Britain at War - 09.2019

RIGHT

Arnhem Bridge was

rebuilt, opening

in 1948. It was

renamed John

Frostbrug (John

Frost Bridge) in

1977 after the

officer who led

2 nd Parachute

Battalion during

Market Garden.

KEVIN MCGILL

may remember Sean Connery,

who portrayed Major-General Roy

Urquhart in the film A Bridge Too Far,

uttering the now famous line “I took

ten thousand men into Arnhem...

I’ve come out with less than two”. This

gritty, effective and simple summation

of the huge cost to 1st Airborne

and the Independent Polish Brigade

immortalises the ill-fated operation to

secure a crossing over the Rhine.

In life, the real Urquhart was deeply

Market

Garden

AIRBORNE UNIT LOSSES|ARNHEM

60 http://www.britainatwar.com

OTHER TROOPS

1 st Airlanding Light Regiment, RA 372 36 200 136

1 st Forward (Airborne) Observation Unit, RA 73 7 43 23

1 st Airborne Divisional Signals 348 28 171 149

9 th (Airborne) Field Company, RE 194 44 79 71

261 st (Airborne) Field Park Company, RE 13 2 6 5

21 st Independent Parachute Company 186 20 46 120

1 stAirborne Reconnaissance Squadron 181 30 78 73

250 th(Airborne) Light Composite Company 226 29 122 75

1 st (Airborne) Divisional Field Park, RAOC 19 2 15 2

1 st (Airborne) Divisional Workshops, REME 61 6 26 29

1 st (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company, CMP 69 7 49 13

89 th (Parachute) Field Security Section,

Intelligence Corps

16 3 9 4

ATTACHED UNITS

No.1 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment Unk Unk Unk Unk

No.2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment 1,262 219 511 532

A Squadron, No.2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regiment

[carrying Airborne Corps HQ]

76 Light Unk Unk

Nos.6080 and 6341 Light Warning Units, RAF 45 9 32 4

Dutch Liaison Mission 12 1 4 7

Public Relations Team 15 0 1 14

US Air Support Signals Teams, 306thFC Squadron

(+ drivers)

12 0 Unk Unk

GHQ Signal Liaison Regiment Detachment 10 0 Unk Unk

Jedburgh Team 3 1 0 2

cut by the realisation that his division

• and his first divisional command –
  was all but dismantled in nine days’
  hard fighting. In the days after, despite
  being desperately tired, hungry and
  exhausted, the general was unable to

58-61 LOSES BAW SEPT2019.indd 60 8/15/2019 9:31:28 AM