Parked my car on the side of the road at the front of the "last stand" then walked up to the bridge .A lovely Dutch woman helped me with my directions .Very nice of her .This video is great and fills in a lot of gaps .Cheers.
Such a great video. I live in Arnhem and i'm always wondering what building where in Arnhem before 1944. Sad that a lot is blown away, but yes that is war.
S Rais, well done. The sketches of this animation are of a unique brightness and together with detailed and accurate information, give a very good picture of the situation around the northern ramp of Arnhem bridge September 1944. Thank you.
This is very well done. I have a lot of photographs of houses and streets around the Bridge. This is one of best total vieuws ever. The only thing wrong in my opinion is Sims Island. We are talking about Pvt Sims mortar platoon S-company 2nd bat. In the book he wrote he made a sketch and the island he initially had dug in was the Island on the right . If I remember correctly On the other Island he later recovered a brengun.
Just checked. :) Sims actually only drew one of the two islands in his book, (p.76). From his information and aerial photographs I assume he actually mean the 'western island'. In his map and account you can tell how close he is to certain buildings. It seems he is opposite the Marktstraat and close to the Doctor's house, this would indicate it was the western island. Too bad I cannot post the aerial photo here but the 'W' shaped feature, which is sometimes depicted as his position on the eastern island, was there already before the war. I hope this helps to explain why I have put Sims on the western island.
Dat is the Dutch version of his book? I have an English pocketbook. (p.66) I have a 1938 aerial photo this area. No trench can be seen. I know that the Germans have dug manhole covers near the bridge as cover against possible aerial attacks. You know the book B-company arrived,David, G Buggenum? Very well written book with a huge amount of (prewar) photograps of the brige area. The eastern island marktstraat /Eusebiusbinnensingel can be seen from different postions. For Sims "his' island was the most importent so he might not even rememmber of other similar areas. Very impressed by your work I could be wrong about Sims and not really important to me. I hope your gonna publish some street vieuws.
Sims speaks of digging two mortar pits surrounded by slit-trenches on the island on the side of the 'mortar platoon house'. On p.76 in 'B-Company Arrived' there is a photo where you can see these pits on the north side of the western island. Btw: I must correct one sentence in the comment I made earlier: I meant 'before the battle' not 'before the war'. I have seen this feature on a picture from before the battle, I will try to find it in a book we both have.:) Maybe this is a German dug air raid trench?
@@HamburgerTime209 Hi there, the book is called "Arnhem Spearhead" by James Sims whofought at Arnhem. You will be able to find a copy for a couple of bucks online. :)
I have visited Arnhem and walked those streets and walked across the famous bridge. A very peaceful and quiet town now, but in 1944 it was an incredibly violent battlefield.
Could we get an explainer for what a lot of these acronyms mean? I’m very interested in understanding exactly what units joined 2 Para in its defense of the bridge but I don’t understand what most of the acronyms stand for. For example what does 9 FD COY RE stand for?
