September 2019, 75 years after the Battle of Arnhem, a major battle in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Since 1945, the Battle of Arnhem is remembered each year. During the Second World War, Nazi-Germany occupied over twenty countries in Europe. The Netherlands was occupied by nazi-Germany on 10 May 1940. The Allied forces launched a number of military operations to liberate nazi-Germany occupied Europe. The Battle of Arnhem was part of the Allied Operation Market Garden, one of the military operations to liberate the Netherlands. Market Garden was the largest airborne operation in history. On the 17th of September 1944, British airborne troops were dropped by glider and parachutes near Wolfheze, Renkum and on Ginkelse Heath near Ede, Polish troops were dropped near the village of Driel. Their common task was to conquer the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem, a vital river crossing into the northern parts of the Netherlands. Despite their heroic battle, the Allied forces failed to capture and hold the bridge. The southern part of the Netherlands was liberated, but the northern part of the Netherlands remained under nazi-German occupation until the 5th of May 1945.
In 2019, British Second World War veterans have returned to the former battlegrounds around Arnhem, Driel and Oosterbeek in the Netherlands to attend the 75th anniversary of the battle. The Battle of Arnhem is remembered each year at several locations, such as the Ginkelse Heath, the Airborne Museum and the Airbore Cemetery in Oosterbeek, in the small village of Driel and Arnhem at the bridge. In our own Ford Jeep, together with numerous other WWII army vehicles, we attended the memorial ceremony on the Ginkelse Heath and the Race to the Bridge 2019, a convoy of World War Two army vehicles which follows the route the airborne troopers took in 1944 from the landing zones to the bridge in Arnhem. The memorial tour ended in Oosterbeek. We also attended the commemoration of the Polish river crossing near Driel. During the Battle of Arnhem, more than 1,800 Allied soldiers were killed, most of them are buried at the Airborne War Cemetery in Oosterbeek, 244 of them could not be identified and 137 soldiers are reported missing. Also 1,000 civilians were killed.
Classic Car Road Trip: A convoy of WWII Jeeps driving on the dusty sand roads of Ginkel Heath close to the Dutch city of Ede during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem. The Battle of Arnhem was part of the Western Allied Operation Market Garden, one of the military operations to liberate the Netherlands from nazi-German occupation.
Classic Car Road Trip: A convoy of WWII Jeeps driving on the dusty sand roads of Ginkel Heath close to the Dutch city of Ede during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem. The Battle of Arnhem was part of the Western Allied Operation Market Garden, one of the military operations to liberate the Netherlands from nazi-German occupation.
Classic Car Road Trip: A 1942 Ford GPW Jeep driving on Ginkel Heath 75 years after the Battle of Arnhem to join the 75th anniversary commemorations of the airborne droppings. In September 1944, Allied airborne forces were dropped on Ginkel Heath, their task was to conquer the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem. Despite their heroic battle, the Allied forces failed to capture the bridge.
Classic Car Road Trip: A Willys Jeep Slat Grill driving on Ginkel Heath during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem in 2019. A Slat Grill is an early produced Willys MB Jeep, the production of this model started in November 1941 and ended in early March 1942, 25.808 Slat Grill Jeeps were produced, then Willys started the production of the standard Willys MB Jeep.
Classic Car Road Trip: A 1940 Humber Military Super Snipe Utility Car on Ginkel Heath during the 75th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem, this car was used by the Royal Air Force. The Humber Super Snipe was produced from 1938-1967 by the British manufacturer Humber Limited. During WWII, the car was used as a British military staff car.
Classic Car Road Trip: A WWII Red Cross Staff Car driving to the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem at Ginkel Heath. Over hundred authentic WWII vehicles and their owners were gathered on Ginkel Heath to attend the memorial ceremonies of the Battle of Arnhem, part of the Allied Operation Market Garden.
Classic Car Road Trip: Remembering the Battle of Arnhem 75 years on, an imposing convoy of WWII vehicles driving to the commemorative ceremony on Ginkel Heath. Ginkel Heath was the drop zone were the 4th Parachute Brigade under command of Brigadier John Hackett landed in the afternoon of the 18th September 1944.
Classic Car Road Trip: September 2019, a convoy of restored WWII military vehicles driving on Ginkel Heath during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem. The Battle of Arnhem was a major battle in the Netherlands during WWII, it left the city of Arnhem in ruins. Since 1945, the Battle of Arnhem is remembered each year.
Classic Car Road Trip: A 1942 British Airborne Ford GPW Jeep on Ginkel Heath during the mass parachute drop to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle af Arnhem. Airborne Jeeps were standard jeeps, lightened and modified to fit into a Horsa glider, such as cutting down the front bumper and sometimes the windscreen was removed.
Classic Car Road Trip: Low flying military aircrafts over Ginkel Heath during the 75th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem, recreating the attack far behind German enemy lines in September 1944, 10,000 British and Polish paratroopers was ordered to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem.
Classic Car Road Trip: A mass parachute drop over the Dutch Ginkel Heath 75 years after the Battle of Arnhem. The Battle of Arnhem was fought in and around Driel, Oosterbeek, Renkum, Wolfheze and Arnhem from 17-25 September 1944. Since 1960, paras have jumped again over Ginkel Heath to mark the Battle of Arnhem. In the 1960s, still many Arnhem veterans jumped.
