Can you ID/Date these never before seen WWII pictures? D-Day+ landings, gliders, Arnhem/Nijmegen bridges etc. Link and more info in comments. Thanks!

by walkonthebeach

32 pictures are here

What we know:

Photographer was "John Albert Barrett" and is is pictured alone in photo number 15. He was a "Royal Signal Operative" and the pictures are thought to be 1944. It's understood he defended the bridge at Arnhem.

He told his nephew: "...I should not have had the camera, let alone been taking pictures."

I'm thinking that the pictures are not from Market Garden, as there is no fighting and the graves have been dug etc. The allies reached the area by 1945, and the gliders could still have been there - if they are gliders related to Market Garden.

But Arnhem bridge was destroyed by USAF bombing in September 1944. Note that one of the pictures is the approach to Nijmegen Highway Bridge I think - scroll down here to "201" for a similar picture:

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Siegfried/Siegfried%20Line/siegfried-ch08.htm

Note that a few of the bridges related to Market Garden are similar and can be confusing.

Original Post Here

Original poster /u/Jtacker asked me to kindly post here to /r/askhistorians. And the mods said that would be OK :-)

Thanks!

Jeboy1815

The first pictures are from 'de waalbrug' located in Holland at the city of NIjmegen, i know this because i live there. The other pictures look like they are taken in the neighbourhood and reminds me other old pictures of the battle which are pictured in old books about Market garden.

walkonthebeach

You can zoom into the pictures, the have been scanned at high-res.

CWCG is down, so I can't look-up Major TPN Elliott.

On the front of the RHS glider, you can see whatever was growing in the field hanging from the opened nose of the glider. It would have picked that up as it ploughed (!) into the field on landing. It looks fresh. Plus you can see men standing around the glider towards the rear.

Jeboy1815

It is definitely the Waalbrug at Nijmegen

Forma313

It seems to be a mix of different locations and times.

The picture of the single grave shows the date 11-9-44 on the cross (before Market Garden). I don't think the pictures of the gliders were taken in the spring of '45, the crops look too tall for that. And i doubt the Germans would have left them lying there when the material could be put to good use.

The last few pictures look like they were taken by the sea, perhaps during the battle of the Scheldt (October/November '44)? The landscape, well mudflats, look right.

Brickie78

#23 looks like Cologne cathedral in the background...?