Thought I'd forward post this story as it is truly an amazing tale about a seemingly ordinary person who turned out to be extraordinary. This is from the memoirs of Toby & Daphne Tobin, dear family friends of ours. Toby was a glider pilot during World War 2 and passed away late last year after a long successful life in peace. He was always a resolute, honest man, but with a humorous twinkle in his eye. I guess seeing the destruction and mayhem that he did makes normal life seem amazing, even in moments that for us may seem intolerable.
Arnhem
"
In August, with our lines of communication becoming very extended and the Germans having consolidated and putting up heavy resistance, it was felt that the Allies could get bogged down on the West side of the River Rhine through the coming Winter. In an effort to avoid this a massive airborne operation was planned to take the three bridges over the Rivers Maas, Waal and Rhine in Holland, allowing our armies to storm through into Germany and the industrial area of the Rhur. If this could be achieved it was felt the Germans would capitulate and the war in Europe would be over. September l7th was finally decided upon and the Americans were to drop on the bridges over the Maas and Waal at Nijmegen, which were only a few miles ahead of our advancing armies, whilst the British lst Airborne would go for the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem, which was about 40 miles further on into enemy held territory. Although we had plenty of gliders, the number of tug aircraft available was very limited, so it was decided to have three drops on l7th, l8th and l9th. Then, as there were limited dropping zones around the city of Arnhem which is a forested area, and also to avoid heavy civilian casualties in the city, it was decided that we should drop on open moorland west of the small town of Oosterbeek, eight miles from the bridge. My glider was loaded with a Jeep and trailer full of ammunition and six men of the Border Regiment, and we took off at +- 09.00 hrs. on l7th September, on the first drop. There were thousands of aircraft in the air, a sight impossible to describe. The weather was clear and we encountered only light anti-aircraft fire crossing the coast of Holland. We met with some resistance over the dropping zone and a few gliders and tugs were hit, but the drop was successful. I released at about 2,000 feet, having identified my exact position , and made a good landing right on target. Gliders and Paratroops were pouring in and, as expected on such an operation, there were some horrific crashes. Enemy resistance was mainly small arms fire and we were able to consolidate off the dropping zone and head towards Oosterbeek, where Divisional H.Q. was established in the Hartenstein Hotel.
We learned afterwards that the Americans met little resistance over their dropping zones, took their bridges quickly, and were relieved by the British 30 Corps within hours.
I will not attempt to go into details of the next 9/l0 days, but will summarize to the best of my ability. Unknown to us there was a German Panzer Division (S.S. troops, heavily armoured with tanks, mobile guns etc.) camped in the woods around Arnhem and servicing their equipment, having been withdrawn from the front. They were obviously ordered to get operational immediately and defend the area. Within hours they had sealed off all the means of advancing from Oosterbeek to Arnhem. A small force of approximately l00 men, mostly Paratroops and a couple of Glider Pilots, had got through to the bridge and taken the southern end., but no more of us were able to get through to support them. They fought gallantly for 5/6 days before they were practically annihilated Only a handful of them survived as prisoners of war, after they had run out of ammunition, food and water. The second and third drops, and the supply drops, were delayed due to poor weather and when they did come in they encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire. On the ground the enemy were closing in and picking them off as they were landing. The sky was full of burning aeroplanes and gliders. We were being bombed, shelled, mortared and strafed by enemy fighters constantly, day and night, as the Germans squeezed our perimeter smaller and smaller.
On the second day I was with about ten others, mostly Glider Pilots, trying to get through to the bridge when two German fighter aircraft attacked us. We took cover in some trees in the driveway of a big house, but they had spotted us and came in very low and fired rockets into the trees. When they left and the dust had settled I was shell shocked but uninjured. Eddie Richards was lying alongside of me and I nudged him but then realised he had been hit and discovered he had a massive wound in his chest. I packed a field dressing over the wound but I felt sure he was dead. According to the Roll of Honour he did not die until 24th/25th September, at the end of the battle, so perhaps he was moved to a first aid post and died later. He is buried in Oosterbeek. My memory of this incident is confused but I believe I was the only one to walk out of those trees. I did visit Eddie’s parents when I eventually got back to England.
We had taken in some small anti-tank guns, mortars etc., but otherwise we only had rifles, machine guns and hand grenades. We managed to destroy many German tanks and vehicles before our heavier equipment ran out of ammunition, or was blown away. Airborne troops are only equipped to survive for +- 48 hours after dropping, and we had been told that 30 Corps would relieve us within this time. In fact, the Germans managed to hold them down on the road between Nijmegen and Arnhem and they were unable to get through. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Both the Germans and the British lost many hundreds of men. Many of my friends and comrades died alongside of me and, looking back, it is a miracle how any of us came out of it alive. I had a cigarette tin in the left hand breast pocket of my jumpsuit, and a large piece of shrapnel got lodged in this, but I had no physical wounds. In no small measure I am sure it was the tough training in Tilshead that made us both physically and mentally strong enough to keep on fighting. After 8/9 days our perimeter was only about l50 metres in diameter. The tiny town of Oosterbeek was virtually blown off the face of the earth. I was in the cellar of a bombed out house with about 6/8 others, mostly wounded, with German tanks standing outside pumping shells through the remains. Eventually the door to the cellar was kicked in and a German soldier shouted “Raus Raus”. I have ever since wanted to meet this chap, as I wonder why he did not drop a grenade down the cellar stairs. ( I was now a prisoner of war)."
From the memoirs of Toby & Daphne Tobin
Pictured here with British paras at the commemorations at Arnhem/Oosterbeek 2004:
Image courtesy of
www.mvt-essex.org.uk
