2012 - November - "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Dr. Michael wrote: "Anyone who is interested I recently read Septmeber Hope: The American Side Of A Bridge Too Far by John C. McManus. I've read several of McManus' books and they are first rate."

On my pile of TBR books :)

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Do we still have a few members reading the book, are you all enjoying the account so far?

[Steve]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Do we still have a few members reading the book, are you all enjoying the account so far?"

I'm a bit late to the party but I just started it today!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Good to hear Steve, will this be the first time you have read the book?

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I had a chuckle over this account from the book. Part Four, Chapter 7, page 294 (Book Club Associates HB edition):

(view spoiler)[The men had set out for the bridge with only enough light rations for 48 hours. Now, these were almost exhausted and the Germans had cut off the water. Forced to scrounge for food, the troopers were existing on apples and a few pears stored in the cellars and basements of the houses they occupied. Private G. W. Jukes remembers his sergeant telling the men, ‘You don’t need water if you eat lots of apples.’ Jukes had a vision of ‘being eventually relieved, standing back-to-back defiantly in blood-stained bandages, surrounded by dead Germans, spent cartridge cases and apple cores.’ (hide spoiler)]

[Wade]

I am still reading...(alibet the third time)...does anyone besides myself pronounce the Dutch names outloud? OR try to do so?..Iwonder how close or far off my pronuciations are.....close to German perhaps?

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I know that the only town that I can pronouce close to being correct is Arnhem, the others - no chance in hell :)

[Wade]

Any scuttlebutt on where our next group posting(reading) will take us?

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Wade, check out message number 130:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Let us know if your interested in any of those books.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

This account from the third drop of supplies at Arnhem is truly sad, horrific and heart-wrenching in the bravery shown by the crew of this Dakota:

(view spoiler)[Many soldiers recall one British Dakota, its starboard wing on fire, coming in over the drop zone now held by the Germans. Sergeant Victor Miller, one of the glider pilots who had landed in the first lift on Sunday, was ‘sick at heart to see flames envelop almost the whole of the lower half of the fuselage.’ Watching for the crew to bail out, Miller found himself muttering, ‘Jump! Jump!’ As the plane flew low, Miller saw the dispatcher standing in the door, pushing out containers. Mesmerized, he watched the flaming Dakota turn and make another run in, and through the smoke he saw more containers tumbling out, Sergeant Douglas Atwell, another glider pilot, remembers that men climbed out of their trenches staring silently at the sky. ‘We were dead tired and we had little to eat or drink, but I couldn’t think of anything but that plane at the moment. It was as if it was the only one in the sky. Men were just riveted where they stood – and all the time that dispatcher kept on pushing out bundles.’ The pilot held his burning plane steady, making a second slow pass. Major George Powell ‘was awestruck that he would do this. I couldn’t take my eyes off the craft. Suddenly it wasn’t a plane any more, just a big orange ball of fire.’ As the burning plane plunged to the ground, its pilot, 31-year-old Flight Lieutenant David Lord, still at the controls, Miller saw beyond the trees ‘only an oily column of smoke to mark the resting place of a brave crew who died that we might have the chance to live.’ (hide spoiler)]

[Antoine]

Wade wrote: "I am still reading...(alibet the third time)...does anyone besides myself pronounce the Dutch names outloud? OR try to do so?..Iwonder how close or far off my pronuciations are.....close to German ..."
Dutch Pronunciation:

A and AA pronounced like English "ah", the latter longer

Double EE is pronounced "Aye"

Single E is pronunced "eh"

Single I is pronounced like "ih" in English

IE is pronounced like English letter "E"

EI is pronounced like English word "eye"

Double O is pronounced "OH"

Double U is pronounced "ooooh"

IJ is a separate letter, sometimes written as "Y" and pronounced as "eye"

G is pronounced with slight hawking in the top palate

CH (as e.g. in Sch") involves the same.

