IT NEVER S N O W S IN SEPTEMBER

guarded the northern end. These men were Reichsdeutsch, Germans resident in Hol-land before the war, not naturalised, butlater conscripted. They were nervous afterthe strafing, and uneasy following the awe-some spectacle of the parachute descentnow lost to them behind the trees. 'Whatnext?' they thought. The demolition party,an N C O commander and ten men, werebilleted in Dutch houses near the southernend. 'Why didn't they blow the bridge beforeit was too late?' wondered the gunners. Butthere were no signs of activity.From Oosterbeek came the unmistakablepopping sounds of small arms fire, inter-spersed with machine gun bursts and thecrump of grenades. Small stay-behindgroups of German soldiers were trying todelay the British advance. As the gunnerscontinued to watch, three lorries drove bythe road on the north side of the river,heading towards the Oosterbeek church.The trucks, carrying German infantry,were halted out of sight, and the occupantstaken prisoner by A Company 2 PARAforce-marching their way toward thebridge.Suddenly more firing broke out aroundthe northern railway embankment. Thir-teen German stragglers dressed in camou-flaged smocks, commanded by SS-Lance-Corporal Helmut Buttlar, burst into view,engaged in a running fight with the van-guard of 2 PARA. They were a mixture ofinfantry and anti-aircraft gunners from the10SS Frundsberg Division. Cut off duringthe retreat from northern France, they werejust about to rejoin their comrades, whenthey had been surprised at lunch by theairborne landings around Oosterbeek.Nine of them reached the railway embank-ment, having already delayed the British atOosterbeek-Laag railway station.Horrified, the German gunners alreadyon the bridge observed almost the whole ofFrost's battalion swing into view. With im-pressive flair and co-ordination a company

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detached itself from the main body andsnaked out toward the bridge. Soon it wasin assault formation. The others continuedon. This was too much. After a briefexchange of fire the gunners were cut downor fled. As C Company 2 PARA, howeverstepped on to the bridge, its main spancurled up in the air and collapsed in onitself with a resounding crump. The demolition commander, aided by one of hissoldiers, had fired the charge.Disappointed, 2 PARA pressed on, withthat same unhurried pace that misleadingeats up the miles. 'From now on the realfighting began,' recounted one of its platooncommanders; 'it was a crutch-rot of amarch.' There were now only two chancesof achieving their mission - get the pontoonbridge or seize the main prize, the Arnhemroad bridge.Buttlar's group withdrew into the park aDen Brink, trying to further delay theforce. His section was subsequently wipedout in the fighting for the city, with Buttlarhimself being severely wounded.A few hundred metres to the northMoeller and Gropp were totally preoccu-pied with the immediate threat to theirfront. Down by the lower Rhine a longcolumn of sweating, heavily-laden anddetermined parachute infantry pushed oncompletely missed by the Germans. Eye:glazed with perspiration, they longed to seewith every passing bend in the river theirtarget, the Arnhem road bridge.

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'The youngsters had notpaid sufficient attention'. .. the capture of theArnhem road bridge

Major General Kussin was responsible as Stadtkommandant for the defence of theArnhem road bridge. Two narrow rivu-lets of blood had congealed on his gold