11 Onderlangs
On the grassed strip next to the Museum for Modern Arts are three steel
beams pointing in three different directions. The artwork in this Market
Garden Park recalls the courageous efforts by the British 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions in their final attempt to reach the Rhine Bridge on 19
September 1944.
Advance route of the 2nd Parachute Battalion
The 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions look for the most suitable
routes
The final attempt to reach the Rhine Bridge
The wanderings of Major Alan Bush
Advance
route of the 2nd Parachute Battalion
According to the Operational Orders the British 1st Parachute Brigade
was to enter Arnhem on 17 September 1944, using three separate roads.
The 2nd Parachute Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel John D. Frost was allotted the most southerly
of these routes. His battalion marched via Benedendorpsweg, Klingelbeekseweg and Onderlangs to
the Rhine Bridge in Arnhem. The majority of his battalion, except for ‘C’ Company (see point 5) and a
platoon from ‘B’ Company (see point 28), actually reached the Rhine bridge. Brigade headquarters,
which had followed in the footsteps of Frost’s column, also arrived there
The 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions look for the most suitable
routes
Frost’s colleagues were less fortunate. Lieutenant Colonel John A.C. Fitch’s 3rd Parachute Battalion
had been given the middle route. He left via Utrechtseweg, but in the evening of the first day was
held up near the western outskirts of Oosterbeek. Fitch was then ordered by the brigade commander
to stop for the night and resume the advance to Arnhem early next morning (see point 8).
In the morning and afternoon of 18 September the battalion became bogged down again while attempting to advance further via Utrechtseweg and the street complex around St. Elisabeths Gasthuis
in Arnhem. Fitch then decided to try the southernmost route. By evening the number of his officers
had sunk to a worrying level of eight, including the colonel himself. During the fighting in the Lombok
district his battalion had been split into two groups, each of approximately 70 officers and men.[1]
One group was lead by Captain Richard Dorrien-Smith of ‘B’ Company and the other by Lieutenant
Colonel Fitch.
Shortly after midnight Fitch and his group made an unsuccessful effort to get to the Rhine Bridge, but
he lost, among others, his Regimental Sergeant Major John Lord, who was hit in the arm.[2] Therefore the battalion commander decided to pull back to the Rijnpaviljoen Café-Restaurant at the fork of
Onderlangs and ‘Bovenover’ (the higher-lying Urechtseweg). He had just three staff officers left: Major Alan Bush, the deputy battalion commander, Captain Charles Seccombe, the Adjutant, and Lieutenant Alex Vedeniapine, Fitch’s Intelligence Officer.
On arrival at the Rijnpaviljoen Fitch met up with Lieutenant Colonel David T. Dobie of the 1st Parachute Battalion and Captain Dorrien-Smith’s group.[3] Reunion with the latter group brought the 3rd Parachute Battalion’s count to about 100 officers and men – less than the normal strength of a company. It seemed that Dobie had been equally unlucky in his struggles to get to the Rhine Bridge. On 17
September one of his companies had become engaged in heavy fighting with German units at Amsterdamseweg. Dobie pushed on, leaving behind this company and a large part of his Support Company (including his mortar platoon). He and the remaining part of his unit left for the most southern
route. The 18th of September turned out to be a costly day for the 1st Parachute Battalion. Many officers and men were killed or wounded. By the early morning of 19 September the total strength of Dobie’s battalion was down to around 140.[4]
1
The final attempt to reach the Rhine Bridge
The fork in Utrechtseweg (Bovenover, left) - Onderlangs viewed in the direction of the city centre, ca.
1948. Part of St. Elisabeths Gasthuis is visible in the
middle in the background. (Picture-postcard collection
Arnhem, Gelders Archive)
View of buildings in Utrechtsestraat, seen from Onderlangs. The Kraton, the building where the Sicherheitsdienst was located until 17 September 1944, is clearly
shown in the picture. The Eusebiuskerk tower is visible to
the right in the background. The height difference and the
vegetation on the slope are easy to see in the picturepostcard dating from the 1930s. (J.C. Minkman collection)
Despite the heavy losses he had sustained Lieutenant Colonel Dobie was determined to force a way
through to the bridge. Fitch was quickly brought up to date with the battle plan that Dobie and the
battalion commanders of 11th Parachute Battalion and the 2nd South Staffords had put together a few
hours earlier. The 1st Parachute Battalion would advance to the bridge along Onderlangs while the
other battalions would fight their way to the same goal via Utrechtseweg. Lieutenant Colonel Fitch made a spot decision to follow Dobie’s battalion and provide as much fire support as possible to their assault.
First the 1st Parachute Battalion and then the 3rd came under fire from the higher vantage point of
Utrechtseweg by SS-Panzer-Pionier-Abteilung 9 of SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Möller and a few 20mm
ack-ack guns of 2 Batterie of SS-Flak Abteilung led by SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Gropp. Up ahead,
near Boterdijk and the Oude Haven, a mixed group of German Panzer Grenadiers from Kampfgruppe
Spindler lay in wait, armed with several machineguns and mortars.