W is pronounced half-way between an English "V" and "F""

Pronunciation shouldn't put you off - it's one of the simplest European languages - much easier than English, German, French or the Scandinavian languages) and comparable to Spanish in ease of learning.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

You haven't heard Australians speak have you Antoine? We are known as butcherers of the English language so Dutch wouldn't stand a chance :)

[Antoine]

"Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle" by Martin Middlebrook is in many ways a better book than "The Longest Day" but is obviously more limited in scope. It follows the same pattern as other Middlebrook classics, starting with "The First Day on the Somme". I found it especially moving in that in the Oosterbeek cemetery I found the graves of some of the men mentioned. (And one of the saddest sights I remember there is of twin brothers, killed one day apart).

As regards the aftermath of the battle and the escapes of survivors see Airey Neave's "They have their Exits" and Sir John Hackett's "I was a Stranger". As regards the latter the Amazon summary is excellent: "Badly wounded at the battle of Arnhem, and then spirited from his hospital bed by the Dutch Resistance, Brigadier John Hackett spent the winter of 1944 in Nazi-occupied Holland, hidden by a Dutch family, at great risk to their own lives, in a house a stone's throw from a German military police billet. After four months in hiding, Hackett was at last well enough to strap a battered suitcase to an ancient bicycle and set out on a high adventure which would, he hoped, lead him to freedom". It's a great story and knowing from the Dutch side of my family what the Occupation years were like I empathised very strongly with it.

[Wade]

Antoine wrote: ""Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle" by Martin Middlebrook is in many ways a better book than "The Longest Day" but is obviously more limited in scope. It follows the same pattern as other Middlebro..."

I have read "I Was A Stranger" ...i was fascinatied by the tale Sir John Hackett has penned. If you are interested in the post Market-Garden story i highly recommened this work...it's good.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Two excellent books Antione and Wade. Many thanks as I am sure many other members will appreciate your recommendations.

by Martin Middlebrook

(no cover) I Was a Stranger by John W. Hackett

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

How typically English and so funny:

(view spoiler)[The area was being heavily mortared and the chaplain was taking cover wherever he could. ‘Outside, strolling unconcernedly up the street was Major Digby Tatham-Warter, whose company had taken the bridge initially,’ he recalls. ‘The major saw me cowering down and walked over. In his hands was an umbrella.’ As Egan recalls, Tatham-Warter ‘opened the umbrella and held it over my head. With mortar shells raining down everywhere, he said, “Come along Padre”.’ When Egan showed reluctance, Tatham-Warter reassured him. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘I’ve got an umbrella.’ (hide spoiler)]

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

On page 330 of my HB edition we read about the actions of Captain Lionel Queripel who was awarded a posthumous Victorian Cross. Here are some additional details if folks wish to read more about this brave soldier:

http://www.parachuteregiment-hsf.org/...

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Thought this be of interest too Rick.

One of my uncles served in the 4th (Territorial) Royal Sussex Regiment being part of 133 Royal Sussex Brigade (2nd, 4th and 5th Battalions) seeing service in France & Flanders in 1940 as part of the BEF and Dunkirk.

The brigade went to the desert and took part in El Alamein. After the battle and with heavy casualties the 4th disbanded and the balance of men were transferred to the 2nd Battalion,

Captain Queripel was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment before the start of the war. After the battle of El Alamein in 1942 the 2nd Battalion was selected to be converted to a parachute battalion.

Originally, when the Battalion was scheduled for conversion it was known as ‘S’ Battalion. The War Office decided that a regular unit could not be transferred to the Army Air Corps and so the the 2nd Battalion remained on the army's strength supplemented by men from 4th & 5th Battalions.

Some 200 men of the 2nd Battalion (and some from 4th & 5th) however volunteered for parachute training forming the basis of 10th Parachute Battalion at Kabrit under Lieutenant-Colonel KBI Smyth OBE of the South Wales Borderers.

There were many attempts made to retain the ‘S’ for Sussex in 10 Para’s title but the War Office ruled against this, although the battalion continued to have a strong Sussex connection throughout its wartime service.

