| Day 1 was the first of the two days 'on the
ground' and would be taken up with following the route of 30 Corps who had
some sixty five miles to cover in two days, on a narrow road known as
'Club' route. To designate military routes they are given a name
from the suites in a pack of cards. |
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| The first stop was at Joe's
Bridge, and a couple of minutes after we got off the coach we heard the
rumble of approaching military vehicles, half a dozen Leopard tanks went
past us at about 30mph to go south across the bridge, quite
impressive. This bridge was taken intact on the 10th September,
1944, and the whole of 30 Corps would have to go over it on the route to
Arnhem. |
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| Joe's Bridge |
Leopard Tank
going for the bridge |
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| Next stop was the bridge at Son, but they
arrived too late to prevent the Germans from blowing it, so it was bridged
by a Bailey bridge, causing the first of a number of delays for 30 Corps
over the coming days. This bridge was in the area of operations of
101st Airborne. The photo is taken on the modern lifting bridge
looking south, where 30 Corps had come through the village of Son. |
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The weather was gorgeous so we had a large packed lunch on
the canal bank at Son (coach in the background driven by the redoubtable
Malcolm). Richard, at the far end, seems to be hanging his head in
his hands. I didn't think we were that hard a group! |
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| After Son it was on to the
large bridge at Grave, taken by 82nd Airborne. This bridge was
captured early in the war by a German parachute assault, and was now
recaptured by an Allied parachute drop. On both occasions the bridge
was taken intact. |
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Grave Bridge |
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Memorial to the 82nd
Airborne at Grave Bridge |
Richard explaining a
point |
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| After Grave we drove to the Groesbeek Heights
which overlook Arnhem, the Heights were taken by elements of 82nd
Airborne, it was also a good flat area for glider landings, and so 1st
Airborne Corps HQ under 'Boy' Browning landed here. At the entrance
to the cemetery on the Heights there is a memorial to the missing, those
with no known grave, and this includes Sgt Baskeyfield VC of the 2nd
Battalion South Staffs Regiment. |
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| From Groesbeek it's on to
Nijmegen. The bridge here is very large and on either side there are
cycle paths and space for pedestrians to walk the bridge, which most of us
did. |
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After Nijmegen it was off to the hotel and a check to see if
the eyelids were still lightproof from the inside; then a meal, a talk by
Richard and a few glasses of the amber fluid. |
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