The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (143 page)

For seven miles from the Dutch border
: Bredin,
Three Assault Landings
, 126; AAR, Operation Market Garden, 21st AG, n.d., CARL, R-13333, 89 (
wider than thirty feet
); “Preliminary Tactical Study of the Terrain,” XVIII Airborne Corps, Sept. 11, 1944, CARL (“
impracticable to impossible
”);
SLC
, 148–49; Verney,
The Guards Armoured Division
, 101–3 (
only fifteen dead
); Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 1, 227.

“
Things are going very well indeed
”: office diary, Sept. 17–18, 1944, First Allied Airborne Army, Floyd Lavinius Parks papers, MHI, box 2.

Eindhoven was home
:
Baedeker’s Netherlands
, 178;
www.hansvogels.nl/eindhovenENG/violet2en.htm
;
www.frits.philips.com/en/darkcloud.html
; Crouch, “Frederik Philips Dies at 100; Businessman Saved Dutch Jews,”
NYT
, Dec. 7, 2005; Teulings, “Structure and Logic of Industrial Development: Philips and Electronics Industry,”
Social Scientist
9, no. 4 (Nov. 1979): 3
+
;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips
.

Now this company town of thatched roofs
: Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 202–3; “Eindhoven,” 506th PIR, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427A, CI, folder #226 (
all bridges intact
);
SLC
, 150 (“
reek with hate
”).

Not until dusk did XXX Corps arrive
: AAR, 3rd Bn, Irish Guards, Sept. 18, 1944, UK NA, WO 171/1257; AAR, Operation Market Garden, 21st AG, n.d., CARL, R-13333, 39–42 (
stiffened with Panther tanks
); Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 113 (
grounded the Typhoons
); Verney,
The Guards Armoured Division
, 103; Forbes,
The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945
, vol. 1, 122 (“
Every time the advance
”);
SLC
, 150.

Reinforcements from England also arrived
: “327th RCT at Zon,” 327th PIR, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427A, CI, folder #226-A; H. J. Jablonsky, “Combat Lessons of 82nd Airborne Division,” Observers’ Board, WD, Dec. 9, 1944, CARL, 5;
SLC
, 167; Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 311–16 (
four thousand aircraft
); AAR, “Air Resupply and Resupply by B-24 Aircraft,” Oct. 29, 1944, 2nd Bombardment Division, CARL, 1–7 (
stripped of their ball turrets
); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 124.

The 101st found more unexpected trouble
: “Combat Diary of Edward McCosh Elliott, 1944,” 2nd Bn, Glasgow Highlanders, IWM, 99/61/1, VIII-12; “A Historical Study of Some World War II Airborne Operations,” [1951?], WSEG Staff Study No. 3, CARL, N-17309.1; Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 308–09 (
Fifteenth Army troops
).

Among seven wounded GIs
: Nappi, “War Hero Enriches Soul History,” (Spokane, Wash.)
Spokesman-Review
, Aug. 14, 2004,
www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=20967
*
; Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 287–99; Marshall,
Battle at Best
, 10–36; Medal of Honor citation,
http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_1940_wwii/mann.html
.

Nearly out of ammunition
: Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 144;
SLC
, 152 (
three hundred enemy corpses
); “Battalion and Small Unit Study No. 6,” Oct. 1944, NARA 498, ETO HD, UD 602, box 5, 35–36 (
shot by their own comrades
); Marshall,
Battle at Best
, 41.

“
Dutch report Germans winning
”:
SLC
, 170.

“
grossly untidy situation
”: Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 110.

In a shot-torn town
: Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 282 (
bakeries
), 218 (
head to toe like sandbags
), 232–33 (“
gone awry
”); Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 200–202, 209, 281; Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 232–34 (“
little bayonet rushes
”);
Airborne Forces
, 167;
SLC
, 172–73 (
Balky radios
); Baynes,
Urquhart of Arnhem
, 111 (
would not rejoin his headquarters
); Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 130 (
over half of the British soldiers
).

Nothing was right except the courage
: Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 344–45; Sims,
Arnhem Spearhead
, 72 (
cherry brandy
); Mackay, “The Battle of Arnhem Bridge,”
Royal Engineer Journal
(Dec. 1954): 305
ff.
(
Benzedrine
and “
Great joy all round
”); Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 177 (
perimeter of ten buildings
); Arthur,
Forgotten Voices of World War II
, 359 (
vases were filled with water
); Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 239 (
rolled strips of wallpaper
); Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 292–95; Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 2, 465 (
Mercedes trucks
); “Arnhem,”
AB
, no. 2 (1973): 1
ff
.

Germans on the south bank of the Neder Rijn
: Frost,
A Drop Too Many
, 223–25; Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 177–78 (“
skin peeling
”); Sims,
Arnhem Spearhead
, 74 (“
shake itself like a dog
”).

“
Arnhem was burning
”: Arthur,
Forgotten Voices of World War II
, 359 (“
metallic daylight
”), 354 (“
Nobody is in such dire need
”); Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 236–37 (“
never saw anything more beautiful
”); Mackay, “The Battle of Arnhem Bridge,”
Royal Engineer Journal
(Dec. 1954): 305
ff.
(
Despite a BBC report
); Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 312 (“
pretty desperate thing
”); Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 216–17 (
tossed from upper windows
).

“
a sea of flame
”: Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 307.

“
Our building is on fire
”: Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 167–68.

“Deutschland, Deutschland”: OH, Joseph Enthammer, Arnhem History Museum, John Frost Bridge, author visit, May 2009.