From www.roll-of-honour.com/Kent/Tunbridge...

There are many Regimental memorials to Lionel Queripel, including; the Royal Sussex Book of Remembrance in Chichester Cathedral, the Parachute Regiment Roll of Honour at Aldershot, Queripel House the site of 10 Para's HQ at Duke of York's in London, the entrance porch to the village church at Somerby, Leicestershire where 10 Para emplaned and of course the Royal Sussex Museum and airborne museums at Aldershot and Oosterbeek. Recently his school, Marlborough College, has unveiled a VC/GC memorial on which his name is commemorated. In Tunbridge Wells his name, image and information forms part of the Victoria Cross Grove monument in Dunorlan Park which includes the names of 9 other recipients of the VC.

[Antoine]

Wade wrote: "Antoine wrote: ""Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle" by Martin Middlebrook is in many ways a better book than "The Longest Day" but is obviously more limited in scope. It follows the same pattern as..."

And don't miss Hackett's two "future histories" of WW3, written in the late 1970s and setting the conflict in 1985. As he was a senior NATO Commander his insights are particularly interesting.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Great information Geevee, thanks for posting that material on Captain Queripel, much appreciated.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Pleasure Rick

Wade like Antoine I enjoyed Hackett's book.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I had another chuckle over this incident of a shoot-out between Lieutenant Michael Long and a German soldier in which the British officer was wounded in the thigh and left lying on the ground. From Part 5 (The Witches Cauldron), Chapter 2, page 389:

(view spoiler)[‘He searched me’ Long remembers, ‘took two grenades from my pockets and threw them into the woods after my men. Then he calmly sat on my chest and opened fire with the Schmeisser.’ As the German spayed the undergrowth, the hot shell cases dropped down into the open neck of Long’s battledress. Irate, Long nudged the German and, pointing at the shell cases, yelled, ‘Sehr warm’. Still firing the German said, ‘Oh, Ja!’ and shifted position so that the spent ammunition fell on the ground. After a few moments the German ceased firing and again searched Long. He was about to throw away the Lieutenant’s first aid kit when Long pointed to his thigh. The German pointed to his ear which Long’s bullet had grazed. In the undergrowth, with firing going on all around them, the two men bandaged each other’s wounds. Then Long was led away into captivity. (hide spoiler)]

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

And so too the stupidity of war eh Rick...I like the fact the German shifted his firing position so the empty cases missed Lt Long. Interesting to think the German most likely had served on the Eastern Front and how a similar situation there would have ended.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Very true Geevee and a few of the German soldiers fighting at Arhnem were Eastern Front veterans as well.

[Arcticvet]

Just read this book over the last seven days. A fairly easy book to read with pretty good maps and photos for reference material. Plus, it has a good, well balanced narrative with consideration of all of the various elements involved (British, American, German, Dutch, Polish). Overall, an incredible story of courage and tenacity in the face of tremendous difficulties! Left me with an interest to seek other accounts of the operation, including activities of the Dutch underground during the war.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Arcticvet,

Glad to hear you enjoyed the book, although it's been in print for some time it is still one of the better accounts of Market Garden.

If your interested in reading about this battle from the other side of the wire I would suggest this book:

by Robert J. Kershaw

[Arcticvet]

Thanks Rick, I'll look for that one, it looks like an interesting followup perspective.

[Steve]

Arcticvet wrote: "Just read this book over the last seven days. A fairly easy book to read with pretty good maps and photos for reference material. Plus, it has a good, well balanced narrative with consideration of ..."

The best books I've come across on Market Garden are the two volume set published by After the Battle called "Operation Market Garden Then and Now". They're a bit expensive at around $120 for the set but contain some fantastic photos and lots of great information.

Karel Margry
Karel Margry

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I have a few volumes from the After the Battle series, all great books, thanks for the recommendations Steve.

[Arcticvet]

Thanks Steve and Rick, That sounds like a great set on the operation. Will keep my eyes open for a used set at a lower price. Appreciate your followup.