This article presents a detailed overview of the different sights around Arnhem today, including their locations on Google Maps.
The battle of Arnhem is one of the battles fought during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. It was the biggest battle during Market Garden and the last “real” German victory of World War II. Today the former battlefield lies in the heart of a united Europe and can be easily reached.
More pictures here: Market Garden / Arnheim.
Arnhem is located in Gelderland, the Netherlands, half way between the German Ruhrgebiet and Amsterdam. The northern former landing zones (LZ) form the beginning of the beautiful landscape of Hoge Veluwe and the city of Arnhem has been nicely restored.
During my three trips to Arnhem I always used a car to visit the different locations of this battlefield tour, but I definitely plan to use a rented bike next time. This should give an even better understanding of the distances between the different locations and the terrain – a major reason for the allied failure.
Prior to some information on the different sights, a brief overview of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem:
“Operation Market Garden (17–25 September 1944) was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands andGermany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time.[e]
Field Marshal Montgomery’s goal was to force an entry into Germany and over the Rhine. He wanted to circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line and this required the operation to seize the bridges across the Maas (Meuse River) and two arms of the Rhine (theWaal and the Lower Rhine) as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. Crossing the Lower Rhine would allow the Allies to encircle Germany’s industrial heartland in the Ruhr from the north. It made large-scale use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and allow a rapid advance by armored units into Northern Germany.
Initially, the operation was marginally successful, and several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen were captured. However, Gen. Horrocks’ XXX Corps ground force’s advance was delayed by the demolition of a bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal, an extremely overstretched supply line, at Son and failure to capture the main road bridge over the river Waal before 20 September. At Arnhem, theBritish 1st Airborne Division encountered far stronger resistance than anticipated. In the ensuing battle, only a small force managed to hold one end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them, they were overrun on 21 September. The rest of the division, trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, had to be evacuated on 25 September. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force and the river remained a barrier to their advance until the offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Weselin March 1945. The failure of Market Garden ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944.”
More details on wikipedia.
“The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem,Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944.
After sweeping through France and Belgium in the summer of 1944, the Allies were poised to enter the Netherlands. Field MarshalBernard Montgomery favoured a single thrust north over the branches of the Lower Rhine river, allowing the British 2nd Army to bypass the German Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr. To this end, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden on 17 September. Paratrooperswere dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Nederrijn. Initially expecting a walkover, British XXX Corps planned to reach the British airborne forces within two to three days.
The British forces landed some distance from their objectives and were quickly hampered by unexpected resistance – especially from elements of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, XXX Corps was unable to advance north as quickly as anticipated and failed to relieve the airborne troops according to schedule. After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river – where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles or XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, nor by the RAF’s resupply flights. After nine days of fighting, the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn in Operation Berlin.
With no secure bridges over the Nederrijn, the Allies were unable to advance further and the front line stabilised south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division had lost nearly three-quarters of its strength and did not see combat again.”
More details on wikipedia.
The Sights
There are three major areas to visit:
- The village Osterbeek – the center of the “perimeter”
- The landing zones in the north and west of Osterbeek as well as across the Rhine
- The city of Arnhem with it’s bridge
All locations of the different sights are marked on this map:
- blue area: British landing / drop zone
- red area: Polish drop zone
- blue POI: sight I have visited
- turqoise POI: sight I haven’t visited yet
Osterbeek
I would recommend to start the tour in Osterbeek, a beautiful and obviously well off village with many villas and some shops on the little hills next to the Rhine. The natural start in Osterbeek is the Hartenstein Hotel, the former HQ of both Generalfeldmarschall Model as well as Major General Urqhart, now turned into a great museum.
Hartenstein Hotel (Museum)
The former hotel and HQ itself hosts a classic museum with many information about the battle. During it’s Renovation in recent years a very moving “experience” was added in the cellar. Here you start with a movie in the Briefing room, enter a glider, step out onto a landing zone and walk through houses and trenches of Arnhem and Osterbeek, surrounded by sounds and videos of heavy fighting.
In case you are going with your kids: my 8 years old son decided to move out quickly as the experience is pretty loud and scary.
The entrance of the museum has a small shop and the garden shows a sherman tank and some artillery guns.
On the other side of the museum you can find the Airborne Monument:
and 5 minutes by foot towards Osterbeek center the 21st Indep Para Coy Memorial:
The next interesting area is close to the Rhine with the Old (“Lonsdale”) Church where Major Richard Lonsdale held his famous speech:
“You know as well as I do there are a lot of bloody Germans coming at us. Well, all we can do is to stay here and hang on in the hope that somebody catches us up. We must fight for our lives and stick together. We’ve fought the Germans before – in North Africa, Sicily, Italy. They weren’t good enough for us then, and they’re bloody well not good enough for us now. They’re up against the finest soldiers in the world. An hour from now you will take up defensive positions north of the road outside. Make certain you dig in well and that your weapons and ammo are in good order. We are getting short of ammo, so when you shoot you shoot to kill. Good luck to you all”
In the Hartenstein Museum you have seen the door on which the speech was written.
The house of Kate ter Hurst (Liv Ullmann in the movie “A bridge too far”) is on the right next to the church.
