Category: British Army

Allied Paratroopers Operation Market Garden

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944: NIJMEGEN AND GRAVE 17 – 20 SEPTEMBER 1944 (B 10174) Nijmegen and Grave 17 – 20 September 1944: British engineers removing the charge which the Germans had set in readiness to blow the Nijmegen bridge. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193889

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944 (EA 38567) Nijmegen and Grave 17 – 20 September 1944: The bridge at Nijmegen after it had been captured by the 82nd (US) Airborne Division, 17 – 20 September 1944. A dead German SS officer lies where he fell during the attack. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193886

(only the SS wore the mottled camouflage pattern being worn by the soldier)

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944 (EA 38132) Dutch children greet paratroopers of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, US 101st Airborne Division, shortly after they landed on DZ ‘B’ near Son, 17 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193883

 

grave of #British #airborne soldier killed during the battle of #Arnhem in September 1944 this was the bridge too far #WW2

THE BRITISH AIRBORNE DIVISION AT ARNHEM AND OOSTERBEEK IN HOLLAND (HU 3722) British Airborne troops in Nijmegen after they had been evacuated from Arnhem. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205084687

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 (BU 4132) The grave of a British soldier who was killed during Operation Market Garden in 1944, lies alongside the wreckage of his jeep near Arnhem, 18 April 1945. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205203309

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 (B 10172) Cromwell tanks of 2nd Welsh Guards crossing the bridge at Nijmegen, 21 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202529

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944 (EA 44531) Nijmegen and Grave 17 – 20 September 1944: Allied tanks of British XXX Corps cross the road bridge at Nijmegen during its capture. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193888

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 (B 10131) Cromwell tanks of Guard’s Armoured Division drive along ‘Hell’s Highway’ towards Nijmegen during Operation ‘Market-Garden’, 20 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202520

 

THE BRITISH AIRBORNE DIVISION AT ARNHEM AND OOSTERBEEK IN HOLLAND (MH 2062) An aerial view of the vital bridge at Arnhem, taken immediately after the operation. This shows more clearly the wrecked German vehicles at the north end of the bridge. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205084668

 

THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939 – 1945: THE ALLIED CAMPAIGN IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE JUNE 1944 – MAY 1945: THE BRITISH AIRBORNE DIVISION AT ARNHEM AND OOSTERBEEK IN HOLLAND (MH 2061) Aerial view of the bridge over the Neder Rijn, Arnhem; British troops and armoured vehicles are visible at the north end of the bridge. Had General Montgomery’s ambitious scheme for seizing the Rhine bridges succeeded the war in Europe might have been shortened by many months. In the event, however, back-up forces were unable to come up quickly enough to enable the advanced airborne troops to hold… Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193321

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ – THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM, SEPTEMBER 1944 (BU 1099) 3-inch mortar team of No.23 Mortar (Handcarts) Platoon of Support Company, 1st Border Regiment, 1st Airborne Division, in action in the Oosterbeek perimeter, 21 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205192004

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ – THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM, SEPTEMBER 1944 (BU 1101) No. 1 Gun (a 75mm howitzer) of ‘D’ Troop, 2nd Battery, 1st Airlanding Light Regiment, 1st Airborne Division in the Oosterbeek perimeter, 21 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205203181

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944 (HU 2129) Arnhem 17 – 25 September 1944: British paratroops being marched away by their German captors. Some 6,400 of the 10,000 British paratroops who landed at Arnhem were taken prisoner, a further 1,100 had been killed. (German photograph). Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205086963

 

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944 (HU 2126) Arnhem 17 – 25 September 1944: A German infantry battalion on alert as they search the suburbs of Arnhem for Allied troops, September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193895

“We shall Fight in France…we shall never surrender…”

 

Winston Churchill to Parliament on 4 June 1940

“…we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be…we shall never surrender.”

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1940 (F 2038) Men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers in a trench in front of the Maginot Line, 3 January 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204830

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1940 (F 4121) Men of 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment study a map during an exercise at Meurchin, 27 April 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204923

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1940 (F 4074) Gracie Fields shares a joke with troops in a village near Valenciennes, 26 April 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204920

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1940 (F 4186) Searchlight of 10th Battery, 3rd Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, near Carvin, 1 May 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204924

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1940 (F 3238) Troops from 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment, 3rd Division, training on the Vickers machine gun at Gondecourt, 21 March 1940 Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204892

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 46) Motor transport of 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards outside Battalion HQ at Conlie, 22 September 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204992

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 223) Men of 1st Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders constructing trenches at Aix, 12 November 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205011

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 514) Troops of the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment, 2nd Division, checking the papers of civilians at Becun on the Franco-Belgian border, 10 October 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205029

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939-40 (O 2288) The Grenadier Guards building breastworks on flooded ground at Hem, December 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205065

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 86) Men of the BEF being transported from Cherbourg to their assembly area in a railway goods wagon, 29 September 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204998

On the top right you will note the loading limits of the goods wagon for military purposes:  40 men or 8 horses.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 415) Troops from the Royal Berkshire Regiment manning trenches near Mouchin, 29 November 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205023

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 427) The cramped interior of the battery commander’s dugout at a 25-pdr field gun battery near Mouchin, 29 November 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205025

 

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939-40 (O 878) Lines of barbed-wire obstacles stretch across snow-covered fields near Menin, 17 Infantry Brigade sector, 21 January 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205055
THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 327) A 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun and crew near Douai, November 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205017

 

*Featured image:  A 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun and crew near Douai, November 1939 Courtesy Imperial War Museum