. Now both emblems are attached to the uniform of a soldier in the Signal Corps diorama in the ‘Hartenstein’.
Phantom was a small unit whose job it was to report the progress of the battle directly to Field Marshal Montgomery’s headquarters. During the Battle of Arnhem the Phantom radio connection and that of the Public Relations Unit were the only ones to have good contact with the ‘outside world’. The soldiers of this unit did not wear the Pegasus emblem on their sleeves because they were not part of the 1st British Airborne Divisie.

Report on the ‘UK Weekend’
On Friday afternoon 20 June 2003 we gathered at the Schoonoord restaurant, leaving from there to visit the positions of 10 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, in Utrechtseweg. We then went to the Airborne Cemetery and the Air Despatch monument, and then on to Dreijenseweg, where the route of advance of 156 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and the location of the German defence line were explained.
On Saturday we left Hartenstein for DZ ‘Y’, and from there we visited the Psychiatric Hospital complex in Wolfheze. While there we went to the cemetery where the victims of the allied bombing on 17 September 1944 are buried. Few of us had been there before. After an excellent lunch at the West End Hotel we made a walking tour of the Papendal National Sports Centre terrain, where the landings and fighting on Johannahoeve were explained as well as the role of 7th Battalion, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. The rest of the afternoon was centred on the site where the Reconnaissance Squadron jeeps were ambushed, the tunnel under the railway embankment, Captain Lionel Queripel (The Royal Sussex Regiment, attached to 10 Battalion), who was awarded a posthumous VC, and ‘Hackett s Hollow’ (the large depression in the ground which Brigadier John Hackett and many of his men of 4 Parachute Brigade held for some hours).
Sunday 22 June we boarded Second World War army vehicles at the Hartenstein. First stop was LZ ‘S’ and the site where Flight Lieutenant David Lord’s Dakota crashed (David Lord was also awarded a posthumous VC). We then headed for Westerbouwing via LZ ‘Z’, DZ ‘X’ and the monument in Heelsum. At Westerbouwing our hosts produced a picnic lunch for us. The drive continued on to the Old Church, passing the Heveadorp ferry on the way. After this stop the column drove to Arnhem, across the John Frost Bridge, and then along the dike to Driel. This was the last excursion point, from where we returned to Oosterbeek.

Sunday 22 June 2003. Participants in the UK Weekend being driven around in authentic World War II vehicles, (photo: Eugene Wijnhoud)

Our Dutch hosts accompanied us on our visits to all the above places, answering our questions and explaining the various excursion sites. We saw places for the first time, or from a totally different direction or perspective, generally when locked gates had been opened especially for us! We even found the remains of old slit trenches. The only disappointment, and this has nothing to do with the trip, was seeing the still-deplorable state of the partly demolished

Tafelberg.
One cannot thank our hosts enough for the time and trouble they went to in organising such an excellent weekend, with information packs, lunches, a reception at the Museum on the Friday evening, and WW II vehicles. We were even given a length of original parachute rigging line, recently retrieved from the Driel area.
Among the excursion leaders were Ben Kolster and Eugene Wijnhoud, chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the Friends’ Society, and Aad Groeneweg, vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Airborne Museum. All in all an excellent trip, well organised, superbly led and a real pleasure to attend. I hope to be on the next trip and would recommend it to any of the UK members.
(Richard Graham, Guildford)

News from Niall
I would like to thank the members from the UK who supported our small trip to the battlefields in June. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even if things didn’t always go to plan. But the weather was excellent and it was a very happy group.
1 have had several suggestions for 2005 and work will soon start in earnest on planning the schedule. I realise it is very early days yet, but if anyone has any questions about the battlefield tour in 2005, please get in touch with me.
(Niall Cherry)

Arnhem Operation Market Garden, September
At first glance this work by Lloyd Clark would appear to be of interest. The photographs in particular are good, both the wartime photos and those from more recent times. However, this is about as far as I can go in recommending the book.
The title itself is a bit strange as Lloyd Clark deals with the fighting in the entire Market Garden corridor rather than (as the title would suggest) at A rnhem / Oosterbeek.
The book contains no new information for the more serious student of the battle, but it does, in my opinion, include several rather unfortunate errors and contradictions. For example, on one page it is stated: ‘As a result Urquhart decided to take just six infantry battalions on the 17th, while his field artillery were to arrive on the 18th.’ A few pages later the statement ‘also arriving on 17 September,… two-thirds of his 75mm field artillery’ appears.
Clark also writes that on the 24th September a meeting was held at the St Elisabeth’s Hospital between Colonel Warrack (Assistant Director of Medical Services) and General Bittrich (Commander of II SS Panzer Corps). This differs from Warrack’s own account written at Apeldoorn soon after the battle in which he says the meeting was at Bittrich’s HQ. Errors also appear in some of the maps, notably of the bridge perimeter where the defensive positions at the Van Limburg Stirum School are not shown. In fact later in the book the building is referred to as the ‘van Lunburgstirum school’.
1 was also concerned to see that Clark mentions 3,910 men as having been evacuated from the perimeter during Operation Berlin. This figure is certainly the highest number I have ever come across, most accounts agreeing on a total of around 2,400. The official figure is 2,398.
1 would have expected something better from someone who is ‘a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies al the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he specialises in the history of airborne warfare’. Perhaps the best thing to say about the book is that it gives the newcomer to the battle a useful overview of ‘Market Garden’.
‘Arnhem Operation Market Garden, September 1944’, by Lloyd Clark, is published by Sutton Publishing Limited, ISBN 0-7509-2835-2. The price in Britain is £ 25, and at the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek € 42.
(Niall Cherry)

Information board at Ginkel Heath
An information board has been placed near the monument on Ginkel Heath where the 4th Parachute Brigade landed on 18 September 1944. The board was provided by the Ede VVV on the initiative of the Ede council and with support from the Airborne Museum.
The board gives a short account, in Dutch and English, of the events that took place there on 17 and 18 September 1944. Those requiring further information are referred to the Airborne Museum and the museum website. Many tourists visit the monument and the nearby sheep shed during the summer months, so the board represents an excellent free advert for the Airborne Museum.

A 75-ium gun was set up in one of the original locations in the flood plains behind the church as part of the excursion on 29 March last. The excursion focused on the positions of the Light Regiment Royal Artillery near the Old Church in Oosterbeek.

(photo: Bob Gerritsen)

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