#Arnhem76
Day 5.
Thursday 21st September 1944.
The 5th day and all resistance at the northern end of the Arnhem Road Bridge had ended. 1st Airborne Division have now gone on the defensive in Oosterbeek within a perimeter with its base on the northern Bank of the Rhine.

Our focus is along the northern flank. Not named on the map but fighting alongside the 21st Independent Parachute Company (circled) was part of 4th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers under Captain Harry Faulkner-Brown (pictured).

Captain Faulkner-Brown had assumed command of the Sappers in this area after the Squadron 2nd in Command, Captain Nigel Beaumont Thomas (pictured) had died of wounds after being caught above ground during a heavy mortar barrage the previous day.

Captain Nigel Beaumont Thomas MC is now buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek @CWGC Cemetery.

This is the area just south of the road Graaf van Rechterenweg where the Sappers had dug their slit trenches. The small side lane leading you can see is Oranjeweg. If you walk along the Oranjeweg from here in the opposite direction it will take you to the Hartenstein.

Harry Faulkner-Brown’s slit trench was one of those near the corner of the junction of Oranjeweg and Graaf van Rechterenweg. His christened this area in his memoir ‘A Sapper at Arnhem’ as ‘Hellfire Corner’. You can still see the remains of those slit trenches to this day.

The area was being mortared by the Germans throughout 21 September, 76 years ago today. However, the first significant action occurred with the appearance of German soldiers armed with what Faulkner-Brown described as "some sort of gun".

The gun was on the crown of the road as seen in this streetview image. It was engaged by Lance Corporal Mick Flannery, who was situated between the two trees as indicated by the arrow. With his 4th shot from a PIAT, Flannery managed to destroy the gun.

Back to the map. On the right flank of the northern edge of the Perimeter were the 7/KOSB around the Hotel Dreyeroord, known to the men as ‘The White House’. It was at the far end of the road as seen here from ‘Hellfire Corner’. The White House itself was demolished in 2017.

Faulkner-Brown recounted “I saw a rather large officer [from the KOSB] coming towards us along the road with a wild look on his face shouting ‘The Germans are coming’. This was very disruptive to say the least and I detected a fair degree of panic”

Faulkner-Brown decided he’d better inform the Senior Officer in the area, Major Bernard Wilson (pictured), CO of the 21st Independent Parachute Company. Wilson’s HQ was located behind the front line in the Ommershof House.

When he got to the house he found Wilson with a Lieutenant Colonel he didn’t recognise. This was Lt-Col Robert Payton-Reid, CO of the 7/Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He & Wilson, veterans of the Great War, were both enjoying a glass of whisky when Faulkner-Brown arrived.

Faulkner Brown recounted “I told my story in half a dozen words. Payton-Reid was off like a shot. I understand he rallied the remains of his battalion, led them in a really spirited bayonet attack and drove the enemy back."
The line held.

It didn’t end there. The fighting continued as the Germans probed for weaknesses. At 1800hrs and opposite the Sappers, music could be heard coming from the German lines. What then followed is accurately depicted in the 1946 masterpiece, ‘Theirs is the Glory’.

The only part of that clip that was wrong is that it wasn’t a grenade that silenced the speaker but a PIAT bomb fired by Tommy Scullion from the 21st Independent Parachute Company. Tommy Scullion is in the centre of this still from the famous Lonsdale speech scene in the film.

The German penetrations of the Perimeter and the dwindling manpower and ammunition situation was forcing Urquhart’s hand. That night he pulled the northern flank of his Perimeter in and shortened the line. The pressure would continue to build on the perimeter the following day.