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Arnhem / Oosterbeek: Then and Now


Joris

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Some Then and Now pictures I made in Arnhem and Oosterbeek:

 

The Oosterbeek-laag or Lonsdale church as it was in 1944 after the battle. The church was the eastern side of the perimeter at the Rhine.

width=640 height=391http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Church1944.jpg[/img]

 

As it is now:

width=640 height=480http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Church2005.jpg[/img]

 

The Hartenstein hotel, the 1st Airborne headquarters during the fighting, as it was in 1944:

width=640 height=443http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Hartenstein1944.JPG[/img]

 

As it is now, as you can see there is a lot of vegetation which does not allow me to make the shot from the correct angle:

width=640 height=480http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Hartenstein2005.JPG[/img]

 

Arnhem:

 

The Utrechtseweg in Arnhem, this was one of the routes in Arnhem towards the Bridge, this picture was taken on Tuesday September 19th. The bodies in front are British paratroopers.

width=429 height=620http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Utrechtseweg1944.jpg[/img]

 

The same road as it is now, not much has changed, or so it seems from this angle. The houses on the left side of the road were mostly rebuild after the war.

width=441 height=620http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/Utrechtseweg.jpg[/img]

 

The Elizabeth Gasthuis hospital, this hospital was right in the frontline during the first 3 days of the battle. During that time it switched hands a couple of times which caused the 1st Airborne the loss of practically all it's medical staff.

width=539 height=722http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/ElizabetGH1944.jpg[/img]

 

As it is now, recently it has been rebuild on the inside and it's now an apartment complex.

width=539 height=727http://nieuwint.net/images/cdv/thenandnow/ElizabetGH.jpg[/img]

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Market Garden Then and Now (Vol II), page 413:

 

Returning to the higher road Jacobsen (German photgrapher) proceeded up the Utrechtsestraat to catch up with Kampfgruppe Möller which by now was engaged up ahead. In front of No. 33 he photographed two dead british soldiers on the pavement, probably thinking they were victims of a fight that has just ended. In actual fact these men are of C Company of the 2nd Battalion who had been killed here two days before. When Frost's battalion was advancing to the bridge on sunday, Major Victor Dover's C Company had been detached from the main force in order to seize the local German Headquarters building on the Nieuwe Plein in the center of town. However, as the company advanced along the Utrechsetraat after dark, it was stopped by German machineguns firing down the street. These dead soldiers are said to be Lance-Corporal William Loney (at the rear) and Private Norman Shipley (in the front), both No. 8 Platoon, who were killed at this spot while acting as lead scouts for the company. Strangely enough, today neither Loney nor Shipley has a known grave. Also, official records give their date of death as September 19.
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Very sad indeed :( The strange part is that I drive up the Utrechtsestraat, then down the Utrechtseweg past the hospital, then left on the Zwarteweg where Urqhuart spent a lot of time hiding and Lathburry got hit at least twice a week and hardly think about it. On that road the offensive capabilities of the 1st Airborne were crushed and literally dozens were killed...

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