ARNHEM. THE PENDULUM SWINGS

had to be instituted to ensure a degree ofcombat effectiveness. KapitanleutnantZaubzer, the commander of Naval Man-ning Battalion 10, asked Lippert if he couldprovide a small cadre of veteran officers andNCOs to provide combat experience andstiffen his unit.The plan of attack for the general advanceat dawn was relatively simple. In the north,Helle's surveillance 'Wach' Battalion 3 wasto advance to the right of the Ede-Arnhemroad, moving east, with the eventual inten-tion of swinging south to encircle the land-ing zone. Eberwein's SS-Kampfgruppe, dueto arrive at 1030, was to attack from Benne-kom in a north-westerly direction to theArnhem railway, then follow this along,acting as a central wedge, in order to splitthe landing zones in two. In the middle wasa large gap, taken up to some extent by aFliegerhorst battalion that would try andmaintain a link with the southern force,attacking eastwards toward Renkum andHilversum along the Wageningen-Arnhemroad. Left of this road would be the SS-Battalion Schulz from Lippert's Regiment,supported on the right of it by NavalManning Battalion 10, beefed up with ele-ments from two other naval detachments.In reserve, supporting the southern force,was the infantry converted Artillery Regi-ment 184. Von Tettau was in effect advancingover an 8-kilometre front with six battalions.A pitchfork thrust with the northern prong- Helle and Eberwein — acting in concertwith a southern force commanded by Lip-pert, consisting of SS and naval soldiers. Inbetween and providing a tenuous link wasthe Luftwaffe Fliegerhorst Battalion.

At 0500 the southern prong struckRenkum. Schulz's SS Battalion managed toclear the town and the terrain north of it by0700. These were the more experiencedtroops. On their right, however, sounds ofheavy firing indicated that the naval bat-talion was not gaining ground. An assaulton the brickworks and paper factory south

of the Wageningen-Arnhem road wasrepulsed with heavy casualties. As Lippertlaconically remarked, 'confusion and panicreigned'. Mortars and heavy machine gunshad to be brought up before, at 0900, thefactories could be stormed. By 1000 Schulzhad taken Heelsum west. To the northHelle's four Dutch-SS companies wereacross Ginkel heath and engaging the glidertroops protecting the landing zones aroundWolfheze. By 1500 the naval unit, payingbitterly all the way for its inexperience hadcaptured the brickworks in the south andreached the eastern edge of Heelsum. Themore experienced SS-NCO school troopswere flushing out groups of paratrooperswho fell back quickly to the landing zones.SS-Officer-Cadet Lindemann recalls:

'The fighting was not hard at all forthe first few days. We advanced fromeach covered position to the next, notreally in contact at all.'

17

By 1500 on the afternoon of 18 September itappeared the advance was going broadly toplan. The Germans smelled success. Helle'sbattalion would soon, by wheeling right, bein a position to influence operations in thesouth. If Eberwein's SS Battalion main-tained momentum, the encirclement of thedrop zones could be completed. Lippert,well forward with his leading elements, feltoptimistic:

'In the Heelsum-Wolfheze-Ede trianglecovering the Renkum and Ginkel heathswere several hundred parachutes lyingon the ground amongst landed glidersand considerable quantities of combatsupplies. All the time men andmaterials were moving off the dropzones. We had reached the airborneand logistic resupply landing area forthe 1st British Airborne Division. Itwas to be bitterly defended by theBritish.'

18

113