ABOVE
Men of 1st Airborne
emplane prior to the
drop into Arnhem.
TOPFOTOseveral engagements in which the
recce men suffered many casualties.
Nonetheless, much of the squadron
reached the north end of the bridge
which, by nightfall, was in British
hands – albeit held only by part of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost’s
2 nd Battalion, Gough’s men and
some other troops. The south end
was still German-held.
Those recce men who made it
to the bridge, many doing so on
foot, established the Squadron
HQ in a three-storey building that
overlooked the structure. There had
been considerable confusion due
to wireless problems and Major-
General Roy Urquhart, 1st Airborne
Division’s commander, had left his
HQ in search of Brigadier Lathbury.
Gough and his staff set off for
Divisional HQ in two jeeps to look
for Urquhart but, having met the
Brigade Major of 1st Para Brigade –
Major J A ‘Tony’ Hibbert – and being
told that Urquhart and Lathbury
were elsewhere, decided instead to
move on to the bridge. Such was the
confusion that Urquhart believed
the Recce Squadron had lost all its
jeeps and that Gough was dead. It
was not until Wednesday, September
20 that Gough was able to contact
Urquhart and let him know he was
alive. Contact was made over a
private civilian telephone operatedhttp://www.britainatwar.com^45BASH ON! GOUGH'S RECCE MEN|ARNHEM
followed, McGregor, an apprentice
architect in civilian life, was killed and
others were wounded. L/Cpl Thomas
and Tprs Hasler, Pierce and Barlow
were forced to surrender.
Tpr Minns evaded capture; he was
left behind by the Germans, was later
rescued, and re-joined his comrades –
although wounded in the leg. Despite
being hit and captured, Arthur Barlow
had also been lucky; the section
wireless operator, he should have
been with Peter Bucknall but, as thewireless jeep hadn’t arrived, Bucknall
had left him to await its appearance.
This last-minute adjustment saved his
life, although his wife still received an
erroneous War Office notification of
his death.CONFUSION OF BATTLE
The presence of SS Panzergrenadiers
was confirmed, but it was not the
only encounter the squadron had
en route to the bridge. There were 42-49 BASH_ON_GOUGHS_RECCE_MEN_ARNHEM BAW SEPT2019.indd 45 8/14/2019 5:22:35 PM