Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
The remaining defenders evacuated the house and went to another nearby, but this also had to be given up. All this was a serious weakening of the eastern defences of the perimeter. Several men mentioned the courage shown by Captain Bernard Briggs, a Brigade HQ officer who was in command of this sector... The day came to end with the British force weakening not in spirit of resistance but in the means to resist.’ (Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle by Martin Middlebrook refers).
The following day as the battle raged on, Captain Mackay, commander of A Troop, 1st Parachute Squadron R.E., leading the resistance in the now beleaguered school building adjacent to the northern end of the road ramp, overheard the following, now famous, wireless dialogue between Captain Briggs, still fighting to maintain control of his eastern perimeter section, and Johnny Frost in Battalion HQ on the west side of the ramp:
Captain Briggs: ‘The position is untenable. Can I have your permission to withdraw?’ Lieutenant-Colonel Frost: ‘If it is untenable you may withdraw to your original position.’ Captain Briggs: ‘Everything is comfortable. I am now going in with bayonets and grenades.’ (By Air to Battle, The Official History of the British Paratroops in World War II by Bob Caruthers refers).
The position was retaken but later that day (Wednesday), Briggs’ force, shelled and burnt out of their position, was forced to retreat back towards the road bridge. The perimeter was finally beginning to shrink: ‘Sensing that resistance was starting to fail, the Germans now launched a series of infantry attacks with close tank support from the east, trying to reach the area under the ramp. The last defence in front of this area had been the group of houses defended by Captain Briggs and a mixed group of Brigade HQ men, signallers and six RAOC men. But shelling had forced the evacuation of these men to a position under the ramp where they barricaded themselves in with some timbers. Private Kevin Heaney, one of the RAOC men, says ‘The atmosphere and tension became unbearable. We were expecting to be attacked but uncertain from which direction this was going to come. The mood varied between hope and despair, and the lack of news from the rest of the diversion or of progress by Thirty Corps was bad for morale. A young officer [likely Briggs], a studious looking chap, gave us a pep talk, trying to be a morale booster, saying how well our brigade had done in North Africa and how our performance at Arnhem would go down in history.’ (Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle by Martin Middlebrook refers).
Briggs’ force then retreated to join the remnants of A Company positioned in houses west of the bridge. It was in this vicinity and around this time that Lieutenant Grayburn was awarded the only V.C. for the battle at Arnhem Bridge: ‘There developed a series of vicious attacks and counter attacks by infantry and engineers from both sides in which the Germans placed explosive charges against the pillars supporting the archway and Royal Engineers led by Lieutenant Donald Hindley attempted to stop the demolition preparations. Hindley’s party, accompanied by Lieutenant Grayburn and some of his A Company men, dashed out and removed the fuses from the charges around the piers supporting the arch - “a nerve-wracking experience”, says Hindley, “working a few feet away from a large quantity of explosives which could be fired at any moment.” Grayburn was wounded again but returned after being treated, one arm in a sling and with bandaged head. Hindley says: “It was obvious that the enemy would quickly restore the fuses, and a second, heavier attack was made to try to remove the charges themselves. However, the enemy had by now moved up a tank to cover the work. We were mown down. Lieutenant Grayburn was killed- riddled with machine-gun fire. I escaped with flesh wounds in my shoulder and face”.’ (ibid)
Last Stand at the Bridge
‘The final stand was made, first in a warehouse, and then underneath the bridge, the total number still capable of fighting being about 110 men and five or six officers. The position was shelled by a German tank and armoured car, but they were unable to hit that part of the underside of the bridge where the defence was holding out...Every time a patrol went out it suffered casualties, and with each hour the situation became more and more hopeless. There was no ammunition, there had been no food for a long time, and hardly a man was but wounded.’ (‘By Air to Battle - The Official Account of the British Paratroops in World War II by Bob Caruthers refers)
The Paras at Arnhem Bridge never actually surrendered as a group, but concern for the wounded brought the fighting finally to an end: ‘As the last of our buildings were destroyed or set alight, attempts to re-occupy burned-out ruins failed as the ashes were too hot. John Frost, Doug Crawley, Father Egan, Pat Barnett and Digby Tatham-Warter were wounded and Freddie Gough took over command. By dusk Brigade HQ was being heavily shelled, the fires were out of control and the medical situation was getting pretty dire. In the basement of Brigade HQ we had by now nearly 300 wounded, many of them very seriously; they were packed like sardines and lying in the dark. They were now in danger of being burned alive as we had no water to tackle the fires eating into the house. We asked the Germans for a 2 hour truce and assistance to get the wounded out of the cellar who included a number of Germans. The Germans agreed but during the cease-fire they infiltrated the perimeter. The area round the bridge was ablaze and we no longer dominated it. We were down to around 100 unwounded and walking wounded, with about five rounds of ammunition per head. I formed the survivors into patrols of ten men and an officer, with orders to escape to the perimeter’ (Major T. Hibbert’s personal account refers).
