I was 19 when thousands around me died in war – and I was captured as a POW. Now I’m going back for very special reason

HE was among 35,000 men who fought the Germans for 9 agelong days successful 1 of the bloodiest battles of World War Two.

But 80 years on, Geoff Roberts, present 99, was the lone 1 near to instrumentality to the Dutch metropolis of Arnhem.

In September 1944, British and US troops took portion successful the ­biggest airborne penetration ever, a daring onslaught 60 miles down force lines, successful a bid to extremity the planetary conflict.

But Operation Market Garden, focused connected the seizure of 3 cardinal Nazi-held bridges over the River Rhine, including 1 successful Arnhem, was a disaster.

Only 2,000 British troops returned — the remainder were killed oregon taken prisoner.

Yesterday, Private Roberts visited the cemetery wherever his 2 champion friends who mislaid their lives are buried successful a wooded glade filled with achromatic headstones.

Among implicit 1,500 graves, astir side-by-side prevarication Lance Corporal ­Leonard Plummer, 24, and 25-year-old Private Robert Brown, who ne'er got to travel location to his fiancée, Isa.

Pushed successful a wheelchair by his son-in-law, Geoff solemnly saluted their headstones, arsenic helium does each year.

And successful an exclusive interview, helium told the unthinkable communicative of however helium ­survived the bloody Battle of Arnhem successful a ­mission that was aboriginal graphically described successful the 1974 publication and 1977 film, A Bridge Too Far.

‘Bit of a ding-dong’

He besides said that, astatine the extremity of a agelong beingness good lived, helium is to beryllium buried successful the aforesaid perfectly tended plots arsenic his pals.

Close to tears, helium added: “I tin deliberation of nary amended spot for my ashes to beryllium than here, reunited with my mates who ne'er came home.”

Geoff has near precise instructions that his remains beryllium buried successful a tiny box, placed down the 2 headstones successful Row 25A astatine the Airborne War Cemetery successful Oosterbeek.

He has been backmost determination truthful galore times, helium counts this Dutch colony arsenic his 2nd home.

He and his ­daughters Nicola, 61, and Claire, 57, are ever welcomed arsenic friends.

Geoff, of Peterborough, Cambs, is expected to conscionable Princess Anne ­during his existent travel to Holland.

She is lasting successful for the King astatine a commemoration successful Oosterbeek Cemetery, wherever 1,700 UK servicemen lie.

In his heartfelt relationship of the wartime conflict, Geoff recalls however helium was a 19-year-old ­private successful the 7th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers when, connected the greeting of Sunday, September 17, 1944, helium near RAF Down ­Ampney successful Gloucester successful a 30-seater Horsa glider towed by an RAF plane.

On committee were 2 pilots and 28 troops, a handcart to transportation ammo and food, positive 2 bicycles.

Geoff was 1 of 765 men from the battalion who flew to Holland.

By the extremity of the Battle of Arnhem, 112 were dead, 76 were evacuated backmost to ­Britain and 577 reported missing.

Geoff remembered: “We didn’t adjacent cognize we were going to Holland.
“I was successful spot 28 and my mate Butch Craig, successful spot 30, got a load of shrapnel up done the bottommost of his spot and into his bum. That was erstwhile the warfare became real.

“A mates of the seats fell disconnected the broadside of the plane.”

Their landing tract astatine Wolfheze, six miles from Arnhem, was calm. Geoff recalled: “There wasn’t a ­German successful show erstwhile we landed — dormant quiet.

“But past it started getting a spot naughty.”

He and his comrades made their mode to adjacent Ginkel Heath, to unafraid the country for a 2nd question of Paras to onshore determination the next day.

At 6ft 3in, Geoff — nicknamed Lofty — and his conception had been fixed the occupation of protecting Sergeant George Barton, who was successful complaint of a six-pounder anti-tank gun.

Geoff said: “They were expected to person been determination astatine 10 o’clock connected the Monday but, due to the fact that of atrocious weather successful England, they didn’t get determination till 4 successful the afternoon.

"By that time, Jerry [the German forces] had woken up, and we had a spot of a ding-dong. It was my archetypal clip successful action.”

With the Paras safely landed, the men of the 7th Battalion were sent to Johanna Hoeve, a workplace wherever Polish allies were owed to onshore successful gliders connected September 19 with much-needed Jeeps, weapons and ammunition.

Geoff, with pals Leonard and ­Robert, huddled successful tiny trenches for protection.

He says: “That’s erstwhile the chaos started, due to the fact that the Germans, the Dutch and 156 Para Battalion were pulling backmost done us.

“Everybody’s shooting. I was successful 1 trench and Plummer and Brown were successful different with a Bren gun. Brown called out, ‘Plummer’s had it’.

"There was different burst of Bren occurrence and it went quiet, truthful helium ­obviously got it.

“From past on, it was bedlam.”

Battling for survival

By then, astir 500 of the 750 ­soldiers who had acceptable disconnected from England with Geoff had been killed oregon captured.

He and his comrades made their mode from the workplace towards the ­village of Oosterbeek, 3 miles from Arnhem, catnapping successful craters and trenches on the way.

By Tuesday evening, they arrived astatine the Hotel Dreyeroord — aka the White House — a ample gathering wherever they could safely excavation in.

Geoff said: “I don’t retrieve however we got there, but it’s lone fractional a mile, if that. It wasn’t operating arsenic a hotel, but a household were surviving there.

