Gallagher - With Recce at Arnhem : the recollections of Trooper Des Evans - a 1st Airborne Division Veteran

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Barnsley
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Copyright Mike Gallagher 2015

ISBN: 978 1 47384 363 9
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PRC ISBN: 978 1 47386 915 8

The right of Mike Gallagher to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

List of Plates

Introduction to With Recce at Arnhem

W ith 2014 marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem/Oosterbeek that magnificent yet tragic enterprise to capture the road bridge over the Rhine in September 1944, it seems opportune to offer those interested in studying the battle a personal account of that battle which has never before been read in its entirety. Much has already been written on the subject, from individual participant accounts of the battle, to grand overviews of both the strategic and operational consequences of the engagement and its wider impact on the Allied offensive in the west. It is not my intention to provide yet another overview of the Battle of Arnhem/Oosterbeek, for the reader unfamiliar with it and who seeks to discover more I would direct their reading to Martin Middlebrooks seminal work Arnhem The Airborne Battle, Robert Jacksons Arnhem The Battle Remembered, and John Fairleys Remember Arnhem, all of which provide a good background to the activities at Arnhem/Oosterbeek around which this account is based. Should the reader wish to visit the battlefield, I would further recommend Frank Steers Arnhem The Landing Grounds, published by Pen and Sword.

This is the account of an ordinary man if a participant and survivor of that epic battle can be deemed ordinary a Trooper in the 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron. He wrote his account like many veterans of the battle long after the war whilst in retirement. In fact he did not begin to commit his account to paper until after his first visit to Arnhem since the battle, in 1984, forty years later. The very act of writing it down was a painful yet cathartic experience as he had spoken little of his experiences to anyone before 1984. Despite the intervening years, his incredible powers of recollection and detail are evident throughout. This account or odyssey begins with his return to Arnhem in 1984 and then takes us on his journey of joining Recce, parachute training, Arnhem and finally his captivity and eventual escape from captivity.

Like many young men in 1944 Desmond Fredrick Charles Evans came from humble origins. He was brought up in pre-war Walton, Liverpool by a hard-working family. His mother Emma sewed for a living whilst his father Fredrick (ex Royal Navy and the winner of a Mention in Despatches at Jutland having dragged a wounded comrade from a burning deck) worked initially selling insurance door to door and latterly for Vernons Pools. He was the middle of three children he had an elder sister Beryl and a younger brother Walter or Wally. As a high-spirited and somewhat rebellious youngster, Desmond had brushed up against authority which had lead to a summons before the Magistrate and a fine at 11 years old and later a spell in Borstal (an experience he was never to forget). Hed left school at 14 years without qualifications to work in one of the many pre-war labour schemes designed to ensure the youth of the day were properly employed. That work was labouring on a farm near Ormskirk in Lancashire. Although Des had no formal qualifications or ever undertook any further education post war, he wrote his account with a fluent and engaging hand; he was selftaught and could turn his hand to most things. He had a wealth of life experiences and that ultimate gift common sense. He was able to hold conversations and correspond with former generals, private soldiers, renowned authors and military historians with equal ease and finesse; either party would be captivated by his word craft and ability to communicate.

When war came Des was considered to be in a Reserved Occupation; he was thus prevented from initially enlisting. However, eager to do his bit he joined the fledgling Home Guard. Repeated efforts to enlist came to naught, so eventually being an enterprising chap and realizing the problem was the reserved occupation he absconded from his new employer (a farm in Derbyshire) made his way to the recruiting centre in Derby, told the Recruiting Staff he was unemployed and he was in! He was sent to Richmond and the Depot of the Green Howards. He was a natural soldier, who enjoyed soldiering; as a consequence he was retained at the Depot as part of a Demonstration Squad for new recruits. Keen to be in the war and not sitting it out, he volunteered for the newly created Reconnaissance Corps.

Des completed his Corps training, and having learned to ride a motorcycle he was posted to North Africa as a Despatch Rider. After the Afrika Corps defeat in North Africa in 1943 and his many adventures in the desert his unit took part in the operations in Sicily and Italy, following the landings there. It was during that bitterly cold winter of 1943/44 amongst the hills of southern Italy, that he contracted pneumonia. Des was evacuated sick back to England and after recovering was sent to convalesce at Middleton Towers Camp near Morecambe in Lancashire. When he had recovered fully he found himself without a parent unit (his was still overseas), and on discovering that the 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron needed reinforcements having returned from the Mediterranean theatre, he volunteered for Airborne Forces, was accepted, attended selection and training at Hardwick Hall, Parachute Training at Ringway and was posted to Reserve Troop at Ruskington in Lincolnshire. It was by a mere twist of fate that Des was even at the legendary battle of Arnhem/Oosterbeek: a comrade injured in an impromptu football kick about, meant he was selected (or rather detailed) to take the mans place. As such he was allocated as a replacement to C Troop 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron.

After his repatriation from PoW Camp in April 1945, he returned to his home town of Liverpool on leave. He met his first wife; however it wasnt to be a happy match and perhaps realizing there was no future in the marriage, he opted to continue soldiering.

He served in Trieste, Palestine, Germany, the UK and latterly Egypt on the Suez Canal when he was re-mobilized on the Z Reserve for Korea. He finally left the Regular Army in 1954 with the rank of sergeant.

He submitted his account to Martin Middlebrook on request (veterans accounts were being sought), prior to his books release in 1994. Although acknowledged in the book, none of Dess account was used in Arnhem The Airborne Battle