Nordhausen (Mittelbau-Dora) 1943-45

Shortly after three o’clock in the morning on the 1st February 1945 a V2 rocket fired from German occupied Holland slammed into Barnby Road, just behind West Ham Police Station. The ensuing explosion reduced most of the street to a heap of brick dust and rubble - something that was revealed by the headlights of police cars who illuminated the scene for rescue workers (Stratford Express, 16 Feb, 1945). Twenty nine people died including a fireman (Jim Chinnick) who lost his life in the ruins of No. 60 where five members of the Homewood family had been killed by the blast. Along the street two of my relatives also lost their lives - Matilda Curme (aged 44) and her son Dennis (aged 13) were asleep in bed when their home disintegrated around them. Ironically, Matilda's husband George Curme, was serving with the RASC on the Western Front at the time. He went on to live for 90 years, eventually passing away in July 1992. 

Barnby Street - Photo by Warden Ted Carter - After the Battle

During the period October 1944 to March 1945, over 3,000 V2 rockets were fired and in respect of those that were targeted at London, 2,754 civilians were killed and over 6,500 were injured. The V-weapon programme took a heavy toll of Belgian, British, French and Dutch civilians. To this depressing figure, one must add the countless thousands of slave labourers who lost their lives at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp which served a huge network of underground factories near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains. Production had been moved to Nordhausen in 1944 after the RAF's Operation Hydra had rendered the V-Weapons development site at Peenemunde unviable in the summer of the previous year. 

The Site of Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp

Workers in the Tunnels

On a road trip from Frankfurt to Hamburg earlier this year, my wife and I decided to make a detour having established that it is possible to get down into the tunnels at the Nordhausen Mittelwerk factory. The site is now a memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime, and there is a sensitively positioned information centre just inside the original camp entrance. The Concentration Camp buildings are long gone as are the nearby SS barracks and the busy railway siding that brought workers in and took completed rockets out. The site, which is not as mountainous as I'd imagined, is on a wide level plain adjacent to a large hill in which the production facilities were built. 

One of the Factory Entrances

The operators of the site run two guided tours a day and we joined the afternoon session along with about forty or fifty other people. All the tours are conducted in the German language but there are information boards at some of the more important locations. It is staggering to think that over 10,000 slave labourers were operating on the site at peak production time, with perhaps 25,000 based in the wider local area. As well as V2s and V1s, the factories turned out engines for Me 262 and Ar 234 jet fighters. The scale of the underground facilities is staggering. The three tunnels which are open to visitors are vast and it is difficult to comprehend that another forty three exist - albeit not accessible to the public.

A Schematic of the 46 Production Halls

One of the Tunnels - V1 Fuel Tank + Debris

After an hour above ground, patiently waiting for the German narrated commentary to finish, our group moved towards one of the factory entrances. Once underground, I was surprised by how much recognisable debris littered the production areas. Fuel tanks, tail fins, holders for gyroscopes were amongst the components heaped on the floor. There were originally two floors in each production hall, but post-war Red Army demolitions had destroyed the upper level causing everything to collapse to the stone base level. The site was liberated by the US 3rd Armoured Division on April 11th 1945. Because Nordhausen was in the Soviet Sector, the area was handed over to the Red Army in July, two months later. By then of course almost all of the useful material and documents had been moved to the west along with the scientists who had developed these revolutionary weapons. The rest, is of course, history!

My Flickr collection of Nordhausen images - here

A visit to Peenemunde - here

An Operation Hydra veteran - here

The Battle of Arnhem 80th Anniversary

 In 2003, when I last attended a memorial event in Arnhem, many of the Marker Garden veterans were present - enjoying the enduring comradeship of a local population who, in many instances, had vivid memories of the turbulent events which occurred there in September 1944. The returning ex-paratroopers in their maroon 'Airborne' berets were feted as heroes. Sadly most of the veterans are gone, but it is a testament to their bravery that the legacy of their fight for Arnhem lives on. In the company of three good friends I visited the town again earlier this week and was taken aback by the extent to which the struggle to liberate Arnhem from the yoke of Nazism continues to resonate with the generations that followed those with first hand experience.

Dutch schoolchildren at the Airborne Needle

For this 80th anniversary every other house seemed to be flying the 1st British Airborne 'pegasus' flag and Union Jacks were everywhere. Sight of our British number plate often prompted a wave or a toot of a horn. In cafes and shops, we were treated like long lost friends and acknowledged as being from a country that "liberated us". 