Our colonel, being a emblematic Englishman, knocked connected the doorway and asked, ‘Can we enactment immoderate trenches successful your ­garden?’. The antheral welcomed us.

“Two days later, the spot was a wreck. We were lone determination for 2 and a fractional days, but it felt much similar 2 and a fractional months.

“The Germans were trying to thrust america out, but the aged colonel decided to thrust them retired with the bayonet.”

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Payton- Reid had fought successful World War One.

Geoff said: “He was 1 of those blokes who believed that a bayonet could benignant everything, but a tank.

“I didn’t instrumentality portion successful the opening of the bayonet complaint — we came backmost and caught the process extremity of it.

“It was 1 of the astir frightening things I’ve ever been in. There were a batch of Germans.

“A batch of the time, adjacent though it was a bayonet charge, you inactive kept pulling the trigger, which was a spot unfair, I suppose, but it worked.

“We chased them retired of the White House, but we mislaid a batch of blokes — astir 12 oregon 14 — and Jerry indispensable person mislaid the aforesaid amount.”

Short of food, ammo and cigarettes, the troops had to trust for resupply connected RAF ­parachute drops, which often landed successful the incorrect place.

After leaving the White House, they yet reached Oosterbeek.

D Company Sergeant Major Jimmy Swanson had been changeable successful the limb by a sniper and Geoff helped him hobble to the ­regimental assistance station successful a bungalow.

Every country was crammed with the wounded, who were sharing the location with an unexploded shell.

Bodies were piled precocious successful the garden.

A Dutch household was surviving successful the cellar, including a pistillate who was heavy large with her archetypal child.

At 1 point, a medic asked Geoff: “Are you a stretcher bearer?”

He recalled: “I said, ‘No!’ and was told, ‘Well, you are now!’. ”

Killed a favored rabbit

Soldiers dug up veg from the ­garden and killed a favored rabbit to navigator for wounded comrades, sharing it with the household successful the ­cellar.

Plaster particulate caused by exploding bombs helped to thicken the crockery they made.

At the assistance post, Geoff was making a brew for his pal, Bill Nash, erstwhile a sniper’s slug went done the broadside of Bill’s face, divided his lingua and exited done his jaw. He survived.

On the nighttime of September 26, the 7th Battalion were connected standby to retreat to information implicit the River Rhine.

But Geoff said: “Our usher ne'er turned up. We don’t cognize whether helium got killed oregon lost.

“In the morning, a large German sergeant large and 2 squaddies with rifles walked in. In cleanable English helium said, ‘For you, the warfare is over’.

“Then helium hands implicit a packet of Woodbines — our ain cigarettes!”

Geoff was bundled into a Bren weapon bearer driven by the Germans and taken into Arnhem.

He said: “I was interrogated by an officer. We were lucky. Some chaps got captured by the SS and they didn’t bash truthful good.

“We were captured by blokes the aforesaid arsenic we were. They didn’t privation to beryllium determination immoderate more.”

Geoff and his ­comrades were marched for 7 hours to the Dutch metropolis of ­Zutphen, past herded connected to ­rail wagons to ­Stalag XIIA ­prisoner of warfare campy connected the German borderline astatine Limburg. From there, helium travelled for 3 days to Czechoslovakia.

In 2019, astatine a commemoration to people the 75th day of Arnhem — a conflict which saw 5 Victoria Crosses awarded, 4 of them ­posthumous — Prince Charles asked Geoff: “Did they instrumentality you determination ghastly?”

Geoff said: “I told him, ‘Yes, down a bloody ember mine’.”

In his wallet, Geoff inactive ­carries the metallic prisoner’s canine tag helium would usage to chopped up what small nutrient PoWs were given.

He said: “One day, we came backmost from enactment and the Germans had gone.”

The prisoners had been ­liberated by the Russians, who told them to hold for the US army to arrive.

But, aft a week of hanging around, Geoff and 2 pals stole immoderate bikes and headed westbound to ­freedom.

He said: “Anybody that got backmost was lucky, nary doubt.

“Because erstwhile you get dropped 60 miles beyond force lines, you’ve got to beryllium lucky, haven’t you?”

The radical of Arnhem and Oosterbeek were not truthful lucky.

In retaliation for helping the Allied troops connected the doomed mission, the locals were cleared retired and their homes destroyed.

It took Geoff 5 years to summon the courageousness to instrumentality to Arnhem, successful 1950. It was the archetypal clip helium got to spot the celebrated Bridge Too Far.

He said: “We weren’t definite what benignant of reception we would get due to the fact that we dropped retired of the sky and the spot was wrecked wrong a week.

“We failed, and they paid a dense terms for america trying to liberate them, but they’re inactive greeting america present and thanking us, aft each this time.”

Father-of-two Geoff, who became a creator and decorator aft the war, has returned to Arnhem astir years since and, successful 1984, helium yet met the ­pregnant pistillate from the assistance station with her present 40-year-old daughter.

Each year, Geoff besides visits the graves of Leonard and Robert.

Yesterday, helium laid a wreath astatine the Glider Pilots’ memorial astatine Wolfheze, conscionable yards from wherever helium landed successful 1944.

Later, aft laying crosses connected the graves of his fallen friends, helium handed retired cards and badges to section schoolchildren.

Like each superior pupils successful Holland, they look aft the graves of British soldiers who died for their country.

In a poignant exchange, Emily Bergman, 11, told Geoff: “Thank you for what you did for us, we emotion you.”