80th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem: Each year, there are commemorations of Battle of Arnhem, but every five year, there are nummerous ceremonies to pay tribute to the soldiers who fought here in September 1944. The Battle of Arnhem was part of the Allied Operation Market Garden, one of the military operations to liberate the Netherlands. After the successful Western Allied invasion in Normandy, the allies hoped to end the war before the end of 1944. The goal was to take bridges in the southern part of the Netherlands and allow a rapid advance deep into Germany. Operation Market Garden consisted of two parts: Operation Garden involved the advance of allied ground troops from the Belgian border to the Rhine bridge in Arnhem, Operation Market was a drop of roughly 35,000 airborne troops, they had to take bridges and hold them until the ground troops arrived. The allies managed to capture all the bridges between the Belgian border and Nijmegen. Only the 2nd Parachute Battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, managed to reach and capture the Rhine bridge at Arnhem, but after four days, the airborne troops at Arnhem had to surrender because the ground troops were unable to reach them. The southern part of the Netherlands was liberated, the northern part of the Netherlands remained under nazi-German occupation until the 5th of May 1945.
The Battle of Arnhem is remembered each year at a number of locations such as the Ginkel Heath, the Airborne Museum, the Airbore Cemetery in Oosterbeek, in Arnhem and in the small village of Driel, where the Polish troops landed. To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, hundreds of paratroopers were dropped over the Ginkelse Heath. In our own Ford Jeep, together with numerous other WWII army vehicles and their owners, we attended the airborne landings on the Ginkel heath. We also participated in the Race to the Bridge, a convoy of more than 200 WWII army vehicles followed the route Lieutenant Colonel John Frost and his airborne troopers took in 1944 from the landing zones to the Rhine bridge in Arnhem, the bridge is now called the John Frost Bridge. The Race to the Bridge ended in Oosterbeek, nearby the Airborne Museum.
Classic Car Road Trip, 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem: It was still dark when we were driving in our own Ford Jeep to the Ginkel Heath, in September 1944 one of the dropzones for the airborne soldiers during Operation Market Garden. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during WWII. The Battle of Arnhem was part of Operation Market Garden. The Battle of Arnhem was a major battle in WWII.
