Arnhem
The drop on 18 September with 156 Parachute Battalion, the days of fighting, and how he came to be a prisoner.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Sep 1944 | Left Home service; took off for Holland | Service list (Home service ends 17/09/1944, N/W Europe begins 18/09/1944); Walsh's own MI9 answer: "Dakota, near GRANTHAM, 18 Sep 44, 1100 hours approx." (Walsh). ⚠︎ ParaData says the 19th, wrongly |
| 18 Sep 1944 | 4th Parachute Brigade's lift, 156 Bn dropped on Ginkel Heath | 156 Bn history; Ginkel Heath as DZ-Y, from Waddy, who commanded B Company in the same lift. Walsh's own answer to "where did you come down": "WOLFHEZE … 1400 hours approximately" (Walsh) |
| 18 Sep 1944 | The flight: flak over France, "one of our 3 formation went down with all hands", the pilot down to 200 feet; "the Gerries were waiting, and we had a hot reception; we learnt later that the drop had been betrayed". Polish glider troops; Benzedrine to stay awake ⚠︎ his word | p.6 |
| 18–21 Sep 1944 | Wounded: shrapnel in the head from an 88 mm tank round while sniping, Sgt Shepley beside him; no date given ⚠︎ his word. ⚠︎ ParaData has him injured on the Paul Krugerstraat at Oosterbeek on Sunday 24 September, three days after the day he says he was taken prisoner | p.8; Hardy confirms he was wounded (Hardy); ParaData |
| 21 Sep 1944 | Captured near Oosterbeek. ◐ By his own account he was beside Lt Donaldson, with Walsh. Walsh's report tells the same minutes without naming him: it names those hit in that burst, Donaldson, Joyce and Walsh, and has Walsh marched off "with about a dozen other prisoners, all walking wounded". ⚠︎ The National Archives' catalogue entry for Walsh's report gives "Place captured: Wolfheze" (Walsh's page), but Wolfheze is where the report has Walsh coming down on the 18th; the report puts the attack "in the neighbourhood of OOSTERBEEK" | Walsh ("about midday on THURS 21 SEP"); p.7 |
| Sep 1944 | Evacuated by Germans to Apeldoorn | Hardy's report has his own transfer on 25 Sep and says Murphy had been wounded and was in the barracks; it gives no date for Murphy (Hardy); ParaData |
The drop date. The 4th Para Bde lift was on the 18th (156 Bn history); Walsh's own MI9 answer gives 18 September; the compiler's preamble on his page adds Saltby, aircraft 628 and the 314th Troop Carrier Group. The service list ends Home service on 17 September and starts N/W Europe on the 18th, as ParaData does. The battalion war diary, WO 171/1247, would add the aircraft and the stick.
The wounding, and Lt Donaldson. Two accounts of the same minutes, written fifty-three years apart by men who did not know the other had written one.
Walsh, to MI9 in March 1945:
At about midday on THURS 21 SEP our Coy went in to attack a German MG position in the neighbourhood of OOSTERBEEK … At the time I was beside Lt. DONALDSON my Platoon C.O. and Sjt. JOYCE who was acting Platoon Serjeant … when we received a burst of fire. Lt. DONALDSON was shot through the leg and arm and JOYCE through the chest while I sustained a scalp wound … I then managed to get Lt. DONALDSON to a house about twenty yards to the rear. By this time the Coy had withdrawn and a few minutes later the Germans advanced and DONALDSON and I were taken prisoner … I have not heard of Lt. DONALDSON since, though I have a suspicion that he was shot. I had not gone more than 10 or 12 yards from the house where I left him before I heard a single shot which definitely came from that house.
— MI9 · Pte S. Walsh, C Company, 156 Parachute Battalion · report of 7 March 1945 · the report
Murphy, c.1998:
My Lt. Mr Donaldson was badly hit on the thigh, and I got help and took him into a house, and got him a drink. The Gerries came into the house, then ran out again. Mr Donaldson suggested we surrender, as we had no ammo, and/or head for the Rhine. Another soldier, Sam Welsh and I intended to carry the officer, but the Gerries appeared again and immediately shot Mr Donaldson behind the ear. They then marched us off through the village of Oosterbeek.
— Thomas Murphy, memoir, page 7, c.1998
Lt Donaldson: his grave, and the day he died
Link to the section Lt Donaldson: his grave, and the day he diedLt William Stewart Donaldson commanded 11 Platoon, C Company, and is buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery. The day he died has never been properly settled: most of the Commission's own records give the 21st, the day Walsh and Murphy both describe, and its website gives the 20th, from a correction in red ink on the schedule that cut his headstone. His page has the grave, the five documents and what the red ink does and does not settle.
⚠︎ Grier's page has Grier and Pte Lewis Kemp carrying the fatally wounded Donaldson to safety in a blanket (Grier), and Powell's has him killed on the 20th (Powell). Neither is reconciled with the burial paperwork, Still open, and Grier's version does not put Murphy and Walsh with him at all. ◐ Only Murphy's account puts both of them in that house: Walsh's has Walsh getting Donaldson there and does not name Murphy until the barracks at Apeldoorn, where the two planned their escape.
Sgt Joyce, who did not die
Link to the section Sgt Joyce, who did not die⚠︎ Walsh was wrong about Sgt Joyce, if his Joyce is this man. He wrote that Joyce died of his wound; ◐ a Sgt Patrick Joyce was at Stalag 357, next door to Murphy's camp, with a prisoner's number, and the link to Walsh's Joyce is the Pegasus Archive compiler's bracket at the name, since Walsh gives no first name or number (his page).
His wound, and Sgt Shepley
Link to the section His wound, and Sgt ShepleyHis own wound:
while Sniping; a Gerry tank fired an 88 MILLIMETRE and I got shrapnel in my head. My Jumping jacket was saturated and my face all pock-marked, I still dont know what happened to Sgt Shepley who was with me; I presume he got the full blast
— Tom Murphy, his memoir, p. 8 (the page)
Murphy presumed Shepley dead. ParaData has Shepley wounded on 25 September and a prisoner until 27 April 1945 (ParaData); ⚠︎ whether he was wounded by the round Murphy describes is not shown by any source (Shepley's page). Murphy's own wound is the "shotgun wounds to my head" of the notebook (notebook): shell splinters, not shot. The family can vouch for the splinters: they stayed in his head and face for the rest of his life, dark under the skin, and "pock marks" was the family's word for them, as it was his. ⚠︎ ParaData puts Shepley in B Company and Murphy was C Company, so why the two were together is not explained (Shepley's page). Hardy's report confirms both Murphy and Walsh were wounded men in the barracks (Hardy).
Before that:
I was designated as Sniper by Mr Powell. I despatched one Gerry sniper who was giving us trouble, and at one time was pursued by an armoured car; I don't know how they missed
— Tom Murphy, his memoir, p. 7 (the page)
Maj. Geoffrey Powell commanded C Company (Powell). A mortar container "with our base plate and barrel was hit by the Gerries, and one of these landed on my foot"; a surgeon at the Southern General told him years later that what he took for a bunion "was related to the incident at Arnhem", and he wore surgical footwear (notebook). ⚠︎ His word.