Both sides agreed to a two-hour cease-fire
: Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 167–68. (“
British or American?
”), 169 (
offered brandy, chocolate
); Sims,
Arnhem Spearhead
, 85 (“
The Last Stand
”), 88 (“
grotesque paddles
”); Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 125–26 (“
harder battle than any
”); Frost,
Nearly There
, 80–81; Frost,
A Drop Too Many
, 233 (“
kind, chivalrous
”); exhibit on Dr. Jan Zwolle, Arnhem History Museum, John Frost Bridge, author visit, May 2009 (
put before a firing squad
).

Eighty-one paratroopers had been killed
: Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 321.

“
God save the king
”: Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 430.

The Arrow That Flieth by Day

At 4:30
P.M.
on Tuesday, September 19
: OH, JMG, Jan. 20, 1967, CJR, box 101, folder 10, 1–3 (
curb
); Gavin,
On to Berlin
, 170–71.

Afternoon shadows stretched
: Bates and Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors
, 99–100 (
weather had deteriorated
); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 129–33;
SLC
, 154.

Of five major objectives
: “A Historical Study of Some World War II Airborne Operations,” [1951?], WSEG Staff Study No. 3, CARL, N-17309.1, 22; AAR, JMG, July 25, 1945, Office of Theater Historian, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #171; Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 1, 164;
SLC
, 163–66 (
muddled firefight in the dark
); Nordyke,
All American All the Way
, 457 (
10th SS Panzer soldiers
); Baedeker,
Belgium and Holland
, 404;
Baedeker’s Netherlands
, 288 (
falcons
).

Nor had the belated arrival of XXX Corps
:
VW
, vol. 2, 37; Forbes,
The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945
, vol. 1, 129–33; Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 2, 349, 360–63; AAR, “The Capture of Nijmegen Bridge,” XXX Corps, UK NA, WO 205/1125. No Dutchman explained why the detonators would be placed on the wrong side of the bridges to be destroyed (Fitzgerald,
History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War
, 499–500).

Enemy commanders were so confident of holding the bridges
: Badsey,
Arnhem 1944
, 43; Forbes,
The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945
, vol. 1, 128 (
bowled thermite grenades
).

Joining Gavin along the Malden curb
: Tucker biographical data, CJR, box 103, folder 23; Chatterton,
The Wings of Pegasus
, 178 (“
air of nonchalance
”); Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 118 (
arrived in a nearby cabbage patch
); OH, Eddie Newbury, Browning personal secretary, n.d., CJR, box 108, folder 6 (
Twirling his mustache
); Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 2, 344 (
airborne smock
); office diary, First Allied Airborne Army, Sept. 19, 1944, Floyd Lavinius Parks papers, MHI, box 2 (“
extremely pleased
”); Badsey,
Arnhem 1944
, 60 (
ink jar
).

Gavin quickly described the predicament
: Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 193;
SLC
, 175; Gavin,
On to Berlin
, 175, 163 (“
tough and confident
”); Rosse and Hill,
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
, 134–35 (
riverfront bandstand
); Wills,
Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!
, 141–43 (
on foot and by bicycle
); Otis L. Sampson, “My Last Combat Jump,” n.d., Co E, 505th PIR, JMG, MHI, box 15 (
wrapping themselves in drapes
); corr, JMG to CJR, Oct. 2, 1973, and JMG to M. C. Hustinx, March 8, 1947, CJR, box 101, folders 9 & 10 (
six hundred Dutch resistance fighters
); Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 118 (
Browning’s radios
).

Colonel Tucker, whose helmet brim
: Chatterton,
The Wings of Pegasus
, 178 (“
Every time he did
”); Gavin,
On to Berlin
, 173 (
attack the German rear
).

Browning and Adair said little
: corr, JMG to CJR, Oct. 2, 1973, CJR, box 101, folder 9 (
Horrocks was skeptical)
;
DOB
, 347 (
Rapido
); Gavin,
On to Berlin
, 170–71 (“
never try to fight an entire corps
”).

Two hours later, as dusk sifted
: Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 135;
SLC
, 153 (
only large, long-range air strike
); Bredin,
Three Assault Landings
, 126–28 (
Dutch flags abruptly vanished
); Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 2, 395–97 (“
All smiles stopped
”).

No enemy tanks appeared
: Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
, 135; Brereton,
The Brereton Diaries
, 349–50 (“
flat on our stomachs
”); Booth and Spencer,
Paratrooper
, 228 (“
Great fires were burning
”).

“
A blind act of malice
”: Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 2, 395–401.

The boats were late arriving
: Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 112 (“
For God’s sake, try!
”); OH, Giles A. M. Vandeleur, Irish Guards, Aug. 10, 1967, CJR, box 102, folder 17 (
there were twenty-six
); Rosse and Hill,
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
, 137 (“
suitable for the quieter rivers
”); Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 406–8 (
two paddles
); corr, Henry B. Keep to mother, Nov. 20, 1944, JMG, MHI, box 15 (“
Daddy’s tin ducking boat
”).

As a Royal Engineer major gave rudimentary instructions
: OH, Robert M. Tallon, March 6, 1968, CJR, box 103, folder 20 (“
Head them upriver
”); Nordyke,
More Than Courage
, 225 (
pork chops
); AAR, Reuben H. Tucker, 504th PIR, n.d., and AAR, 2nd Bn, 504th PIR, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #171; OH, Giles A. M. Vandeleur, Irish Guards, Aug. 10, 1967, CJR, box 102, folder 17 (
milky smoke screen
); AAR, 3rd Bn, 504th PIR, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #171 (
Four hundred grunting men
).