1st Parachute Brigade

In Part 3, the 1st Airborne Division came down west of Arnhem and the Germans began to react.

In Part 4, we followed the 1st Parachute Brigade's advance through the afternoon and evening of Sunday, September 17th, 1944.

Part 4 ended at midnight.

Lieutenant Colonel John Frost held the northern end of the road bridge at Arnhem with about 600 men.

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

At the northern end of the road bridge at Arnhem, Lieutenant Colonel John Frost's men are digging in.

West of the town, a German line is closing, and on the roads between them, the rest of the 1st Parachute Brigade is trying to get through.

We follow four threads through Monday, September 18th.

Operation Fustian follows on the night of July 13th to 14th.

The 1st Parachute Brigade, under Brigadier Gerald Lathbury, must capture the Primisoli Bridge.

It crosses the Semato River, south of Catania.

It is the only crossing point over the river.

The division's task is the road bridge at Arnhem, 11 kilometres east of the landing area.

Major Freddie Gough's 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron is to reach it first, by jeep, in a coup de main, and hold it until Brigadier Lathbury's 1st Parachute Brigade arrives on foot.

The brigade has three routes into the town, codenamed Leopard, Tiger and Lion, running north to south.

Three battalions take them, and they do not all have the same objective.

Its jeeps are to race ahead of the brigade and seize the road bridge at Arnhem by coup de main.

The squadron brings 181 men to Arnhem, at least 20 of them officers.

Most of them, goof among them, parachute onto Drop Zone X with the 1st Parachute Brigade at 13.50 hours.

The jeeps come in by glider.