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NAZIS DIED LIKE FLIES IN BATTLE OF NIJMEGEN BRIDGE

TOUGHER AND BLOODIER THAN SALERNO

Tuesday October 10, 1944
By B. J. McQuaid
Times Foreign Correspondent

With American 82nd Airborne Division, Nijmegen, Holland.

One of a party of war correspondents who came from France to study this northern extremity of the western front, I had the honor of crossing the river Rhine (*read Waal) and looking back on the historic Nijmegen bridge. The clean, undamaged beauty of the single central span, the longest of its kind in all Europe, almost made me forget that we were under fire, and military traffic was incessantly streaming over.

Our guide, Lt. Douglas Gray, North Stonington, Conn., pointed out for us the steep bank up which our paratroopers had stormed from their assault boats to drive the Germans out of their dug-in machinegun nests at point of bayonet. Several hundred yards downstream we saw the great Nijmegen railroad bridge which the paratroopers also captured intact. S.Sgt. David Rosenkrantz, Los Angeles, Cal., told us the story of the scene presented on that railroad bridge during the first hours after the assault boat crossing in which he was a participant.

Rosenkrantz, with a machine gun squad, was in position at the northern end of the bridge when suddenly a whole battalion of German infantry, unaware that the crossing had been made and intent on escaping back toward Germany, started across in marching formation, three abreast. The small band of paratroopers, outnumbered more than 10 to one, waited until the bridge was clogged with Germans from end to end and then, revealing their commanding position, called on the advance foe to surrender. Instead, the Germans began throwing hand grenades.

The Paratroopers sent forward a prisoner they had captured, who agreed to convey the surrender request to his countrymen. The Germans shot him dead as he advanced. This was too much. The paratroopers opened up with machine guns, automatic rifles and bazookas. For the next few minutes the bridge was presented a fantastic spectacle, with the Germans hopelessly trapped withering fire but nonetheless trying to fight back. They took cover behind steel girders and even managed to wriggle up into the superstructure from which they fell like flies into the river.

At dawn the next day dead men hung from girders and blood dripped from steel beams. Paratroopers, walking out onto the bridge counted 267 and carried off scores of wounded. "It was typical of what went on during the battle of Nijmegen Bridge," Rosenkrantz said. "Nijmegen did not last as long as Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, but it was tougher, and bloodier while it lasted."

Everyone in this division has full statistics on the Nijmegen Bridge. Every GI in the outfit takes time to inform you that it was the first bridge across the Rhine that any allied troops secured. They are indignant at news accounts which fail to explain that the river at this point - which the Dutch call the Waal- is actually the lower and major confluence of the Rhine itself.

To men of the 82nd it is never the Waal, it is the Rhine, and they are the ones who got across it, let no historian forget that. And Lt.Col.Robert H.Wiencke, Glencoe, Ill., reminds you that it is four lanes wide and can carry any load an army can subject it to. Judging by the amount of fuss the Germans are putting up to deprive us of this gain, the men's view must be correct. They bang away with artillery all day and all night.

They send over wave after wave of dive-bombers, low, high and medium-level bombers. The British have magnificent anti-aircraft defenses here now. The fireworks display beats anything we have seen since the night attacks on our shipping off the Normandy invasion beachheads.

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(copyright 1944, by the Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News Inc.)

Found on website at: http://www.nijmegenweb.myweb.nl

~~~

In Memory of Staff Sergeant David "Rosie" Rosenkrantz

82nd Airborne Division
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
3rd Battalion
H Company

Born: Los Angeles, CA, October 31, 1916
MIA: Holland, September 28, 1944

~~~

Incredible bravery in necessary action only delayed by Neville Chamberlain at Munich 1938.

Let the French and Germans and the rest of the whirling gerbils of appeasement reap what they shamefully sow.

Godspeed Swift Victory and Safe Return to the Finest Fighting Force On Earth

God Bless Our Troops, Our Veterans, and Their Families

SADDAM-FREE in '03

. . .the attack begins in five minutes. . .

. . .M. Chirac draws a white hankerchief and a fountain pen and deftly constructs an instrument of surrender. . .

Evening PhilDragoo, excellent article about the Nijmegen Bridge, thanks.

030208-N-7265L-007 At sea aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Feb. 8, 2003 -- Lt. Cdr. Thomas Baldwin, a flight deck “Shooter,” signals the launch of an F/A-18C “Hornet” assigned to the "Fighting Redcocks" of Strike Fighter Squadron Two Two (VFA-22). Shooters are primarily responsible for the safe and proper launching of aircraft during flight operations. Carl Vinson is operating in the Pacific Ocean in preparation for their next scheduled deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Inez Lawson.

Hey there SAM, GREAT thread Bro!:^)

BTTT!!!!!

Hello - I'm Tom Brennan, the creator of the site linked at the top of this thread on the WWII Glider Pilots, and much of the material you see in this thread comes from my site. I am flattered that you find it worthy of re-posting here, but I would appreciate it if you would contact me for permission in the future. I'll give it to you after the fact since I see that this is a "gung ho" bunch of people who appreciate what our people in uniform do for us.

I also thought you all might like a little more info on what happened after the 30th Corps informed Gavin that they would be across the Waal River in the morning. My Dad met Gavin many years later and Gavin confirmed what my Uncle Joe, augmented to the 504th for the crossing said. When the 504th learned that the Brits were sitting tight, they decided to attack the Brits, take the tanks and other armor away from them, and complete the run up to Arnhem themselves. Gavin had to order his MP's to hold the remnants of the 504th at gunpoint to stop them. I don't think there is a survivor of the 504th who could ever forgive Horrocks, Browning, and Montgomery for that decision. I also heard that the British 1st Parachute Regiment, for many years, and possibly to this day, had Browning's picture painted in their urinals back at their regimental barracks, but I do not know if it is true.

I visited Nijmegen and Arnhem in 1961 with my Mom and Dad, 1994, and again in 1995 with my own family so my kids could see where their Grandfather and Grand Uncle fought. Dad flew a glider into Market Garden on September 19th and was blown to shreds. He almost didn't survive. I can tell you that the Waal River is mighty wide, and I have nothing but profound respect for the 504th. I would never want to come up against those men in combat, whatever the odds.
Tom Brennan
Viet Nam '71