Battlefield Tour "The Royal Army Medical Corps in Oosterbeek"

 

In the afternoon of Saturday March 27, 2010 led by our guide Niall Cherry we visit some places in Oosterbeek where hospitals of heatl posts of the Royal Army Medical Corps were established.
In the afternoon of Saturday March 27, 2010 led by our guide Niall Cherry we visited some places in Oosterbeek where hospitals or health posts of the Royal Army Medical Corps were established, including the parsonage next to the Old Church (the house of the family Ter Horst), Pietersberg, Tafelberg, and the Paasbergschhol Schoonoord. Oosterbeek was the last defensive bastion of the British and Polish paratroopers during the Battle of Arnhem.

Tafelberg
The building 'Tafelberg' served as a home for retired missionaries, but in September 1944 had to make way for those who were injured gaellieerden in Operation Market Garden. It was a long time a boarding school and a hotel in the building. After the war the building until late 1998, occupied by U.S. priests. After the building was demolished and only the façade, the hall floor and stopped. For the rest, it is now an apartment complex. The building 'Tafelberg' served as a home for retired missionaries, but in September 1944 had to make way for those who were injured gaellieerden in Operation Market Garden. It was a long time a boarding school and a hotel in the building. After the war the building until late 1998, occupied by U.S. priests. After the building was demolished and only the façade, the hall floor and stopped. For the rest, it is now an apartment complex.
The building 'Tafelberg' served as a home for retired missionaries, but in September 1944 had to make way for those who were injured in Operation Market Garden. It was a long time a boarding school and a hotel in the building. After the war the building until late 1998, occupied by U.S. priests. After the building was demolished and only the façade, the hall floor and stopped. For the rest, it is now an apartment complex.
 

Pietersberg
 

House Kate ter Horst

View on the damaged house of Kate ter Horst with wracks of jeeps in her garden. On 27 March 2010 I made this comparison photo.
View on the damaged house of Kate ter Horst with wracks of jeeps in her garden. On 27 March 2010 I made this comparison photo.

Kater ter Horst with her child

 Kate ter Horst and Liv Ullmann while shooting for A Bridge Too Far

Kate ter Horst with her child.

 Kate ter Horst and Liv Ullmann while shooting for A Bridge Too Far
Kate ter Horst (born July 6, 1906, Amsterdam – February 21, 1992, Oosterbeek) was a Dutch full-time housewife and mother who tended wounded and dying Allied soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Her British patients nicknamed her the Angel of Arnhem.
Ter Horst was born Kate Anna Arriëns, daughter of Pieter Albert Arriëns and Catharina Maingay. She married Jan ter Horst, a lawyer from Rotterdam, with whom she had six children. One of her daughters, Sophie, still resides in the family home in Oosterbeek.
During Operation Market Garden, the British 1st Airborne Division parachuted to capture the Arnhem bridge but was outgunned by the German army. Ca ptain Martin asked the Ter Horsts permission to set up a regimental aid post in their house at the Benedendorpsweg in Oosterbeek. The family consented.
During the eight days of fighting, Ter Horst tended to about 250 wounded British paratroopers herself, while having five young children. Some of her most famous actions in looking after the British troops are; walking around her home reading the bible to dying soldiers and finding water in the most unlikely places (such as the boiler and toilet) when the house was at the center of conflict. At the time, anyone who tried to leave the house was shot. Mrs. Ter Horst wrote about these experiences in a book called Cloud Over Arnhem.
In November 1947 her oldest son, Pieter Albert, was killed by a left over anti-tank mine in a meadow along the Rhine.
She starred in Theirs is the Glory, a movie made directly after the war about the battle of Arnhem in which survivors were asked to re-enact the parts they played in the battle.
In the 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far her character is played by Liv Ullmann. In 1980, the British ambassador to the Netherlands decorated Kate and her husband as Honorary Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. She died of an accident in 1992 (knocked down by a car outside her home next to the Lonsdale Church), while Jan died at the age of 98 in 2003.
 

Access to the garden of the house. The havoc around the house is great.

On 27 March 2010 I made this comparison photo.
In the garden was a mass grave of 65 dead British soldiers. They were reburied after the war on the War Cemetery at Oosterbeek, Kate ter Horst made this memorial consisting of a pond with a reverse Pegasus, who collapsed to the ground. The reflection in the water symbolizes resurrection.
In the garden was a mass grave of 65 dead British soldiers. They were reburied after the war on the War Cemetery at Oosterbeek, Kate ter Horst made this memorial consisting of a pond with a reverse Pegasus, who collapsed to the ground. The reflection in the water symbolizes resurrection.
 
I took this photograph that shows the position of the house of Kate ter Horst besides the Old Church of Oosterbeek. Her house was the former rectory of the church
I took this photograph that shows the position of the house of Kate ter Horst besides the Old Church of Oosterbeek. Her house was the former rectory of the church.
In September 1944 the church was greatly damaged. It was one of the last strongholds of the British 1st Airborne Division before its retreat over the Rhine on the night of 25/26 September. In and around the church there are several reminders to the role of the church during the Battle of Arnhem.
In September 1944 the church was greatly damaged. It was one of the last strongholds of the British 1st Airborne Division before its retreat over the Rhine on the night of 25/26 September. In and around the church there are several reminders to the role of the church during the Battle of Arnhem.