On the 17th September of this year - on the 80th anniversary of the first parachute drop into Arnhem, we attended a service of thanksgiving at the 1st British Airborne Memorial (known to the locals as 'The Needle') near to the Hartenstein in Oosterbeek. It was incredibly moving to see local school children playing a major role in every aspect of the proceedings - handing the wreaths to those who were going to lay them at the foot of the memorial, speaking from the podium and listening attentively to the words being spoken. 

Representatives from the Parachute Regiment

As the day progressed, the largesse of the locals did not diminish. At the Heelsum Landing Grounds Memorial we met the granddaughter of the man who built this important structure in the summer of 1945. Constructed out of material scavenged from the battlefield, a six-pounder field gun is framed by dropped parachute containers, glider struts and guide rails - plus other Airborne accoutrements. Her mother placed flowers on the memorial on the 17th September every year, and this year a third generation will continue the tradition. 

The Heelsum Memorial

Moving towards the main road bridge in Arnhem along the route that was taken by John Frost's Battalion on the first day of the battle, we lingered at the St Elizabeth Hospital which is situated at the point where a hastily formed German battlegroup had prevented the bulk of 1st British Airborne from reaching their objective. The hospital has been converted into apartments and on hearing our British accents a resident invited us in. What a privilege it was to see the internal spaces of the building looking much as they were at the start of the battle before the place was given over to the military doctors, nurses and civilan helpers who laboured over injured combatants from both sides as the fighting raged outside.

The Main Staircase, St Elizabeth's Hospital, Arnhem

I did have another motive for visiting the town though. Walter Barnden, a man from Clevedon (my home town) was killed during the Battle of Arnhem on the 24th September 1944. 

Much has been written about the British, Polish and American airborne troops who fought in the Market Garden operation. Their fight to secure the bridges over various rivers and canals to secure a 60 mile salient from which 21st Army Group would launch a decisive push into the German Ruhr is rightly remembered as a heroic effort. However, the linked advance of XXX Corps along 'Hell's Highway' (or the Cab Route in British military parlance) was also heavily contested and provoked some of the heaviest fighting.

The spot where Gunner Barnden was killed

The road to Elst - where Gnr Barnden was killed

The area between Nijmegen and Arnhem was known as 'The Island' and it was here, in Driel, that the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade was dropped in an attempt to relive the hard pressed men of 1st British Airborne who had been pushed back into a horseshoe shaped defensive position in Oosterbeek, a suburb of Arnhem on the opposite side of the Lower Rhine. They didn't have the means to cross the river and were under attack by the crack 10th SS Panzer Division, newly bolstered by the recently reconstituted 501st Heavy Tank Battalion. 

Walter Barnden served with the 59th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery and his battery had been moved up from Nijmagen to assist in an attack on Elst. Deployed near the town of Valburg as part of the 43rd Wessex Division, the battery was faced with formidable opposition in the shape of Tiger and Panther tanks. Indeed, the 501st had just been equipped with 42 'King' Tigers - at 70 tons these were very formidable machines, capable of withstanding the impact of most types of Allied ordnance. Gunner Barnden was killed whilst serving one of the anti-tank guns on the 24th September 1944.

Upturned Tiger between Valburg and Elst (Bauke Huisman)

Despite my best endeavours, I haven't been able to find a picture of Walter George David Barnden (service Number. 937475), however what is known is that he was married to Cynthia Josephine (nee Colley) of Clevedon. His parents were from Brislington in Bristol. Gunner Barnden is buried in the beautiful Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in Oosterbeek, one of 1530 British and Commonwealth soldiers interred there. His wife chose an epitaph that would melt the coldest of hearts - Treasured memories of my darling husband. I loved you too much to forget.

Walter Barnden's grave / Oosterbeek Military Cemetery

Gunner Barnden's sacrifice is certainly not forgotten. Each grave in the Oosterbeek Military Cemetery is 'owned' and tended by a local young person of school age. Every year on the anniversary of the battle, the designated child leaves flowers and lights a candle in front of the headstone. I can think of no other military cemetery where the locals have such a strong connection with those who fought for their freedom. It seems to me that the bond between Arnhem and the people of the UK will endure for many years to come.

For the story of the first Arnhem casualties who are buried in Weston-super-Mare click here. 

For my photographs from the Arnhem 80 (2024) trip click here.

To read about my 2003 visit to Arnhem click here.