1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment

The 3rd Parachute Battalion was halted at the Hotel Hartenstein in Oosterbeek with its brigade commander and the divisional commander.

Lieutenant Colonel David Dobie's 1st Parachute Battalion, entangled in the woods north of the railway, had abandoned its objective, and General-Lieutenant Hans von Tettau was preparing a dawn assault on the landing zones.

So let's start at the beginning.

It is midnight on Sunday, September 17th, 1944.

The Germans hold the paratroopers in this stalemate for six hours.

They use armoured vehicles and small infantry parties, not a major assault.

The rest of the column, separated nearly underpass, nearly 1.6 kilometres back down the Klingelbeekseweg, comes under the command of Doby's 1st Parachute Battalion at about 0700.

We follow Derby below.