BORDER BATTLEFIELD MARCH 2015

Our main goals are to commemorate the sacrifices made by our liberators, to tell the story of those ordinary man doing extraordinary things and to let those days come back alive through re-enactment. All these things collided into a very special event we organised last fall: the Border Battlefield March.


On foot, in full battle order, we followed the trail of B Company, 1st Battalion The Border Regiment during Operation Market Garden. The length of the march was over 17 km's.


The very excellent photographers Johan Bruyn and Erny van Wijk joined us on this special occassion which resulted in these beautiful shots. Enjoy!


We had a permit granted by the local authorities to carry the weapons.

The march started at the south-western corner of LZ S, which was the RV point for the battalion after landing in the early afternoon at the 17th of September 1944.


After this introduction we marched off in the direction of the river Rhine, where the first objective of B Company was located. At the brickworks B Company had to seal off an important road coming from the western part of the Netherlands into the Arnhem region. On the morning of the 18th of September B Company found itself fully surrounded by German troops and was cut off from the rest of the battalion. The company got orders to fight itself out of the situation. Which was virtually impossible as there were German troops in the north, west and east of the company. The only option was to follow a small track on the banks of the river Rhine, heading towards Doorwerth and Oosterbeek were the second objective of the Battalion would be. The company succesfully disengaged and marched off to the east through the woods of Noordberg.


Lt. Andrews leading the march guiding the platoon towards Oosterbeek. After 10 km's more and more feet are starting to hurt but the platoon still marching steadily towards the next positions of B Company.


We had a short break at Van Borsselenweg for some details about the positions of D Company and after off to Westerbouwing. On top of this steep hill were the next positions of the company and Westerbouwing would be the final point of the march but first the men had to feel the impact of this heights resulting in satisfied faces on top of the stairs.


Afterwards, Lt. Andrews describes how B Company had to defend the Westerbouwing heights against overwhelming odds. The lightly armed company faced over a battalion of infantry supported by mortars, artillery and flamethrower tanks. After heavy fighting the company had to give up the heights, suffering more then 50% losses. This would virtually mean the end of B Company during the Battle of Arnhem. To commemorate the sacrifices made by these brave young men the last post was played and we held a minute of silence.


Lt. Andrews

IMPRESSION SHOTS

IMPRESSION SHOTS

MANY THANKS FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER JOHAN BRUYN AND ERNY VAN WIJK