Operation Market Garden

On this day in 1944, 35,000 troops were parachuted behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. The goal of Operation Market Garden was to secure a passage for allied troops to move swiftly towards Berlin after a stall following D-Day and the retaking of Paris.

The story is better known by the book and film "A Bridge Too Far", the bridge referring to the one at Arnhem. As a child, I was always taken by this particular event in the war, probably due to the film itself, but also because we had many family holidays in Holland and I knew the places very well. Indeed, being the seventies, there were still clear signs of the remnants of battles. Levelled urban areas that were yet to be built upon. Even tanks and jeeps left rusting in some woods (they've since been turned into a museum). It's frightening to think that when I was a boy, I was only three decades after the war. I am now four decades from the seventies!

Despite not being around for the war, I have at least seen the evidence, and it is very real for me. I worry for current and future generations where the war is merely museums, movies and Wikipedia. The reason for fighting, for standing ground, for sacrificing all is too easily lost in this "let's talk it through" age. I'm not condoning war, but I think we should remember that at times, it is necessary. Lest we forget.

These photos are from our holiday last Spring at the Airborne Museum and War Cemetery in Oosterbeek near Arnhem.