Market Garden Through The Eyes Of A German War Photographer

[HBoersma]

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2738/Cultuur/photoalbum/detail/3749606/549275/0/Market-Garden-door-de-ogen-van-een-Duitse-persfotograaf.dhtml

 

Six photographs made during Operation Market Garden by Leutnant Seuffert, photograper (Bildberichter) with Luftwaffe Kriegsberichter-Zug 16.

[Colin]

What's the gun on the Stug in #2?

[MiloMorai]

Looks like a StuH 42 with the 105mm leFH18.

[BillB]

Nice find Hans, thanks for sharing. Nice pic of a Faustpatrone 30 there, don't see them very often IME.

 

BillB

[BillB]

Looks like a StuH 42 with the 105mm leFH18.

Yup, from Sturmgeschutze Brigade 280. Arrived in Arnhem on Tuesday 19 September with 7 x StuG III and 3 x StuH 42G, which were parcelled out to Kampfgruppen Harder & Moeller in the fighting along the Utrechtsestraat and riverside Onderlangs in the western outskirts of the city.

 

BillB

[baboon6]

The one of the Dakota is spine-chilling...

[BillB]

The one of the Dakota is spine-chilling...

Indeed. Shame there's no date, I suspect it could be identified if there were.

 

BillB

[Colin]

Just finishing Silent Wings about the Glider Assaults and the number of tugs shot down over Arnhem was pretty high, although the first wave did ok as they were far from the target areas.

[Martin M]

Strange .......... but - for me - photographs of Market Garden / Arnheim have a certain aura of " recentness " about them, unlike earlier and later war photos, which could be hundreds years back from today.

 

Anybody else ? Or is it just me.

Are the photographic techniques different or some other explaination. Perhaps it is the Dutch setting.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Martin M

[rmgill]

It's the Dutch setting. The buildings are a bit more modern in style as compared to the Normandy farm houses.

[Panzermann]

It's the Dutch setting. The buildings are a bit more modern in style as compared to the Normandy farm houses.

Yes. Even today in parts of Normandy one gets the feeling that William the Conqueror is waiting just around the corner by the look of small towns and villages.

 

 

Very well done photos over alll. Good find!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Panzermann

[Al]

Just finishing Silent Wings about the Glider Assaults and the number of tugs shot down over Arnhem was pretty high, although the first wave did ok as they were far from the target areas.

 

Who is the author of the one you are reading? There are 3 different books titled Silent Wings listed on Amazon.

[BillB]

If you had the full roll of negatives, you might be able to work out what Dakota it was. The author of Villers Bocage through the lens worked out the location of various photos, just by their position in the original negatives. If one could do the same, then you might just have a shot at working out where the photo was taken, and compare it to crash sites. A long shot I grant you.

 

What I find intriguing is by the cargo door there is either a white flame inside the aircraft cargo door (whcih is an horrific thought in itself) or someone is still dumping cargo out. Lords Dakota maybe?

 

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

You wouldn't need to look at photos, not all that many aircraft were lost in the immediate vicinity of Arnhem/Oosterbeek and you could likely track it down from primary records if you had the date. I don't think it's Lord's Dak, he was away over the original LZ/DZs flying in close formation with another machine, and his folded up after a fire on the starboard engine & wing IIRC.

 

BillB

[BillB]

Strange .......... but - for me - photographs of Market Garden / Arnheim have a certain aura of " recentness " about them, unlike earlier and later war photos, which could be hundreds years back from today.

 

Anybody else ? Or is it just me.

Are the photographic techniques different or some other explaination. Perhaps it is the Dutch setting.

Mebbe German cameras, film and photographers were higher quality?

 

BillB

[Colin]

 

Just finishing Silent Wings about the Glider Assaults and the number of tugs shot down over Arnhem was pretty high, although the first wave did ok as they were far from the target areas.

 

Who is the author of the one you are reading? There are 3 different books titled Silent Wings listed on Amazon.

 

Gerard M. Devlin , here is a documentary based on the book.

