A personal account of Pte W Aldcroft's experiences in Arnhem

Early one morning on the 17th of September 1944 the 2nd Battalion of 1st Parachute Brigade landed in Holland at the Town of Arnhem to lead the assault to take two bridges across the Rhine.

C Company’s objective was a Railway Bridge. As always we were the first to land but never came under fire, which was a welcome change. Loaded down with our heavy equipment we had to set off at a quick pace as we had a long way to march. But not quick enough as we came under fire a couple of times on the way. This also held us up for a short period and we sustained our first few casualties.

Our DZ was 15 [5-6] miles from our objective. This was first of the many major operational mistakes. We could have landed on the open land, on the other side of the river very close to both bridges. They could have been easily captured within an hour of landing. In fact this was the DZ where some days later the Polish Para Brigade landed to help us. But they were sent in far too late as the battle was over, so many of them were slaughtered in the air as they came in to land. Completely out numbered they bravely fought to the bitter end against an enemy who were then supported by German Tiger Tanks and mobile artillery.

Our objective was the Railway Bridge, which we reached late in the afternoon after landing early morning, giving the Germans plenty of time to counter-attack and isolate us from the rest of the 1st Airborne Division who never really moved off the DZ or from Oosterbeek, the nearby township. This happened to be a German Army training and R and R base. But like many other things in this ‘gung ho’ attitude from Montgomery, Browning and the others, it was a very badly planned operation. A Real Bridge Too Far for us. We were never briefed about what opposition we really had to face, ‘just old men and boys’. In fact there were two SS Panzer divisions equipped with the latest ‘Tiger’ tanks with 88 mm cannons and the supporting troops. Many had been fighting the Russians.

So loaded down with all our gear, and meeting some light resistance, we ran and marched the 15 [5-6] miles to our objective. C Company knocked out what little resistance there was covering the railway bridge, and the leading attack platoon (mine) climbed up the embankment on to the railway lines and were already starting to go over the first span of the bridge. The rest of the Company was giving covering fire at the Germen soldiers on the other side of the river just to keep their heads down, while my platoon was to charge across the bridge a section at a time, giving covering fire to each other, then to secure the other end of the bridge for the rest of the Company to come over. That was the plan.

Our Platoon Officer was leading the first section and were already on the first section of bridge, when it was blown up and collapsed into the River. [In the withdrawal the Platoon Commander, Lieut. Peter Barry was wounded and another man killed] The rest of the Platoon were still on the embankment waiting to go. The Platoon Sergeant immediately took over command and ordered the rest of us to withdraw from the wrecked railway bridge, as our mission had failed. The Company then moved out after it was discovered a Pontoon bridge across the river had been dismantled. So there was no way for us to cross the river.

The rest of the 2nd Battalion were already on the road bridge, as we could hear the fighting going on. It was dark and very late when C Company went back into the town to get on to a road to join them. In the dark we came badly undone when the lead section came under heavy machine gun fire killing most of them. We all dived for cover into the nearby houses on both sides of the road. We couldn’t return fire as we didn’t know where the machine gun was, also some of the lads who were wounded were still lying on the road calling for help. The group on my side of the road were ordered to go up a parallel street to where the German position seemed to be to find it and take it out. We set off but got lost as we must have gone right past the machine gun position in the dark. By this time we had no idea where we were. So we split up and holed up in some houses to rest for what was left of the rest of the night.

The next morning we saw some German soldiers coming down the street so we opened fire on them. They took cover in nearby houses then we saw their support was coming: an armoured troop carrier coming down the street with more troops. They had spotted our position and were firing at the houses we were occupying. We fired back to keep them down, then we went out through the back of the house. Others in the group who were in different houses continued to fight on. The few of us who had managed to get away headed towards the road bridge where the rest of the Battalion were holding out just up the road from us. Unfortunately they were also under heavy fire and we couldn’t join them. We saw some German soldiers on the road, but they didn’t spot us so we dived into a nearby house and stayed for the night.

Very early next morning we decided to break out into two separate groups and make a dash for the Battalion positions. My group of about 15 men were quietly moving from house to house, but again we were spotted and came under very heavy fire. We moved into a house for cover and returned fire to keep the Germans off the street. We were unable to leave this house and we decided to hold out there for a while, as the fighting was heavy. Later that day we saw a Tiger tank [probably a Stug III] coming down the street with some soldiers running alongside. It seemed there was another group of the Company on the other side of the road firing at them. We also opened up with the Bren on the soldiers on our side taking cover by the tank. What was left of them moved back up the road out of sight. We had just decided it was time to get out of the house when we were attacked by another bunch of Germans who had got into the buildings across the road from us; although we held off that attack, we were also held down by occasional machine gun fire and snipers. Another attack was held off that came from behind the house we were in. There seemed to be no way out for us. We had also taken some casualties. Then it was considered that during the night we could sneak out of the house one or two at time, leaving a couple of our wounded to fire a few shots. The first two out didn’t make the back fence. We knew we had no chance to get to the Battalion positions so we decided to make a stand for it were we were. That night we fortified our positions all around the house, and waited for what we knew would be another attack at first light.

The Tiger tank with the 88 mm cannon came back down the street and opened up with shell fire and heavy calibre machine gun fire on several other nearby houses as well as ours. They weren’t too sure what house we were in. The German infantry were also not too sure either as they attacked the wrong house as they charged across the street from the houses they were occupying. They soon found out as we opened up with the Bren and they had to race for cover back across the street. The tank crew soon spotted our positions and started to shell and machine gun us and the buildings began to fall down around us. Our building had also caught on fire. When the next infantry attack finally came in, we were finished. The Bren gunner who was next to me was killed, and I was wounded from shrapnel. Those lads who were still standing were stunned by the shelling, so the Germans just charged in without a shot being fired at them. Fortunately I was pulled out of the building with some other lads who were wounded only just in time, before the building collapsed on fire.

Our wounded, together with the German wounded, were taken to a first field dressing station the Germans had set up in a nearby house. They treated me for the wounds to my back from the shell explosions that hit the floor above us and had ripped into us. I have to say we were treated by the German Army Doctors and Medics same as their own wounded.

I was surprised to see my old CO Lt Col Frost on a stretcher: he had also been captured and wounded in the foot. Having been in Africa with him he knew me and asked me about how his old C Company lads had been doing. I didn’t know much as we had been split up and were house fighting in small groups separated from each other, so the Company must have been wiped out.

Later I was taken along with the German wounded off to a hospital. We were all placed on the back of trucks as they had no ambulances. This the best I can recall of my few days in Arnhem, to help to bring about the downfall of Hitler.

Bill added to his previous correspondence in another letter: You have to understand we had to fight and run most of the time, as there were only a few of us. We would collect some others on the way, from other [Platoons], who had come under fire and were holed up. When we came under fire we fired back and moved on, but got split up at night, when we managed to get out of the house. Some I know were wounded and left behind, others got lost and caught up later, at times we nearly shot up our own mates in the dark. I am afraid it was very confusing, so I can’t help you very much. It certainly wasn’t much like the film, A Bridge Too Far.