The 1st Parachute Battalion walked into a maelstrom of hand grenades, mortar shells, bullets and ackack shells. At about 07.30 hours the battalion’s attack was over. The four companies had been reduced to four small groups of 6, 8, 10 and 15 men. The 3rd Parachute Battalion followed them and also
received the full measure on Onderlangs. After the battle Major Alan Bush, the deputy battalion commander, wrote this in the battalion report:
2
“Dawn to 10.00 - Progress was satisfactory until the area of the Pontoon Bridge (Order of
March - "A" Coy under Lieut Burwash MC, Bn HQ RE under Capt Cox, "B" Coy under Capt Dorrien-Smith). Casualties from the 1st Bn then started passing through us. The thick undergrowth blinded us and we were unable to support by fire in any way. The C.O. recced areas
to our left rear for fire positions but without success. At about 0730 hours heavy enemy machine gun fire was directed on the 3rd Bn. This fire was from machine guns, some of them 20 mm
calibre. (Probably from armd cars) and intense mortaring began. Another effort was made by
the C.O. to find fire positions but again his recce was fruitless. On his return casualties were
being suffered at an ever-increasing rate and the wounded were being rushed back in small
groups every minute.[5]
Major Bush was summoned to go to Lieutenant Colonel Fitch some 250 metres east of the Rijnpaviljoen. Bush saw that Captain Seccombe and Lieutenant Vedeniapine were also present:
“The commander sat with his back to the German mortar fire which, slowly but surely, was
creeping closer along the shrubbery. I saw it approaching and said we needed to get out of
there. He told me they must dash straight back to the pavilion. One or two men had serious
wounds to the arms or shoulders. I sent them up the slope to St. Elisabeths Gasthuis. I don’t
know if they got there; with a bit of luck they should have made it. I expected the commander
and the other officers to arrive shortly after, but they didn’t appear.” [6]
The wanderings of Major Alan Bush
At the Rijnpaviljoen Major Bush found a small group of men including the slightly-wounded Captain
Dorrien-Smith and Captain W. Cox of the Engineers. Lieutenant James Cleminson was also in the
group. Earlier that morning he had seized the opportunity to leave his hiding place at Zwarteweg 14
(see also point 8). Cleminson and Dorrien-Smith were busy dividing the available men amongst a
number of houses. Another small group of about 12 men led by Sergeant Callaghan were preparing
another nearby house for defence.[7]
Meanwhile, Lieutenants John Williams of the 1st Parachute Battalion and William Fraser of the 3rd
Parachute Battalion had assembled about 120 scattered NCOs and soldiers from the 1st Parachute
Brigade.[8]
Most of them had become lost or separated from their own units on the previous day. Major Bush
decided to return to Onderlangs to search for and round up more lost soldiers, as well as to find out
where Lieutenant Colonel Fitch was. He did not know that Captain Seccombe, the Intelligence Officer, had lost both legs as the result of a direct hit from a 20mm shell and had been taken to St. Elisabeths Gasthuis.
Bush came across Lieutenant Vedeniapine in a house adjacent to the Rijnpaviljoen. He had been
wounded in the foot, had mortar shell splinters in his back and chest, and had difficulty in speaking.
He informed Bush that Lieutenant Colonel Fitch had been killed by mortar fire. In the next house he
found the wounded Company Sergeant Major Watson from ‘A’ Company and another soldier.[9]
Finally, while trying to go further east, Bush became separated from his own troops and had to
spend that day and the next hiding from the Germans. On Thursday afternoon 21 September he succeeded in slipping through the German lines and rejoining what was left of the 3rd Battalion in Oosterbeek. There Bush heard that Captain Dorrien-Smith and Lieutenant Fraser were dead. Of the officers only Lieutenant Cleminson was left, and he was wounded a few days later.
During the evacuation of the 1st British Airborne Division in the night of 25/26 September 1944, Major Bush led the remnants of the 3rd Parachute Battalion back across the Rhine. At the roll-call in
Nijmegen of the men who flew to Arnhem on 17 September, just 28 survivors were there to answer
“present”.[10]
3
Notes
to top
[1] Martin Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944. Ooggetuigenverslagen van de Slag om Arnhem (Baarn, 1994),
177.
[2] War Diary 3rd Parachute Battalion from 19 September 1944. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/
arnhem/war_3rdBatt.htm Consulted on 20 June 2007.
[3] Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, 193.
[4] Ditto, 200.
[5] War Diary 3rd Parachute Battalion from 19 September 1944.
[6] Major Alan Bush, quoted from Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, 200.
[7] War Diary 3rd Parachute Battalion from 19 September 1944.
[8] Lieutenant William Fraser died on 20 September 1944.
[9] War Diary 3rd Parachute Battalion from 19 September 1944.
[10] Middlebrook, Arnhem 1944, 451.
4