#Arnhem76
Day Four.
Wednesday 20th September 1944.
Today we are looking at the story of the 4th Parachute Brigade commanded by Brigadier Shan Hackett. The Brigade, as we saw on Friday, had arrived with the 2nd Lift on Monday 18 September dropping on DZ Y

This was the situation on 19 September. Much to his chagrin, The 11th Parachute Battalion had been detached from Hackett’s Brigade and sent directly towards the Bridge. His remaining Battalions, The 10th and the 156 had been blocked on the advance east to Arnhem.

Both the 10th and 156 Battalions had been badly mauled at the blocking line along the Dreijenseweg seen here. Urquhart, back at Divisional HQ in Oosterbeek had made the decision to withdraw the Brigade back to the defensive perimeter that was forming in Oosterbeek around his HQ

After crossing the railway line, either by a culvert under the embankment or at the level crossing in Wolfheze, what remained of the Brigade dug in for the night.

This is Captain H.B ‘Jasper’ Booty, Staff Captain with Brigade HQ. The reason he will feature today is that he took a camera with him to Arnhem and the following are some of the photos he took on the evening of 19 September and the morning of 20 September, 76 years ago today.

The man smoking is the Brigade Major, Charles Dawson. Booty took this photo of him on the evening of 19 September after what remained of Hackett’s Brigade had stopped moving for the night.

The other photo Booty took that evening is of Brigadier Hackett. He was apparently on the radio when this snap was taken to Division at the Hartenstein. In the background is Captain Bill Kennett of Brigade Signals.

Now we move to this day 76 years ago, 20 September 1944. The map showing the events of the day comes courtesy of John O’Reilly’s superb history of the 156 Parachute Battalion, ‘From Delhi to Arnhem’. Highly recommended reading.
http://www.thorotonpublishing.com/ 

As you can see from the map the Brigade was being harried on its withdrawal towards Oosterbeek on both its flanks & there was a lot of confused firing amongst the trees. This photo, again taken on the 20th by Booty is of Captain Mickey Gibbs, the Adjutant of the 156 Battalion.

Captain Gibbs became separated from the column during the retreat and was taken POW by the Germans.

As the map shows the 10th and 156 Battalions plus Brigade HQ headed down the Breedelaan. This is Breedelaan today. It leads down to the Hotel Bilderberg in Oosterbeek. As the men moved south they were coming under increasingly heavy fire.

This photo by Booty taken on 20 September was another one of the Brigade Major, Charles Dawson. He’d already been wounded in the right shoulder and is wearing a sling to support the arm. Moments after the photo was taken Dawson was shot and killed.

Today, Major Charles Dawson lies in Arnhem Oosterbeek CWGC Cemetery.

With fighting going around them and men becoming separated and lost in the trees what remained of the Brigade turned off the Breedelaan and headed east. This map, again from John O’Reilly’s ‘From Delhi to Arnhem’ shows the route taken.

They followed this track until the 10th and 156 Battalions went their separate ways in the confusion of the fighting.

For the 156 Battalion and Brigade HQ the route took them through these trees and more men began to be hit from fire that seemed to be coming from all directions.

The CO of the 156, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Richard des Veoux was mortally wounded and was last seen slumped against a tree ordering men to leave him and keep going. He too is buried in Arnhem Oosterbeek Cemetery.

The 2nd in command of the 156 Battalion, Major Ernest Ritson was also killed amongst those trees. Again, like the others, Major Ritson is today buried in Arnhem Oosterbeek CWGC Cemetery.

Eventually, following a charge by the largest formed body of men left with Hackett, C Coy of the 156 under Major Geoffrey Powell (pictured) the survivors reached a hollow. Today, that feature is known as Hackett Hollow.

For the next few hours Hackett’s Brigade held the hollow but running out of ammunition he decided the only thing for it was to leave his wounded behind and make a charge over the last few hundred yards to the comparative safety of British lines in the forming Defensive Perimeter

There had to be a rearguard and Geoffrey Powell was ordered to choose one man to do it. He picked this man, Lance Corporal Noel Rosenberg. Rosenberg was left with a Bren Gun, 12 full magazines, 6 Mills Grenades and 6 Phosphorous Grenades.

Hackett gave the order to charge and the men sprinted across the final yards to safety. Rosenberg fired away for 10 minutes and then followed. He made it across. For his actions at Arnhem Noel Rosenberg was awarded the Military Medal.
https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/noel-rosenberg-ross

Hackett brought about 70 men in to the Perimeter. He’d jumped 3 days before with over 2000 men. The 10th Battalion of course came in separately. This photo of Hackett (on the right) was taken near the Hartenstein his Brigade HQ. He was later wounded, taken POW but escaped.