 

http://youtu.be/jsAKWma3zbY

Edited September 19, 2014 by Colin

[HBoersma]

Perhaps also of interest:

 

Market Garden, the suprise attack that failed (video)

Images from the NIMH collection (Netherlands Institute of Military History)

[Colin]

the book argues 3 reasons things went wrong.

 

1. DZ to far from objectives

2. failure to appreciate and incorporate intelligence from partizan's about abundant armour in the area

3. Model's knack for reorganizing and commanding the units under his control.

[Phil]

I'd argue only one thing went wrong - the western front situation was not what the allies believed it to be.

 

The whole operation seems to have been planned on the basis of it taking place in an almost semi-permissive environment (by WWII standards).

[shep854]

In the British Market/Garden movie made right after the war, a clip was shown of a Dak going down in flames; a parachute opened just before it hit the ground. ISTR that aircraft went down at a steeper angle than the photo in the original link.

Edited September 20, 2014 by shep854

[Beitou]

Was that Theirs was the Glory?

[bojan]

Yes. Surprisingly good considering most of cast were not actors.

[L.V.]

Looks like a StuH 42 with the 105mm leFH18.

 

10,5 cm Sturmhaubitze 42. It was an adaptation of the leFH 18 firing electrically primed ammunition.

[BillB]

the book argues 3 reasons things went wrong.

 

1. DZ to far from objectives

2. failure to appreciate and incorporate intelligence from partizan's about abundant armour in the area

3. Model's knack for reorganizing and commanding the units under his control.

Devlin's book is very good on the US side of things, as is his Paratrooper! about parachute ops. However, his knowledge about the British stuff is a bit thin in comparison.

 

To address the reasons:

 

1. Nope. First, there was simply nowhere else closer, it was use Renkum-Heelsum or don't go. They could have put a parachute brigade and a handful of gliders in south of the Arnhem road bridge, but this would have meant splitting the 1st Airborne Division across two locations on either side of the Lower Rhine several miles apart which I don't think Urquhart would have agreed to. Second, the fact that the 2nd Parachute Battalion reached the Arnhem road bridge in four and a half hours after leaving the DZ, suffering only one fatal casualty & a handful of wounded and with the 1st Parachute Brigade HQ column and a host of attachments and detachments in tow suggests it was perfectly possible to reach the bridge from the landing. The reason MARKET failed lies at the British end. At the strategic level it was due to inept to non-existent leadership at the Corps, Division and vital Brigade level arising largely from inexperience. At the operational/tactical level it was due to poor leadership and planning as a result of the latter, allied to overconfidence, failure to identify and maintain focus on the primary aim and lack of application. Remember, you read it here first.

 

2. No, this is excuses generated to deflect blame in the immediate aftermath and into the 1950s. There was no abundant armour in the area, there were virtually no German units between the landing areas and Arnhem for the first twelve hours or more after the landings, armoured or otherwise. In addition, apart from Graebner's recce half-tracks, two Panzerjager IVs and half a dozen or so light flak vehicles all the armour in the area was directed south toward Nijmegen. The armour deployed against the 1st Airborne Div at Arnhem & Oosterbeek was brought in from Germany or the other side of Holland along with the bulk of other units.

 

3. Fair one, altho Bittrich, Harzer and Harmel deserve a large share of the credit too; they had things well in hand before Model stepped in and took the overall reins. That and the innate flexibility of the German military machine that allowed them to react swiftly and effectively at all levels.

 

BillB

[Colin]

This is my 2nd read of it and I am in awe of what these Glider Pilots accomplished and did, knowing the risks.

[Tony Evans]

I think I'd go with the poor understanding of the overall strategic situation, if I were looking for a culprit. Everything else was a consequence of that. Still, I'm not sure why it was such a crime and/or tragedy to lose a single division to gain 50 miles of ground. After all, that ground did come in handy in February, when it came time to mount Veritable.

 

In sociological terms, Market Garden has a lot in common with Jutland -- disappointment at not achieving some desirable, but unreasonable to expected, outcome.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Tony Evans