Sergeant Alfred S Reynolds

Alfred S Reynolds was a Sergeant in 6 Platoon, ‘B’ Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion.

Alfred was born on the 20 April 1918 and came from Dartford in Kent. [1] He enlisted into The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) on the 15 January 1940, and was serving with the 11th Battalion when he volunteered for Airborne Forces. [2]

After completing the selection process at Hardwick Hall he was allocated to ‘B’ Company, 2nd Parachute battalion and with them he attended Parachute Course No. 2 at RAF Ringway, 18 to 30 November 1941. He completed the two balloon descents and five descents from a Whitley aircraft to qualify as an Army Parachutist. [3]

From the 14 to 19 January 1942 he attended the No 2 Advanced Parachute Course at RAF Ringway, where he carried out a night balloon descent and two more aircraft descents, which included short tactical exercises, once on the ground. [3]

By now a Lance Corporal he married Edith on the 14 June 1942. [4] He took part in Operation ‘Torch’ in North Africa in November 1942, and fought throughout the campaign in Tunisia into 1943. He also took part in Operation ‘Fustian’, the parachute assault to capture the Primosole Bridge, in Sicily on the night of the 13/14 July 1943. He also took part in Operation ‘Slapstick’, the naval landing at the Italian port of Taranto in September 1943.

By the summer of 1944 he was the 8 Section Commander in 6 Platoon, ‘B’ Company and by this time he was known by the nickname of ‘Darky’.

On Sunday, 17 September 1944, he took off in a Dakota aircraft of 32 Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Group USAAF from Saltby aerodrome bound for DZ ‘X’, near Heelsum in Holland, as part of Operation ‘Market-Garden’. He landed successfully and made his way to the RV to join up with the rest of his Platoon and they proceeded to advance towards Arnhem.

During the battle in the area of the Lower Oosterbeek Railway Station he was badly wounded, along with several other men from his Company. He gathered these men together (Sgt. Hacker, Sgt. Wilkes, Cpl. Broadhead, Cpl. Smart and Pte. Gascoigne) and along with the Company Medical Orderly, Cpl. Holt, they made their way back the way they had come to the Valburg farm, which was opposite Stenen Kruis. They were looked after by the Dutch farmer and his wife and one of his daughters fetched a Dutch Doctor to tend to their wounds.

The next day, Monday, 18 September, they were transported to the temporary medical aid station, which had been set up in the Tafelberg. In fact they were amongst the very first of the many patients that would be treated there. He was wounded again whilst in the Tafelberg and was eventually taken prisoner and sent to the temporary hospital at Apeldoorn.

He left Apeldoorn on an ambulance train on the 6 October 1944 and was transported to Stalag 11B at Falingbostel in Germany, arriving there on the 9 October. Here he was given the POW No. 118575. On the 24 October he was sent to Stalag 8C at Sagan in Poland. [1]

Stalag 8C was evacuated in February 1945, in the face of the advancing Russian Army, but it is not known if ‘Darky’ was one of those forced to march to the west or if, due to his wounds, he was left behind in the medical group.

After returning to the United Kingdom and his survivors leave he was discharged from further military service on the 25 October 1945. [2]
Alfred Spencer Reynolds died, aged 86, on the 14 April 2005.

Notes:
[1] POW registration card.
[2] The Parachute Regiment, transfer & Enlistment Book 05, page 19.
[3] Parachute Course Reports. R.A.F. Ringway. November 1941 & February 1942.
[4] B Company Arrived. The Men. David van Buggenum, page 158.