Thursday, February 17, 2011

Battle of Arnhem Exhition






Photographs taken while visiting the Battle of Arnhem exhibition, Arnhem, Netherlands.

For additional information click on 'Comments' below

2 Comments:

Blogger ritsonvaljos said...

(1) Ways of commemorating the Battle of Arnhem / Oosterbeek

One of the ways the residents of the Arnhem and district (Gelderland province) commemorate the Battle of Arnhem / Oosterbeek has been the development of a ‘Liberation Route’ between the 1st Airborne Division’s ‘Drop Zone’ and the Arnhem Bridge. People from the modern era can travel the same route as the Allied forces in September 1944, stopping at different points along the route where the various actions took place.

The photographs above show from top to bottom:

(a) the building adjacent to the Arnhem Bridge that houses the Battle of Arnhem exhibition

(b) one of the signs found along the ‘Liberation Route’ illustrated with wartime photographs and information about the route

(c) one of the audio-visual displays inside the Battle of Arnhem Exhibition Centre (this area shows the photographs and stories about what some of the Allied troops did in the area of the Hartenstein Hotel, Oosterbeek).

(d) another of the audio-visual displays inside the Exhibition Centre (this one shows the photograph and story of the German SS Panzer Grenadier Horst Weber)

------------------------------

Thursday, 17 February, 2011  
Blogger ritsonvaljos said...

(2) Why the Battle of Arnehm / Oosterbeek is important to the Dutch

On 17 September 1944 the 1st British Airborne Division began to land some 8 miles (c. 13 kilometres) to the west of Arnhem. The object was to form a bridgehead north of the Lower Rhine.

The 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment fought its way into Arnhem and occupied the buildings which commanded the site of the Arnhem Bridge over the Rhine. It was later joined by other units from the Division.

The bridgehead was held for 3 days and nights against overwhelming numbers of German troops (German 2nd Panzer Corps). When the Allies had expended all their ammunition, with few survivors unwounded and most of the buildings destroyed, they were finally overwhelmed.

Nevertheless, the gallant defence of the Allied detachment at the Arnhem Bridge had a marked influence on the campaign in the Netherlands and has never been forgotten by the Dutch people, particularly those from the Gelderland province. The delay imposed on the German reinforcements moving south to hold back the Allied advance did provide sufficient time to enable the Allied crossings over the rivers at Grave and Nijmegen to be firmly secured.

It is in memory of the 1st Airborne Division that the Government and people of Gelderland (i.e. the area in and around Arnhem) that the ‘Liberation Route’ and exhibition is dedicated.

------------------------------

Thursday, 17 February, 2011  

Post a Comment

<< Home