25/26th September 1944


From the South Stafford's [contemporary] War Diary: '

... About 18:30 hours, orders were received for a withdrawal to the south side of the river which was to begin at 22:00 hours. The troops in the Stafford's area were to move last, not before 23:45 hours, and they thus had the honour of covering the withdrawal. Surprisingly enough all seemed to go well and there was no German pressure. At about 23:30 hours the men began to smash everything which could not be taken with them, and a few minutes before midnight they moved out on their way to the 'boats'... Fortunately the night was very dark and it was still possible to cross unobserved up to about 06:00 hours. Then as it got light, the Germans began to realise what was happening and they shelled and mortared the bank heavily. Ferrying had to stop and a few of the Staffords were left on the wrong side of the river... The remnants of the battalion, who totalled 6 officers and 133 other ranks, joined up with their seaborne tail at Nijmegen and were flown back to England. 39 officers and 587 other ranks had been left behind, the vast majority missing. When the full check was made the casualty list stood at:- 4 officers and 21 other ranks killed, 1 officer and 12 other ranks wounded, and 34 officers and 554 other ranks missing. Since then Lieutenant J. Sharp and his complete platoon have rejoined together with 3 officers who had been hiding. A certain number of additional deaths have been confirmed and a proportion of prisoners, mainly wounded, have been reported. It is probable that the percentage of killed among the missing is high.'

Ultimately, the casualty list for the 1st Airborne Division as a whole was as follows:- out of the 10,000 men that made up the division, almost 1,200 were killed, and 6,642 were missing, wounded or captured. Amongst the latter number was my uncle Arthur Edwin Harvey, an ordinary private from an ordinary background; but who, in common with the rest of the 10,000 he fought alongside,  was an extraordinary man...

   

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