Viking - Tulips and Windmills - Day 4 Nijmegen

 Day 4 - Saturday 30 March 2024

We moored in Nijmegen. At 09:00 we boarded our coach for the brief drive to Arnhem for our included excursion Operation Market Garden which first stopped at Arnhem bridge - the 'Bridge too Far'. 

This is a post-war rebuild to exactly the same style as the bridge  destroyed in October 1944. Some of the bases survived, including the concrete stairs and supports on the north bank. The new bridge is named after John Frost, British Forces commander.

We went to the Airborne Cemetery at Oosterbeek where some 18,000 allied soldiers are buried.

Guide David had written two books about the battle and was in a group of archaeologists that uncovered remains of missing soldiers. He took us to some graves of those he'd found and told us their stories.

He told us that after the war  local school children 'adopted' each grave, and they'd contact the families. Soon other war cemeteries were also adopted by school children and when they grew-up and leave school another younger child takes over. Each year, on the same day, each grave has a lit candle to show the soldiers that they
are not forgotten. This unofficial tradition continues to this day. I don't think anyone there didn't have tears.

Next stop was the nearby Airborne Museum. During the Arnhem Battle as the British troops were defending a decreasing area while facing increasing German forces. Hotel Hartenstein was taken over as HQ and now houses the museum.

Then a drive around the area where the guide pointed out terrain features that affected the battle and Kate ter Hors' house in which she nursed wounded and dying soldiers.

A quiet coach returned to the boat for lunch.

We had a short walk in the afternoon and caught up on reading. Before dinner was an enthralling talk on the Liberation of the Netherlands by historian Edwin Popken. The Dutch thought the war was over when the allies arrived in Market Garden. The German troops had left, for Germany it was thought, and crowds were blocking the streets to cheer on the troops.