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    Arnhem 2003.

    Hi Guys, I returned on Tuesday from my 10th annual trip to Arnhem for the commemoration of the 1944 Airborne battle. This year we stayed on the "Bilderberg" camp site in Oosterbeek. This was the main camp site for living history groups attending. Our stay this year was a short one, for 5 days only. As a result I do not have as many pics as I hoped as I was so busy each day, but I am sure that you will enjoy seeing the few I took?
    The first photos have an interesting but true story to them. Pictured below are two British Airborne steel helmets; one a leather chinstrap type, the other a web chinstrap type. Both these helmets were discovered in the woods where the camp site is situated, know as "Hacketts Hollow" named after General Hackett. Both these helmets were found as the result of a joke! A Dutch friend of mine, Dick Timmerman, went out into the woods and buried a few items. He then invited some of the group of Polish lads, on their first trip to Arnhem, to have a go with a metal detector to see if they could "find" anything. Dick then discovered these by accident . Both helmets were placed one inside the other. There was also some personnel items, a shaving mirror, some fragments of webbing, two grenades and what looked like a rib bone. Dick suspects that this was once a temporary field grave that the bodies had been exhumed from post war and the "junk" thrown back into the hole? Both helmets are still in solid condition. They were discovered on Sept.17th, the 59th anniversary of the start of the battle.
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    Last edited by Adrian Stevenson; 09-26-2003, 06:25 AM.

    #2
    Interior of both helmets.
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      #3
      Interior of the leather chinstrap helmet. The soil in the Arnhem area is good for preservation as it is very sandy.
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        #4
        Part of the leather chinstrap helmet's sweatband. Still clearly marked "BMB 1942".
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          #5
          Interior of the web chinstrap helmet.
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            #6
            Part of the horse hair liner.
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              #7
              The weekend was started with a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to "Hacketts Hollow". Here is a view of us marching through the woods to the memorial. The lads in the grey berets are all Polish. They were a very dedicated group. This was their first trip to Arnhem. The Mk. V Stens they had built themselves from one they had seen in a Polish museum. The Denisson smocks represented a months wages to these guys! They came from two groups. Here are thier website address's.

              www.arnhem1944.w.pl

              www.psz.vir.pl

              Most did not speak English, but the universal language of "kit" did not stop us from talking!
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                #8
                Here is the sign erected every year on the main road through Oosterbeek outside the "Hartenstien" Airborne Museum to welcome the Vets.
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                  #9
                  Each year during our stay we visit various scrap yards. Here are several WW2 Dodge Weapons Carriers. These vehicles are ex Norwegian Army and all lack the gearboxes. These are starting to get rough and really need to be saved
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                    #10
                    We always lay wreaths at the different memorials around Arnhem/ Oosterbeek. Here we are at the RASC / Air Despatch memorial. The guys in the background in the green berets are Dutch Marine Korps Vets.
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                      #11
                      One minutes silence...
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                        #12
                        Here we are on a tour of the battlefield and landing/drop zones. This is the track which runs along side the railway line near Wolfheze. The weather during our stay was warm and sunny as you can see from all the dust.
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                          #13
                          This is outside the "tunnel" under the railway. This was a drainage culvert that 4th Parachute Brigade retreated through. This tunnel is just big enough to get a Jeep through.

                          It was also on this spot that the Jeeps of 1st A/B Recce Sqd. was ambushed by Sepp Krafts SS troops on the first day of the battle.
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                            #14
                            A Jeep going through the tunnel.
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                              #15
                              Over the past few years the Dutch lads have restored several 75mm Pack Howitzers. Each year one more has been added. Next year, we will hopefully have 4, a complete Battery, as our group should have ours over in Arnhem too.

                              This pic was taken on the high ground over looking the Rhine known as the "Westerbouwing". There is a cafe located here, as there was during the war. The original was destroyed during the battle. We all stop here for a free drink
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