Classic Car Road Trip: The 75th anniversary Battle of Arnhem. Just like the 18th September 1944, airborne troopers jumped out of a plane and landed on Ginkel Heath but now to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem, 1,500 Belgian, British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish and US paras landed on the Ginkel Heath drop zone, among them two veterans of the Battle of Arnhem.
Classic Car Road Trip: The 75th commemorations Battle of Arnhem on Ginkel Heath, a Churchill reenactor next to our own 1942 Ford GPW Jeep, the Jeep is painted in Royal Air Force blue. We restored our Ford Jeep as a tribute to and in memory of the veterans of WWII and the soldiers who liberated Europe from nazi-German occupation.
Classic Car Road Trip: A mass parachute drop over Ginkel Heath during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, on the left hand side the impressive Airborne Monument 'Windows of the Past' on Ginkel Heath, Ede. The Airborne Monument is a six metres high sculpture, designed by the Dutch artist Karin Colen in 2019.
Classic Car Road Trip: The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, our own Ford GPW Jeep on Ginkel Heath. For many years, we fly a tiny Dutch national flag off the antenna of our own jeep, at the start of the Race to the Bridge, one of the organizers ordered to remove the flag. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, it was also prohibited to fly the Dutch national flag.
Classic Car Road Trip: The 75th anniversary Battle of Arnhem, 1942 Willys MB Jeep drives from Ginkelse Heath towards Renkum Heath to participate in the Race to the Bridge 2019. On 17th September 1944, the Renkum Heath was the drop zone of the First Airborne Division and one day later it was landing zone for Horsa gliders carrying equipment such as Jeeps.
Classic Car Road Trip: Race to the Bridge 2019, a 1942 Ford GPW Jeep driving via Onderlangs to the Rhine Bridge in Arnhem, the bridge is also known as the John Frost Bridge. The Race to the Bridge is a memorial tour of WWII army vehicles which follows the route John Frost and his men took in 1944 from their landing zone in Renkum to the bridge over the Rhine near Arnhem.
Classic Car Road Trip: Race to the Bridge 2019, a Ford GPW Jeep at the Rhine Bridge in Arnhem. During the Battle of Arnhem, the north end of the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem was captured by the Second Battalion of the British First Airborne Division commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost, they held the northern bridgehead (photo) for four days, from 17 to 21 September 1944.
Classic Car Road Trip: Race to the Bridge 2019, a Ford GPW RAF Jeep driving on the quay road towards the Rhine Bridge in Arnhem. In 1978, the Rhine Bridge was named after John Frost, the commander of the Second Battalion of the British First Airborne Division. The Arnhem Bridge is also known from A Bridge Too Far, a film based on a book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan.
Classic Car Road Trip: Race to the Bridge 2019, driving in a Ford GPW Jeep through Oosterbeek towards the Airborne Museum Hartenstein. The museum is dedicated to the military operation Market Garden, espacially the Battle of Arnhem. During the Battle of Arnhem, Hartenstein was the headquarters of the First Airborne Division, commanded by Major-General Roy Urquhart.
Classic Car Road Trip: The Battle of Arnhem commemorations 2019, Prince Charles and Princess Beatrix, the former Queen of the Netherlands, laid a memorial wreath at the stone plaquette of the Airborne Memorial on Ginkel Heath. The plaquette is situated at the foot of the small hill on which the Airborne Memorial stands.
Classic Car Road Trip: The Battle of Arnhem commemorations 2019, a memorial poppy wreath at the Airborne Memorial on Ginkel Heath. The Airborne Memorial is a concrete obelisk topped with a copper Eagle with spread wings in flight. The Battle of Arnhem was major battle of WWII, fought between German soldiers and British and Polish paratroopers.
Classic Car Road Trip: Memorial wreaths in front of the Airborne Memorial on Ginkel Heath. The Battle of Arnhem took place in September 1944, the Ginkel Heath between the Dutch towns of Ede and Arnhem was one of the drop zones for the Allied Airborne forces. More than 1,800 Allied soldiers lost their lives in the Battle of Arnhem.
Classic Car Road Trip: The Battle of Arnhem commemorations 2019, the last surviving veterans of the Battle of Arnhem laid a poppy remembrance wreath at the Airborne Monument on Ginkel Heath to honour their fallen comrades. In Great Britain, the red poppy became the symbol to the fallen soldiers of WWI. Now, the poppy is a memorial symbol to all fallen soldiers worldwide.
Classic Car Road Trip: The 75th anniversary of Battle of Arnhem, commemorative river crossing near Driel in honour to the soldiers of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade of General Stanisław Sosabowski who landed here on 21 September 1944, liberated Driel and crossed the Rhine to support the British paratroopers.
Classic Car Road Trip: On 18th September 2019, 75 years after the Battle of Arnhem, the British veteran John Jeffries officially unveiled the Airborne Monument 'Windows of the Past' on Ginkel Heath at precisely 3:08 pm local time, the exact moment he landed on Ginkel Heath on Monday 18th September 19944, together with the 4th Parachute Brigade.