This was my first real visit to a "foreign field" and I find it hard to describe how moving it turned out to be. Having studied the war, including Operation Market Garden (my own father was with 30 Corps and their push towards the Rhine) I had not quite expected what I found. Driving into Oosterbeek you see the landing grounds. Then you see the signposts to the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery. Beautifully kept, resting quietly amongst some trees, here lay the graves of so many casualties from the fighting, including a group of Polish ones. Here I have to admit I found myself unexpectedly in tears. I read just a couple of entries in the book of remembrance held at the cemetery and that was it, I could read no more and just took a quiet walk round, while my young daughters did wonder what was 'wrong with dad'.Having regained my composure, a short trip down the road finds the Airborne museum, which was the Hartenstein Hotel, a building that featured at the heart of the battle. To walk inside the building is quite special in itself. Outsie a Sherman and a couple of 17lber a/t guns. Inside, John Forst's hunting horn, found since the war.Then the drive to the bridge itself. A new built replacement for the original that was destroyed, the John Frost Bridge today looks just the same as the original. Walk across to see the gradiant between one side and the other. The buildings occupied by the British Paras are long gone, but a memorial close by has a 25lber and other reminders, just a short walk from the bridge. Walking across, I once again felt quite moved to actually be standing where I was.
Arnhem
There is just no substitute for visiting the real battlefields of WW2 in Europe if you have an opportunity to do so.
Links to other Small Scale Scene sites:-
Small Scale Scene Main Site
Military Modelling website
Section 2 - Normandy, Battlefields and even more models...
Small Scale Scene - The Real Battlefields
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