My father's account of the Battle of Arnhem

Discussion in 'Veteran Accounts' started by JamesChristie, Oct 12, 2021.

  1. JamesChristie

    JamesChristie Member

    My father was a 21 year old gunner with 1st Airlanding Light Regiment, Royal Artillery. He took part in Operation Market Garden in September 1944. He flew in on the second lift and was evacuated across the Rhine, slightly wounded, at the end of the battle eight days later. I was able to pull together his story from various sources. I hope you find it interesting.
    Bob Christie's Arnhem.
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Sorry for sounding thick but why is he wearing an Army Air Corps cap badge if he was Royal Artillery ?
     
  3. JamesChristie

    JamesChristie Member

    All airborne troops wore the AAC cap until sometime in 1944 I think when they switched to their own unit cap badges. That photo was taken in Dundee (according to the photographer's stamp on the back). I suspect it was taken in early 1944 when my father was on leave after the regiment returned from the Italian Front.
     
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  4. JamesChristie

    JamesChristie Member

    My father wrote a fascinating and moving account of his return to Arnhem in July 1945 as an extra in the film Theirs is the Glory. The film used veterans of the battle rather than professional actors. The soldiers recreated the battle amongst the field graves of their comrades.
    Return to Arnhem - 10 months later.
     
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  5. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    I’m sure you already know, but this often pops up on Talking Pictures TV.
     
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  6. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    James - Many thanks for posting - a very interesting article. Do you have your Father’s Army Service number? I ask because in the Regimental History book (and other publications, including Target Mike One, which appear to have used this as a source) it is given as 1432675 but, according to the RA Attestation records, this number was allocated to a John Bladon Moorhouse
     
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  7. JamesChristie

    JamesChristie Member

    Here is a photo of my father's demob certificate, which shows his number as 14826757 I had never noticed that his number in "Target Mike One" is wrong. Maybe it was simply read incorrectly from a handwritten version and the last digit was dropped somewhere? When he was demobbed in 1947 Dad was a Battery Quartermaster Sergeant with 53 Airlanding Light Regiment in Palestine, on "policing duties" (ie trying to stop the Arabs and Jews killing each other and the British troops). BQMS was a senior role for a 23 year old.
    "Target Mike One" did not use my article as a source. The book came out before I pulled my father's story together. We both used the same set of sources, and I drew heavily on the book for background. My father was in touch with Bob Woollacott, who wrote "Winged Gunners" and Peter Wilkinson, who wrote "Gunners at Arnhem", Both authoris were officers in 1 Airlanding Light Regiment. Dad provided them with a lot of material and kept copies of most of it. Both authors (or their families) made all the research available to the authors of "Target Mike One". Another amazing resource was the Cornelius Ryan Archive at Ohio State University in the USA. Ryan did a remarkable amount of research for his books, including "A Bridge Too Far". The archive provides free copies of veterans' interviews to families. They sent me scans of 20 pages of notes. The authors of "Target Mike One" used the archive. Only a small fraction of the material Ryan gathered made it into his books. The archive is a goldmine for historians, researchers and writers.
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2021
  8. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    James - many thanks for correcting this. It seems that the authors used the Regimental History as the source of his Army Number and there was clearly an error in that publication. I agree with your comment about the Ryan archives. It is a shame that only a proportion of the accounts that he collected are currently available on line. I wrote to the Ryan Archives a number of years a go and they kindly provided me with copies of the questionnaires that were provided by men from my father’s Company.
     
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  9. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    I really enjoyed reading both of your father's accounts, with quite a few laughs. I have not read about Arnhem for a very long time and there was one surprising gain - that 30 Corps medium artillery was in range of the paras and could provide direct fire support. Thank you.
     
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  10. JamesChristie

    JamesChristie Member

    What unit was your father in? The combination of Horsa & "company" suggests it was one of the glider borne infantry battalions.
     
  11. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    James - South Staffords - he ended up looking after the Light Regt gun positions in the meadow below the Old Church.
     
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  12. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    On again this Saturday as it happens, 5.20pm.
     
  13. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    Theirs is the Glory , The Movie 1946
     
  14. AManMoth

    AManMoth Member

    Very interesting!
     

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