Battle of Arnhem +80

 'If in the years to come, you meet a man who says, "I was at Arnhem", raise your hat and buy him a drink.' War correspondent Alan Wood - 1944

80 years today, British and Polish paratroopers were 'jumping into hell'.

9 days later, they had been destroyed.
Of 10,000 men who had landed, 8,000 were killed, wounded or captured. The 1st British Airborne Division never saw combat again (though sections of it did).

Hundreds of men were left behind, hiding in German occupied territory. They were sheltered by the Dutch Underground, and many were rescued by MI9 and the Dutch Resistance. Others (astonishingly) made their own way out.

"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard."
Wilhelm Bittrich, SS Commander, commenting on the British Paratroopers at Arnhem - September 1944

In 1969, the Parachute Regiment suggested to the Dutch people that the annual commemoration at Oosterbeek Cemetery should end, because enough time had passed to allow it to fade.
The Dutch were so absolutely and vocally opposed to that, it continues to this day, with locals and schoolchildren laying flowers on the graves of those lost.

My Grandad was at Arnhem.