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A PIAT from Arnhem
Last weekend at the We Have Ways podcast’s history festival the Airborne Assault Museum brought along a very interesting piece of history - a PIAT with Arnhem provenance. The PIAT had allegedly been dropped during Operation Market Garden but not used.
At some point after the battle it was discovered by locals and handed into the Doorwerth Museum, west of Oosterbeek, and was subsequently gifted the the Airborne Assault Museum in the 1950s.
The PIAT is in great shape, albeit deactivated, and it was a pleasure to take a look at a weapon which could be traced back to the battle.
Bring Up The PIAT! – A Bridge Too Far Scene Analysis
A Bridge Too Far (1977) is undoubtedly a classic of the war film genre, massively ambitious it attempts to tell the story of Operation Market Garden. One of the key stories told is that of 2 PARA besieged in Arnhem awaiting relief from XXX Corps.
Perhaps one of the most enduring scenes sees Anthony Hopkins, portraying 2 PARA’s commanding officer Johnny Frost, spot an enemy tank approaching and bark the order: “Bring Up The PIAT!”
In this week’s Armourer’s Bench video I break down the scene and explore how accurate a representation of the PIAT it is. I also look at the PIAT scenes from another film that tells the story of the battle of Arnhem - Theirs Is The Glory (1946). Theirs Is The Glory was also the PIAT’s first onscreen appearance.
This year is the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem. Arnhem’s bridge is most famous for being ‘The Bridge Too Far’, which was at the centre of Cornelius Ryan’s book and the subsequent classic war film of the same name. Lets take a look at the history of the famous bridge.
The earliest bridge across the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine) through Arnhen was a pontoon bridge which had been in place since the 1600s. Various pontoon bridges occupied this location, just west of the Arnhem road bridge, through to World War Two.
The bridge which was so prominently fought over in September 1944, was the 'Rijnbrug’, construction of which began in 1932 and was completed in 1935. During the German invasion in May 1940, Dutch army engineers blew the bridge to slow the German advance. The Germans rebuilt the bridge during their occupation of the Netherlands, work only just being completed in the summer of 1944.
Arnhem’s road bridge was the last of a series of bridgeheads which needed to be captured in order for Operation Market Garden to be a success. British airborne troops failed to capture the bridge completely, but did secure the northern end. While fighting around the bridge was heavy the structure itself survived the battle, although its northern ramp was littered with the remnants of a destroyed SS Recce Battalion vehicles (see above).
After the battle the bridge only survived a matter of days when, on 7th October, B-26 Marauders of the USAAF’s 344th Bomb Group bomved the bridge, destroying its central span, in order to prevent German reinforcements crossing the river.
With the bridge destroyed when the Allies finally liberated Arnhem in April 1945, a new temporary Bailey Bridge was built next to the remains of the destroyed Rijnbrug.
The temporary Bailey Bridge was replaced when the newly rebuilt Rijnbrug reopened in 1948. With a similar arch but subtle differences from the original bridge. In 1977 the bridge was renamed in honour of Major General John Frost who had commanded the British troops who fought in Arnhem.
Even during times of stress the body’s normal functions still carried on, so we did what was necessary in flower pots, of which we had an abundance, and heaved them, grenade fashion, at Jerry. I often wondered if a hit was scored and what the receiver’s remarks and thoughts were!
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Gordon Johnston (Jock) Walker, one of three Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) cameramen at Arnhem, 1944 remembering some ad hoc chemical warfare that occurred during the fighting in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden.
Developed by Polish engineers in the late 1930s the Polsten became a cheaper and simpler alternative to the ubiquitous 20mm Oerlikon. The Poles managed to complete a prototype in 1939 just before Germany and the USSR invaded. They smuggled the prototype and designs out of occupied Poland to Britain where Polish, Czech and British engineers at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield completed the development of the weapon.
The Polsten was simpler and easier to manufacture with 119 parts compared to the Oerlikon’s 250. This also meant it was significantly cheaper to produce costing approximately £60 to £70 rather than the £350 it cost to manufacture an Oerlikon. Despite this huge saving the Polsten was a lighter weapon with slightly faster muzzle velocity and a higher effective ceiling with projectiles reaching up to 2,200m (7,200ft).
Diagrams of the Polsten from a 1944 manual showing the 30-round box magazine and 60-round drum magazine (source)
The Polsten was fully automatic, firing a 20mm high explosive shell which weighed 119g. The weapon fed from either a 30-round box magazine, which had two double stacks funneling into a single feed, or 60-round drum magazines commonly used by the Oerlikon. The Polsten did not have a locked breech and used an API blowback action rather than short recoil. It could achieve rates of fire up to 450 rounds per minute.
