Battlefield Tours of Arnhem
6th - 7th December 2004 & 3rd - 4th Sept 2005
The troop organised a battlefield tour of Arnhem in December 2004. We set off from Hameln early on Saturday morning, meeting a few more on the way, before arriving at Wolfheze. This was the area around which the airborne landings were concentrated.
From there we drove around the DZs and LZs before following 'Route Tiger', stopping off at the monument at Heelsum. The monument was constructed mainly out of empty parachute re-supply containers around a 6 Pounder Anti-Tank gun.
We then spent a few hours looking around the very interesting Airborne Museum, located in the old Hartenstein Hotel, which was used as the HQ 1st Airborne Division.
A short but very cold tour of the Arnhem War Cemetery put into context the number who didn't make it home alive, with many graves belonging to members of 30 Corps as well as the Airborne Division and RAF. One of the troop found the location of the grave of his Great Uncle.
Heading down to the river we stopped off at Westerbouwing, the location of the evacuation of the 1st Airborne Division, stopping at the Old Church, Oosterbeek next to 'Kate Van Der Horst's House'. We followed 'Route Lion' into Arnhem, to the bridge before heading to the hotel for the night.
On the Sunday morning we took a tour around the town centre and the area around the bridge. There are many monuments arround the town, the largest of which is located in it's own park called the 'Airborne Plein' close to the bridge itself.
Of special interest was the simple monument marking the location of the 1st Parachute Squadron RE, who held the Van Limburg Stirum School, suffering heavy casualties until they made a break to the north on the 20th of September 44.
We then moved on to the bridge, now re-constructed after being demolished before the end of the war. The bridge has now been re-named the John Frost Bridge.
Having seen the effort required just to reach the bridge from the DZ eight miles away, it's easy to appreciate the feat, of not only reaching the bridge, but also for holding one end for days without re-supply, reinforcement or support.
Close to the bridge is a small memorial park with pictures, artifacts and displays. A short visit here brought our tour in Arnhem itself to an end.
We made one last visit, to the RE memorial on the south side of the river at Driel. Here we remembered the members of the Canadian RE and RE of 30 Corps who lost their lives evacuating as much of 1st Airborne Division as they could on the night of the 25th/26th September 44. We held a two minute silence before getting in the transport and heading home.
The Battlefield tour was so popular and there was so much more to see and learn, another trip was organized for Sept 2005. On the Saturday we were surprized to see how many people were in Oosterbeek for the annual 'Airborne Marches', but we managed to work around them.
This time in order to get the most out of is we obtained the services of as tour guide. With his help we managed to fit in several different areas from our last trip, including being able to get into the old chruch at Oosterbeek.
His tour was interesting, informative and enjoyed by all finishing up, as it did last time at the Engineer's Memorial at Driel, which Henk had a major part in the planning and funding of. Here we laid a wreath and held a two minute silence at the end of an excellent battlefield tour.
Our thanks go to Henk Duinhoven MBE for making it so worth while.