17th September 1944

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10:30 hours - the first Airborne lift took off from RAF Manston. The 2nd South Staffs were a battalion of the 1st Air landing Brigade, 1st Airborne Division, due to be lifted into Holland in two sections: the first, eighty years ago today, marking the start of the Arnhem campaign [Operation Market Garden] in earnest. The first Staffordshires to go were Battalion HQ, B Company, and D Company; a machine-gun platoon and HC Mortar Platoon, under the commands respectively of Lt-Col W.D.H McCardie, Major R.H Cain and Major J.E Philip: the remainder of the battalion to follow on the eighteenth with the second lift. My uncle Arthur was attached to HQ Company, Signals platoon. The first lift's rôle was to secure the landing areas for the second lift and so dug in for the task, meeting little opposition and spending a quiet first night. This was to prove, literally, to be the calm before the storm...

[Once again, September rolls around and the story of The Battle of Arnhem is largely ignored by the press and general media, eclipsed by the D-Day and Battle of Britain celebrations. I would have hoped that on this, the eightieth anniversary of that ill-fated campaign, someone would at least have the courtesy to recognise the heroism and sacrifice made by those who fought, died and were captured during the appalling ten days they spent in - as characterised by the German troops that surrounded them - ‘The Cauldron’; including my uncle, Arthur Harvey, a private in the 2nd. Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, who were in the thick of the action around the bridge at Arnhem from the start. He never spoke about his experiences: he wouldn’t and most likely couldn’t, as confronting and articulating the sheer horror of those few days in that cauldron was probably simply a bridge too far in itself. We really do owe these men a public show of our gratitude; it’s the least we can do.]  Email sent to The Guardian Letters this afternoon...

Comments

  1. Anonymous18 September 2024 at 14:56

    It would seem that the British are "strange" about those to whom they owe a debt: My father wanted to follow his father into the Senior Service(Granddad was a Cheif Petty Officer and diver) but his skills were NEEDED and he was put on "Restricted Trades". These men were unable to talk about the work that they did and appeared to be "dodging the show" and que "The White Feather"! My father was ON the ground crew of the DamBusters so, being mainly based in Manchester, he was transported across country several times and had his honeymoon in Lincoln, though he was a Brightonian and my mother was a Manc!! A story that I can only infer.
    Back to point we won the war but we COULDN'T have without these special men and, like your Uncle, NO show of gratitude at all!
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 September 2024 at 18:30

      I just caught the last of a military tribute at Oesterbeck. So I think that the locals paid tribute to your Uncle Arthur!!
      ATB
      Joe

      Delete
    2. sideways18 September 2024 at 18:48

      Cheers, mate: thanks for that. At least the Dutch have got some decency…

      Delete

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