Britain manufactured both the Polsten and Oerlikon during the war with the John Inglis factory in Canada also producing Polstens. The guns were mounted in a variety of vehicles in a number of different mounts. A simple wheeled carriage for a single cannon was initially used which could be pulled by jeeps, trucks or horses. The Allies also developed double, triple
(see image #2)
and quad mounts to provide greater firepower. The British built over 100 British Centaur, AA tanks with dual cannon mounts to provide mobile anti-aircraft fire during Operation Overlord.
Centaur Anti-Aircraft Tank with two Polsten 20mm cannons (source)
British and Commonwealth forces deployed the Polsten across Europe seeing action in France, Holland, Italy and Germany. During Operation Market Garden gliders ferried single cannons for use by paratroops. During the D-Day landings the Royal Armoured Corps was equipped with specially built Centaur AA tanks mounted with Polstens. Trucks with quad mounts provided Anti-Aircraft cover for troops advancing into Germany. Polstens were also mounted on board naval vessels (see image #4) and saw use in the Far East.
Centurion MkI tank with an independently mounted Polsten in the turret (source)
While excellent AA guns Polstens could also be thrust into ground roles. At Arnhem the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron had two jeep-pulled Polstens which they used against German infantry and vehicles (see image #3). The Polsten remained in British service until the late 1950s. The Centurion MkI tank had a Polsten cannon mounted in its turret. This was later replaced by a medium machine gun because the 20mm shell was thought to be unnecessarily large for use against ground troops.
The Polsten proved to be a highly effective weapon during the war and the British were lucky its Polish designers were able to smuggle it out of occupied Poland.
A glider pilot of the British Army’s Glider Pilot Regiment firing an M1 Carbine from the first floor front balcony of the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek. The Battle of Arnhem during the Operation Market Garden saw men of the Glider Pilot Regiment fight alongside the glider-borne 1st Airlanding Brigade and 4 Brigades of paratroops. Once landed the glider pilots fought alongside the men they had carried in their aircraft. They were armed with a range of weapons including Sten guns and Rifle No.4s. The M1 Carbine was issued in limited numbers to specialist troops, including glider pilots, by the British.
Over 1,300 glider pilots landed in two waves during Market Garden, of these 229 were killed and 469 wounded or taken prisoner. 21 Glider Pilots fought at Arnhem Bridge with Colonel Frost’s 2nd Parachute Battalion.
70 Years ago today on the 24th March 1944, Operation VARSITY, the last major Allied airborne operation of World War Two was launched. VARSITY is widely recognised as the war’s most successful airborne drop. Carried out by 17,000 men of the XVIII Airborne Corps - made up of American, British and Canadian airborne troops, the objective was to seize and hold a strategic ground between the Rhine and Issel
rivers and establish bridgeheads for the ground forces to advance across. The men were dropped in a massive single lift (wave of transport aircraft) of 1,500 C-46 & C-47 transports and 1,300 gliders in conjunction with a amphibious assault across the Rhine by the 21st Army Group.
The operation was carefully planned and put into practice many of the lessons learnt from earlier
operations. The landings took place during the day, in a single lift with drop
zones located closely to the objectives and following the lessons learnt from MARKET GARDEN better air support was provided which prevented effective enemy counter-attacks.
Despite these efforts scattering and heavy losses were
suffered as the drop zones were badly obscured by smoke and ground fire was
intense. In contradiction to the recommendations
made following Operation HUSKY (the airborne debacle during the Invasion of Sicily) troops were dropped into stiff German opposition from elements of the 1st Fallschirm-Armee (German paratroop) which were expecting an airborne assault. All of the objectives had been taken within five and a half hours of the landing. However, while
the operation was successful 2,500 casualties were suffered by the XVIII Airborne Corps and three quarters
of the aircraft and gliders involved were damaged in an operation which
arguably did not require an airborne element.
Sources:
Airborne To Battle:
A History of Airborne Warfare, M. Tugwell, (1971) Sky
Men, R. Kershaw, (2010) Wings of War, P. Harclerode,(2005) Operation Varsity (source)
British paratroopers & Group Captain John Killick (far right) from the 89th Field Security Section with German prisoners outside the Dutch town of Arnhem (Arnhem). By Dutch photographer Sem Presser
Three of the men of the 89th FSS are seen here carrying the new STEN MkV, two men have the new bayonet fitted, during the battle for Arnhem Bridge. Operation Market Garden was one of the first operations the new STEN saw action. Paratroopers were issued with a new bandolier which could carry up to 7 of the STEN’s 32-round stick magazines. While the MkV was little more than a cosmetic upgrade of the earlier MkII it was a weapon well suited to the airborne role. However at Arnhem the British Paratroops were left unsupported for too long and were forced to take on the brunt of the German counter attack on the bridge and town. Lightly armed paratroopers with only small arms andPIAT anti-tank weapons stood little chance against heavy German Infantry supported by armour, even so they held out for 9 days.