Driving along the river to the west get’s us to the Driel ferry, where the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade crossed the lower Rhine and the remaining British forces were evacuated after 9 days of heavy battle.
Driving back to the north of Osterbeek, in the general direction of Highway “A 12” leads us to the British War Cemetery with 1.436 identified casualties.
After this nice ride through a beautiful landscape and wealthy village this video provides an idea of how Osterbbek looked like during the fighting:
The landing (and drop) zones
The three DZ / LZ areas are all located to the west / north-east of Osterbeek:
- These three LZs / DZs form one huge agricultural area in the west of Wolfheze, still home of a large sanatorium:
- DZ X: 1st Para Bde (17.09.1944)
- LZ X: 4th Para Bde (18.09.1944)
- LZ Z: 1st Para Bde (17.09.1944)
- LZ 2: 1st Airlanding Bde (17.09.1044) is in the north of Wolfheze, marked by a glider model
- DZ Y: 4 th Para Bde (18.09.1944) is located north of Highway “A 12”, most far away from the objective; it is still an open heath, just like in 1944 with now an Airborne Monument and a KOSB badge
This beautiful picture is taken from this highly recommended set of military history pictures on flickr by “battlefield historian”
- DZ K: Polish Para bde, 21.09.1944 is located in the complete opposite direction south of the Rhine, I haven’t been there yet
The bridge and the city
There are now two main bridges in Arnhem, with the one in the east being the “bridge too far”, now named “John-Frost-Brug”. As an irony of history the bridge survived the heavy battles but was destroyed afterwards by the Allies, that fought so stubbornly to keep it intact:
“Although the bridge survived the battle, it was bombed and destroyed by B-26 Marauders of the 344th Bomb Group on 7 October 1944 to prevent the Germans from using it to send reinforcements south of the river.[4]”
More details on wikipedia.
These two pictures where taken from a Memorial site west of the bridge that shows as well this interesting display of the original location of the houses involved in the fighting at the bridge:
The bridge itself bears this Memorial Plaque:
A small (one room) but interesting information center, that belongs to the Hartenstein Hotel Airborne Museum, can be found next to the pillar of the bridge.
Down the ramp in the little park close to the city center you can find the John Frost Memorial Plaque:
The city itself is quite nice with nice little shops and a lively market on Saturdays.
The other two interesting sights in town are the house were General Urqhart had too hide on his way back to the perimeter as well as the former St. Elisabeth’s Hospital. Both locations are close to Rhine in the direction of Osterbeek. (I haven’t visited them yet.)
As well worth a visit:
The Arhems Orloogsmuseum 40 – 45 is an interesting private collection. The guides are very helpful and like to share there knowledge, as well on the less popular aspects of Dutch history like the Dutch Nazi party NSB and the collaboration with the Germans during the occupation.
North of the museum you can find the old giant German Luftwaffe Bunker “Diogenes”. (I haven’t been there yet.)
Additional information
Websites
A great interactive map presenting a vast amount of sights along the Market Garden route, includes “audio spots”:
http://www.liberationroute.com
An archive with sections like “order of batttle”, “unit histories”, etc.:
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/frames.htm
Overview of different battlefield sights:
http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/battlefields_in_arnhem.htm
Proposed walking route around the perimeter:
http://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MTUzNTM=
Books
I read and recommend the following books:
A battlefield guide with great map on the entire operation Market Garden:
Major and Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to Operation Market Garden
A quick read, but with nice pmaps and pictures:
Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden (Osprey Campaign S.) (Osprey Military Campaign) by Badsey, Stephen ( 1993 )
A very detailed overview of the battle of Arnhem, with detailed maps and many:
Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle, 17-26 September (Penguin history)
Movies (fiction)
No doubt, “A bridge too far” is one of my most beloved war movies and provides a pretty realistic and moving account of Operation Market Garden.
Another interesting and less known movie is “Theirs is the glory (AKA Men of Arnhem), is a 1946 British war film about the British 1st Airborne Division‘s involvement in the Battle of Arnhem (17 September to 25 September 1944) during Operation Market Garden in World War II. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing war movie for nearly a decade. The later film A Bridge Too Far depicts the operation as a whole and includes the American, British and Polish Airborne forces, while Theirs is the Glory focuses solely on the British forces, and their fight at Oosterbeek and Arnhem.
The film was directed by Ulsterman, Brian Desmond Hurst who, himself, was a veteran of the first world war, having survived Gallipoliwhere he had served with the Royal Irish Rifles. Hurst was an accomplished film director having been mentored by John Ford in Hollywood and directing more than 30 films including Malta Story, Scrooge and Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Hurst was also Ireland’s most prolific film director of the 20th Century. The producer was Leonard Castleton Knight, Head of Gaumont British News. The script was written primarily by Louis Golding but honed by Hurst’s protege Terence Young (who subsequently went on to direct the early Bond films). Young had been with 30 Corp and the Irish Guards seeking to relieve Arnhem during the battle and hence the authenticity of the eventual story-line. The veterans who starred in the film also actively collaborated on the script.”
More details on wikipedia.
Theirs is the glory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCgxoaSi1f0 (Theras is the glory)
Movies (documentary)
Some of the many documentatry videos that are available online:
Tanks, tactics, trenches 