Vitesse Arnhem - quality



Hulkster said:
I knew all about OMG, but didn't have a clue about how they commemorate it and how big a deal it is to this day in Arnhem, until randomly stumbling on a tweet about it.

Think it's absolutely bloody fantastic.
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We were there for a few days summer before last in the campervan. Me and the bairn went to look at the ground then met the missus in town for a few beers, which ended up a bit of a session when the bar heard our accents and decided to put the Sunderland game on the telly. I got taking to them about Operation Market Garden and they bloody love us, they said that on Remembrance Sunday the whole town comes out and every grave at the British Army Cemetery has a dutch school kid next to it for the service, said it's unbelievably moving.

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https://thumbsnap.com/8S6tfHIQ

Grumpy Old Man said:
Not quite. The drop ended up as a shambles, because the armour that was meant to relieve them couldn't get through in time, and the paras pretty much all ended up dead or in PoW camps. Arnhem was reoccupied by the Germans and subjected to pretty savage reprisals until it was finally liberated a few weeks later. Same thing happened in Nijmegen. Antony Beevor published a superb, and very detailed account of Operation Market Garden (as Montgomery christened it) earlier this year. It's a long, and slightly academic read, but I'd highly recommend it. Link is here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078H4RMXP/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
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The Germans looted all of the houses and shipped everything back home for german families affected by the allied bombing campaigns.
 
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I've only just opened this thread. I've seen it and not bothered as i thought it would just be a picture/video of some dutch fans having a singalong or something.
It's all so very humbling and right the sacrifices a lot of people made should never, ever be forgotten.
 
When the allies liberated the Netherlands they wanted to avoid civilian casualties and the strong SS units on the right flank, so Montgomery ordered our tank divisions to pass de Dutchies on de left hand side.

Seriously though, it’s a lovely gesture.

Slightly off topic but I get hay fever when I watch the RAF dropping food.

 
The Archer said:
Class that. My dad worked with a fella - George - who at been at Arnhem. George had a nice scar where he’d got a bullet through the cheek but escaped with a hole in his face and the loss of several teeth.

Fine margins and all that.
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My grandads mate got a mention in the book, a bridge too far , think he landed on a mine , fought out , captured and spent the rest of the war as a pow
 
This is a great story:

Robert Henry Cain - Wikipedia

Jeremy Clarkson is married to his daughter - when the utter slacker isn’t fingering his agent - and did a great documentary about him. There is a quote from one of the German commanders along the lines of “ you know you are fighting real men when a man without trousers is firing a mortar from his waist at panzers”

Anyone got a link to one of their fans message boards - would like to say thank you to them.
 
Market Where? said:
This is a great story:

Robert Henry Cain - Wikipedia

Jeremy Clarkson is married to his daughter - when the utter slacker isn’t fingering his agent - and did a great documentary about him. There is a quote from one of the German commanders along the lines of “ you know you are fighting real men when a man without trousers is firing a mortar from his waist at panzers”

Anyone got a link to one of their fans message boards - would like to say thank you to them.
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I remember him presenting the TV programme about it. He just dropped in at the end that it was his father in law.
 
Zig81 said:
Excellent that, something that is very close to my heart.

Quite a poignant thread as I’ve just attended the funeral this morning of a serving soldier who took his own life 17 days ago. Only a kid and couldn’t fight his demons. :(

His father was a former soldier and a very close friend of mine, it’s been a difficult day.
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Very sad, spent 12 year in the army, in NI , Bosnia and more so know a bit about the demons, feel for his family and friends RIP
 
hertsmackem said:
fantastic read thanks for posting
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Just to check you know it was about the picture of the scarf?

There’s a bar called The Pegasus Bar in the middle of Arnhem. Pegasus is in the Para crest I think. When we were there it was run by a Mag who I believe was an ex-para himself. It has a load of history on the walls and a good selection of beers. My kind of museum!

Leeds Mackem Reborn said:
Vitesse roundup: 24 September 2014

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Had a bit of a mare but the link above shows one of the scarves I have
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Thanks whoever did that
 
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