The role of the Field Security Section was to gather intelligence in the field, to interrogate and search prisoner, to search captured enemy positions and to search out and arrest suspected collaborators on the ground. The FSS sections were deployed with every British force, from North Africa to Asia to France, Holland and Belgium in 1944. The 89th FSS jumped with the British 1st Airborne Division when they attacked the bridge at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, Once landed Captain Killick and his team were to capture Dutch collaborators but were unable to due to unexpected enemy resistance as such they joined the fighting with the rest of the division defending the perimeter around the bridge. Many of the FSS team were killed or captured when the perimeter collapsed and British forces in Arnhem surrendered on the 26th September.
In this short video made for the History Channel Sam Doty, Senior Education Officer of the National Army Museum, presents a favourite object from the museum’s Collection. It is the Denison Smock of a Parachute Regiment officer wounded and interned as a POW by the Germans during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
In late 1943 it was decided that an improved quality STEN was needed. The urgency and desperateness of Britain’s position had improved as the tide of the war had turned. The US had entered the war, the Axis wave had been turned back in both North Africa and in Russia and pressure on British Industry from the Blitz had eased.
The STEN had always been a stopgap measure, it had been designed as such. It had been a rough and ready mass produced weapon which had seen action in every corner of the globe. It had fought the Japanese in the jungles of the Far East, it had helped repulsed Rommel's Afrika Corps, it had armed thousands of partisans, resistance fighters, marquis and clandestine agents in occupied Europe. Of the 4.5 million STENs built during the war over 2 million of them were of the simplest patterns, the MkII& MkIII. The rough stamped finish had drawn jokes and criticism and earned it the nickname ‘the plumber’s abortion’. It was this reputation of poor quality that the Royal Small Arms Factory now sought to address with the refurbished MkV.
It benefited from a new stock, improved sights, a new enameled finish, front and rear pistol grips and a new bayonet fitting. It first saw action in significant numbers during Operation Market Garden during the British 1st Airborne Division's attack on Arnhem. It was issued to the majority of the parachute and glider borne British infantry, the photographs above show paratroops armed with the MkV moving through bombed out buildings in Arnhem and in defensive positions in front of Oosterbeek.
The MkV remained in service with the British Army after the end of the war, and saw action during the Malayan Emergency, the Suez Crisis and the increasing troubles in Northern Ireland well into the 1960s until its slow replacement by the Sterling L2 was completed.
A party of British paratroopers led Group Captain John Killick (just out of frame) of the 89th Field Security Section with German prisoners outside the Dutch town of Arnhem (Arnhem). By Dutch photographer Sem Presser
Three of the men of the patrol are seen here carrying the new STEN MkV and two men have the new bayonet fitted, during the battle for Arnhem Bridge. Operation Market Garden was one of the first operations the new STEN saw action. Paratroopers were issued with a new bandolier which could carry up to 7 of the STEN’s 32-round stick magazines. While the MkV was little more than a cosmetic upgrade of the earlier MkII it was a weapon well suited to the airborne role. However at Arnhem the British Paratroops were left unsupported for too long and were forced to take on the brunt of the German counter attack on the bridge and town. Lightly armed paratroopers with only small arms and PIAT anti-tank weapons stood little chance against heavy German Infantry supported by armour, even so they held out for 9 days.
Captain Killick leading his patrol through Arnhem (source)
The role of the Field Security Section was to gather intelligence in the field, to interrogate and search prisoner, to search captured enemy positions and to search out and arrest suspected collaborators on the ground. The FSS sections were deployed with every British force, from North Africa to Asia to France, Holland and Belgium in 1944. The 89th FSS jumped with the British 1st Airborne Division when they attacked the bridge at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden. Once landed Captain Killick and his team were to capture Dutch collaborators but were unable to due to unexpected enemy resistance and the scattering of their party.
The patrol led by Killick was in an effort to find two of his section who were missing. The patrol was unsuccessful and as such they joined the fighting with the rest of the division defending the perimeter around the bridge. Many of the FSS team were killed or captured when the perimeter holding the bridgehead collapsed on the 21st September. This is when Captain Killick was taken prisoner, handing over his MkV Sten and a Luger P08 pistol he had recovered from Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model’s head quarters at Arnhem’s Tafelberg Hotel. By the 26th September the remaining British airborne forces had withdrawn marking the end of Operation Market Garden.