Description
Object description
A ts copy of an account (11pp, written 1945) entitled "The Battle of Arnhem Bridge" written by "Parachute Sapper" [Captain, later Major, Eric Mackay], a Royal Engineers officer from 1st Parachute Field Squadron RE, about the airborne landings at Arnhem, 17 - 23 September 1944, with a day by day account giving details of boarding the plane with his bicycle, seeing the other aircraft, flying over Nijmegen, flak hitting the plane, jumping, his Squadron moving with the Southerly assault Battalion to Arnhem, the Dutch civilians' reactions, holding the flank with RE and RASC men, entering Arnhem in the evening, coming under enemy fire, the fighting at the bridge with Brigade HQ, 1st Parachute Brigade, and 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, taking over defence of the Van Limburg Stirum school building, German attacks, taking part in hand to hand fighting, eliminating a German HQ and destroying half-tracks, the ration situation, dealing with wounded, an anti-tank projectile blowing up part of the building, being wounded in the foot, German tanks appearing, including two Tiger tanks which fired on the school, keeping contact with other groups of Allied soldiers by shouting their war cry 'Whoa Mahomet', fighting off repeated attacks until the roof was blown off and the survivors retreated to the basement, escaping after ordering the wounded to surrender (20 September 1944), shooting Germans until the ammunition ran out, his anger at losing his whole troop, feigning death when Germans approached but being bayonetted in the pelvis and taken prisoner, removing signs of his rank and being taken to headquarters, attempting to escape from a truck and being recaptured, details of the journey to a prisoner of war transit camp and the accommodation, escaping from the camp with his NCOs and making their way to the Rhine, and taking a barge back to British positions. This account was later published anonymously in 'Blackwood's Magazine' (1945).
Content description
A ts copy of an account (11pp, written 1945) entitled "The Battle of Arnhem Bridge" written by "Parachute Sapper" [Captain, later Major, Eric Mackay], a Royal Engineers officer from 1st Parachute Field Squadron RE, about the airborne landings at Arnhem, 17 - 23 September 1944, with a day by day account giving details of boarding the plane with his bicycle, seeing the other aircraft, flying over Nijmegen, flak hitting the plane, jumping, his Squadron moving with the Southerly assault Battalion to Arnhem, the Dutch civilians' reactions, holding the flank with RE and RASC men, entering Arnhem in the evening, coming under enemy fire, the fighting at the bridge with Brigade HQ, 1st Parachute Brigade, and 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, taking over defence of the Van Limburg Stirum school building, German attacks, taking part in hand to hand fighting, eliminating a German HQ and destroying half-tracks, the ration situation, dealing with wounded, an anti-tank projectile blowing up part of the building, being wounded in the foot, German tanks appearing, including two Tiger tanks which fired on the school, keeping contact with other groups of Allied soldiers by shouting their war cry 'Whoa Mahomet', fighting off repeated attacks until the roof was blown off and the survivors retreated to the basement, escaping after ordering the wounded to surrender (20 September 1944), shooting Germans until the ammunition ran out, his anger at losing his whole troop, feigning death when Germans approached but being bayonetted in the pelvis and taken prisoner, removing signs of his rank and being taken to headquarters, attempting to escape from a truck and being recaptured, details of the journey to a prisoner of war transit camp and the accommodation, escaping from the camp with his NCOs and making their way to the Rhine, and taking a barge back to British positions. This account was later published anonymously in 'Blackwood's Magazine' (1945).
History note
Cataloguer SJO