As Paul, rightly states there is not much in detail that appears in print, in regard to the 10th at Arnhem which hopefully some day soon someone will rectify......... in the meantime have a read through this thread. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/allied-units-general/14647-2nd-bn-royal-sussex-later-10th-bn-parachute-regt.html
Thanks wtid45 & Paul, I am amazed how quickly this has got going. I have just got some great info & leads on thread http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/allied-units-general/14647-2nd-bn-royal-sussex-later-10th-bn-parachute-regt.html
Hi Mike, welcome to the forum. You say that you think your dad was buried just north of Sonnenburg? I think that this might need a bit more checking as the 10th werent in this area on the 19th the day your Dad gave his life. On the 19th they were involved in the follwing major skirmishes, attack on De Leeren Doedel Crossroads from 1000-1400hrs; then the retreat across LZ-L from 1400-1600; followed by the defence of the North side of 10 Para tunnel (mainly A Coy and others from mixed units) from 1600-2000, and the rest of the Battalion went on to clear Wolfheze rail junction at the same time. From 2000-2359hrs most groups of the 10th were south of the railway line (and there were at least 8 major groups of the Battalion all split up). The battalion, as the rest of what remained of 4 Para Bde, were intermittently shelled all night and a few groups were captured. The following day, (20th) they made the well documented retreat south east through the woodlands to the perimeter. However, saying all this, it may well be that your Dad was taken to Sonnenburg for burial, as my relative Bill Barham 10 PAra, was mortally wounded on the 19th with a serious gunshot wound to the shoulder, but still managed to find his way back through the woods with a rag tag group of assorted mixed units and finally died on the 20th and was initially buried with others just on the edge of the Hartenstein perimeter at the junction of Utrechtsweg and Oranjeweg before he was finally interred in Sept 45 in the CWGC cemetary having been found by the Graves Unit of the 2nd Army on liberation, post April 45 You might want to try and write to the research team at CWGC as i did as, although it took some time, they were extremely helpful in providing me the detailed information of his initial burail (Grid refs etc, dates and exhumation dates) Hope this is of some help Regards
Hi Grahame, thanks for making contact. Your post does confirm much of what I already know. My dad's field burial was at map ref 789689 according to the burial list & records of the person who buried him, Pdr McGowan. Pdr McGowan was captured & assigned for pastoral & field burial duties by the Germans up to the date he escaped on 4th October. He was buried in a group of 5 graves together with 10 Bn MO Capt Drayson, L.Sgt Hunt & Pte Probert both of 10 Bn & a glider pilot Sgt Leyshon. This map reference is in the woods north of Sonnenberg in a wood area called Graftombe Wood. Its located aprx half way along the length of & to the east of Valkenburglaan & was close to the western edge of what was to be the defensive perimeter. The question is how did he get there, was he carried there wounded, was he split up and joined up with ad-hoc others such as KOSB, 4th Para Sqdn RE & 4th Brigades 2nd Anti-Tank Battery who all made it through to the perimeter during the evening of 19th. My information is much as yours, except that my information indicates so many men from all units did become separated, some were slowed by equipment or were casualties; but many simply became detached and had to fend for themselves. When 10th got to the railway they secured the level crossing with mostly B-Coy together with Lt-Col Smyth & HQ Coy, some detached 156th & glider pilots. A-Coy dug in to rearguard the withdrawal in wooded areas north of the railway stretching from the town to the drainage tunnel crossing. A group of KOSB defending to the east of that line. At 18:00 10 Bn moved to a position 200m south of the railway. At that time Lt-Col Smyth didn't know where all his remaining troops were, that's why the decision was made to dig in for the night & move out after they had the chance to reorganise. He knew that at 18:00 he had about 80 men around or close to his HQ area south of Wolfheze. The rest of 10th was fragmented as you say and mostly out of contact. It’s known that A-Coy that had been rear guarding the withdrawal north of the tunnel did disengage to move over the railway. Some found & joined up with the dispersed 10th, others where split up & became casualties or captured. a few made it to Oosterbeek on 20th. I will make contact with the research team at CWGC Many thanks for your information, I will add it to my files & keep searching. Regards
Update - I will make contact with the research team at CWGC CWGC have recognised the anomaly between Pdr McGowan's field burial list map ref 789689 & the CWGC map ref used for my father's FB. Pdr McGowans location was correct & the place listed by CWGC for my father was the grave of a Sgt Briggs of GPR. That said the grave locations were not much more than 100m apart
