06 Utrechtseweg

06 Utrechtseweg Near the Museum for Modern Art Arnhem in Utrechtseweg is an Airborne pillar in remembrance of the final attempt by British soldiers to reach the Rhine Bridge on 19 September 1944. The pillar marks the furthest point reached by most of the soldiers, who belonged to The South Staffordshire Regiment. During the morning one company, ‘A’, commanded by Major Henry Lane, reached the premises of the Provinciale Gelderse Electriciteits Maatschappij (P.G.E.M.- Provincial Gelderland Electricity Company) opposite the white Kraton building on the other side of Utrechtsestraat. Nowa- days the NUON office occupies the site which stands at the point where Utrechtseweg becomes Utrechtsestraat. Airborne House - also visible from here - and other adjacent buildings formed ‘A’ Company’s[1] final battle position. Sunday 17 September 1944 SS-Panzer Pionier Bataillon 9 Monday 18 September 1944 Tuesday 19 september 1944 Counter-attack by the Germans Sunday 17 September 1944 To explain why fighting took place at this location we need to take a short step back in time. The scheduled advance route of Lieutenant Colonel John Fitch’s 3rd Parachute Battalion originally ran from the 1st British Airborne Division’s landing zones at Heelsum and Wolfheze, via Utrechtseweg to the bridge. The battalion took the central route, codenamed ‘Tiger’. The 1st Parachute Battalion’s (commanded by Lt. Col. David Dobie) task was to enter Arnhem via Amsterdamseweg, the northern city limits thus. This route was called ‘Leopard’. Lieutenant Colonel John Frost’s 2nd Parachute Bat- talion was ordered to advance to the bridge via Benedendorpsweg, Klingelbeekseweg and Onderlangs. His unit was to follow the so-called ‘Lion’ route, along a road bordering the Rhine and to the south of the 3rd Parachute Battalion. However, on that first day of Operation Market Garden, 17 September 1944, the advance didn’t go entirely as planned. By evening, after a number of skirmishes to the west of Oosterbeek, 3rd Para- chute Battalion had got no farther than the western edge of the village. Just one company managed to reach the centre of the city via the Utrecht-Arnhem railway line (see point 36). Half of the 2nd Parachute Battalion reached the Rhine Bridge, the exceptions being ‘B’ Company, which had become involved in fighting near Oosterbeek-Laag railway station, and Major Victor Dover’s ‘C’ Company. That evening Dover and his men were the first British combat troops to advance along Utrechtseweg in Arnhem. Two scouts, Lance Corporal William Loney and Private Norman Shipley were killed, and their bodies lay in the street just past the Kraton for some days. The rest of the company sought cover from the German machinegun fire a little further on in a villa on the north side of the road. They spent the night there (see also point 5). At that time the Verkerk family lived at Utrechtsestraat 53, directly adjacent to the Kraton, and had taken to the cellar. In 1953 H. Verkerk, the youngest son, wrote: “At about 10 in the evening, as if by agreement, a hellish noise of gunfire and machinegun fire began. We heard the British in the porch, smashing at the door. Heavy firing was coming from the front and rear. The house shuddered under the fire aimed at it by the Germans using light Flak guns, thinking it was full of British. Maybe it was: we had no way of knowing. If so they must have come in at the rear.”[2] Late in the afternoon the 1st Parachute Battalion met strong opposition on Amsterdamseweg, and at the close of the first day the commander decided to head off southwards and follow the most souther- ly route. On Monday morning the battalion again encountered strong resistance from German positions in a brickworks to the south of Klingelbeekseweg. Radio communication between the three battalions was a failure, and the British parachutists’ situation was anything but clear. 1 SS-Panzer Pionier Bataillon 9 For the Germans, too, the first day and night were chaotic, 39 year-old Hauptsturmführer Hans Möller being just one of the confused. Late in the afternoon of 17 September he set off for Arnhem with his SS-Panzer Pionier Bataillon 9. He was reasonably familiar with the area because in May 1940, while serving as an engineer officer with the SS-Regiment “Der Führer”, he had been sent to Grebbeberg. [3] Möller’s battalion was part of the 9. SS-Panzer Division ‘Hohenstaufen’, and consisted of an HQ company, a construction company for the making and repair of bridges, and three armed engineer com- panies: 1, 2 and 3. In addition he had a reconnaissance platoon and two armoured vehicles at his dis- posal. Möller deployed the armoured vehicles close to his command post which was located in a room beneath the St. Elisabeths Gasthuis’s chapel. The total strength of the battalion was approximately 250 officers and men.