Prisoner of War and Brummen truck massacre
Briggs was captured the following morning, as recorded in his diary ‘Captured Arnhem am 21 Sep (Thurs). Spent day in ruined church, & evening in Mission Hall. Moved early am.’ The next entry in his diary states ‘Arrived house outskirts Arnhem am 22 Sep. Left for Zutphen aft. 24 Sep. Massacre on way.’ The massacre referred to occurred at Brummen as a lorry of mostly officers, including Briggs and Majors Hibbert, Cotterell and Byng-Lewis, were being transported in the direction of Zutphen on the way to German Prison Camps. The German guards becoming irritated by the victory sign the prisoners were making in the direction of the civilians, stopped the lorry, with one of the guards walking to the rear of the vehicle to warn the captured soldiers that if they continued, they would be shot. The warning was ignored by the paratroopers. Just before the Brummen Post Office, as the column slowed down to take a sharp bend in the road, two British officers jumped from the lorry in an escape attempt. One of them, Major Dennis Mumford, was soon caught, but the other, Major Tony Hibbert, was successful. Panicking in response, one of the German guards emptied his Schmeisser magazine on the men, killing or mortally wounding six prisoners. Among the dead was Major Anthony Cotterell, a war correspondent who had been at the defence of the Bridge at Arnhem.
Briggs survived the incident and was sent to permanent camp Oflag VII-B (Eichstatt, Bavaria). He was later route-marched to Stalag VII- A at Moosburg, the camp being liberated by U.S. Forces on 29 April 1945. He maintained a record of all his movements in captivity in his diary:
‘Arrived house outskirts Arnhem am 22 Sep. Left for Zutphen aft. 24 Sep. Massacre on way. Arrived warehouse Zutphen pm 24 Sep. Left for Enschede am 25 Sep. Arrived warehouse Enschede pm 25 Sep. Left for Oberusel aft. 26 Sep. Journey down Rhine. Interrogation Dulag Luft Oberusel pm 27 Sep. Left for Wetzlar aft. 6 Oct. 9 1/2 days Solitary Arrived Transit Camp Wetzlar pm 6 Oct. Left for Limburg am 10 Oct. Arrived Transit Camp Limburg pm 10 Oct. Left for Diez pm. 16 Oct. Arrived Interrogation Centre (Army) Diez pm 16 Oct. Left for Limburg aft. 19 Oct. Solitary for 3 days. Lost Douglas. He rejoined at Hadamar 23 Oct.
Arrived Transit Camp Limburg aft. 19 Oct. Left for Hadamar aft. 20 Oct. Arrived Transit Camp Hadamar aft. 20 Oct. Left for Eichstatt aft. 21 Jan (3 months) Arrived Permanent Camp Eichstatt aft. 23 Jan. Left for Moosburg pm (2 3/4 months) March Route Arrived Permanent Camp Moosburg am 22 Apr. Liberated Apr. 29th 45. (32 weeks since drop).’
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