The Advance The SPs were alongside the Guards Armoured Division as the to Nijmegen spearhead in the punch through to relieve the Airborne on the Arnhem Bridge. As the Battery moved some distance up the road, the Germans moved in along the long narrow avenue of our columns. The Battery Troops were held up on their way to Nijmegen.34
After Eindhoven the Battery moved on to Grave, Neerbosch and Nijmegen. The Nijmegen bridge had already been taken by 82nd American Airborne. With the temporary German hold-up overcome, the Battery welcomed the new breakthrough. Troops were arriving at Nijmegen after performing several acts of bravery that were never mentioned outside the unit.
At that stage of the advance, the Battery was positioned for AA duties on the bridge area into Nijmegen. "We got within 10 miles of Arnhem after we went over the Nijmegan Bridge. At that stage we were still protecting the Guards Armoured Division. It was impossible to get to the Arnhem Bridge." Andy McGowan, 2004
The Road to "The road was narrow and built up on marshy ground. What was Arnhem happening was this, a tank would go forward on the road to Arnhem and the Germans would knock it out. The Allies would shunt the tank into the swamp and push the next tank forward, an impossible situation. If this had been any other country in the world, we would have punched through to the Arnhem Bridge, the terrain beat us. It was also a wet winter. If it had been a snowy winter with ice on the ground, the Allies might have got through to the Airborne." Andy McGowan, 2004
Willie Gamble never had the chance to rescue his brother. Sgt Jim Gamble, 1st Airborne, was trapped at Arnhem. Of the 10,000 troopers flown into Arnhem, he was one of the 2,000 survivors to make it back to Nijmegen.
The Nijmegen "The Battery troops were posted to gunpits at the Nijmegen Bridge Bridge area on September 17 1944. That was an easy date to remember because it was the day I met my future wife.
At the end of September we first heard the German jet aircraft. The British may have invented the jet engine but it was the Germans jet plane we saw in the air first. We could not touch these planes. With the piston engine planes all you had to do on hearing them approach was to close your eyes and turn your face in the general direction of the sound. This was 90% accurate for getting the gun on to a plane. With the jet aircraft this was impossible. All you heard was a "whooshing" well after the jet had passed your location. We had achieved air supremacy in Europe but it did not feel like it when the Me’s