[4] Hauptsturmführer Möller realized that Utrechtseweg was undoubtedly part of the British plan of attack if they intended advancing from Heelsum and Oosterbeek to the Rhine Bridge. Therefore, he placed his 1. Kompanie, commanded by Obersturmführer Georg Steinert, between Onderlangs and Utrecht- seweg. 2. Kompanie, under Obersturmführer Erhard Voss, was deployed by Möller to the north of Utrechtseweg and the railway line. In this way he would be able to block the British advance. Möller sent Obersturmführer Engel to the railway to see if there were any British parachutists in sight. They were not (yet) to be seen, so Engel was ordered to take up a position ahead of 2. Kompanie.[5] The unexpectedly quick arrival of Major Dover’s ‘C’ Company of the 2nd Parachute Battalion took Möl- ler by surprise. An exchange of fire between British parachutists and some of his (Möller’s) men, who were de-bussing at St. Elisabeths Gasthuis, convinced Möller he needed to exercise caution. He had no idea of the opposition’s strength. Möller was uneasy despite the presence of SS-Flak Abteilung 9, armed with 20mm Flak guns, on the south side of the railway line. “One has to take into account an enemy breakthrough, seeing that my transport orderly was being fired on and was hardly able to withdraw. It was a very confused position. We had made contact with the enemy [at St. Elisabeths Gasthuis], but the situation seemed unclear. I then requested reinforcements, but that was out of the question. Nevertheless, Artillerie Regiment 9 with Sturmbannführer Spindler was sent to reinforce our position. The engineer battalion was placed under the command of Spindler’s artillery regiment. It was already getting light when units of the artillery regiment took up positions on my left flank (to the south of Utrechtseweg), so that at that point we had a virtually seamless front with which to hamper any further enemy advance.”[6] Maandag 18 september 1944 Monday morning the situation around Utrechtseweg had turned to the Germans’ advantage. The attempt by ‘C’ Company of the 2nd Parachute Battalion to cross Utrechtsestraat had failed. Only a small group reached the other side. Major Dover then decided to withdraw in the direction of St. Elisabeths Gasthuis via the back gardens of the houses in Utrechtsestraat and try to cross the road there. This manoeuvre foundered close to a large house diagonally opposite the museum. The company held out there for a while but were then taken prisoner (see point 5). That same morning the 3rd Parachute Battalion approached from the Oosterbeek direction. A sub- stantial number of men had taken a wrong turning near Oosterbeek-Laag station, so less than half of it arrived in the vicinity of St. Elisabeths Gasthuis. They occupied houses west of the hospital and ad- vanced no further that day (see point 8). H. Verkerk in Utrechtsestraat recalled later: “Monday morning we saw through binoculars that there was fighting on the other side of the Rhine. During Monday there was heavy fighting in Onderlangs. In the evening there was a knock on the back door. Thinking it was the British we opened the door. It turned out to be the neigh- bour. According to him, the Germans were in his cellar firing through the ceiling at the British on the floor above, and the British were replying to the Germans in a similar manner. The neigh- bour’s name was Henzen and he (…...) lived at number 31 [close to the P.G.E.M. office]. After the war he moved house to Noordelijke Parallelweg.”[7] 2 On Monday Möller was still uneasy and unaware of the strength of the British parachutists opposing him. That morning his battalion had captured the bulk of ‘C’ Company. Towards midday he was con- fronted by the 3rd Parachute Battalion which now numbered fewer than 200 officers and men, therefore fewer in number than his own battalion: “The enemy attacked along both sides of Utrechtseweg in great strength. He had set up an anti -tank gun and was treating us to a rain of aimed shellfire. The street was covered with glass splinters and ash, and the overhead power lines for the trams had been brought down and were lying all over the street. The enemy’s objective was clear: push through by all means possible to the road bridge in Arnhem, about two kilometres to our rear. (…..) Much later the enemy tried to bypass us to our left, along Onderlangs. At that time [Monday] my weak force didn’t allow me to prevent them from taking this road because we, on Utrechtseweg and to the right along the railway line [the Lombok district], had enough to do to prevent any further enemy advance….”[8] Tuesday 19 september 1944 In the night of 18/19 September, Lt.

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