From the Seine crossings Frundsberg moved on to the Somme and took up positions between Bray and Peronne. After defensive fighting against the advancing British the division pulled back towards Cambrai and ultimately into Holland to a rest area between Arnhem and Nijmegan. It had been intended that Hohenstaufen be returned to Germany for a full refit, handing over its heavy equipment to Frundsberg to make up some of the latter’s combat losses but the arrival of the British 1st Airborne Division on 17 September quickly sent the division back into action. While Hohenstaufen was tasked with holding Arnhem town and blocking the advance of the British airborne troops from the west, Frundsberg was given the mission of defending the Waal Bridge at Nijmengen and blocking the Allied overland attack from the south.
In one incident a small group of Frundsbergers finds themselves engaged with British paratroopers in the opening stages of the Battle in the streets of Arnhem
Frundsberg Vehicals on Arnhem Bridge
“Four English paratroopers advanced against the railroad station at Oosterbeek/Laag to reconnoiter the situation. Nothing was to be seen of the Germans. They were sure of themselves. On a small hill near the railroad bridge the English patrol met curious civilians. They celebrated fraternization!.
At the same time four men from the Frundsberg Division slipped forward to the railroad embankment and, from 50 meters distance, observed the greeting between the English and the Dutch. The Four Germans belonged to a group of 13 stragglers that had reached Arnhem after an adventurous retreat through northern France. They were frightened out of their midday meal by the airborne landings, postponed their return to the old bunch and enrolled themselves in the developing German defensive effort. After receiving weapons at an issuing point, they headed of on a little bus, as ordered, to stop the British at Oosterbeek. On the way there they learned from the retreating garrison that Oosterbeek was already taken by the British.
The 13 Frundsbergers held a council of war and resolved, under the leadership of Sturmann Helmut Buttlar, to make war on their own. The major assignment was known: delay the English advance on Arnhem and the Rhine bridges. What did that leave for discussion! The group resolved that they would defend the railroad bridge.
And the action was on! Nine men stayed in the area of the railroad as security. Buttlar worked his way forward along the railroad with three other men and saw the greeting between the British and the Dutch. The Germans delayed opening fire, since they did not want the civilians to come to harm. Suddenly the Dutch spotted the German soldiers and ran, calling “The Moffen (Dutch Slang for “Jerries”) are coming” The Germans and British carefully worked toward each other, both calling on the others to surrender, but then the weapons did the talking at close range. Two English fell. Bursts from the British submachine guns whipped a hairs breadth above the four Germans lying in a shallow depression. Buttlar tossed two hand grenades and dashed behind a pile of railroad ties. Again he demanded of the English: “Hands Up!” and the answer was a burst of grazing submachine gun fire that struck down the German machine gunner. No one surrendered. Both of the remaining English fell.
Buttlar recognized what this meant. The Germans stormed along the railroad to the Oosterbeek/laag station, occupied it and, from there, controlled the approaches to the railroad bridge. As the points of Frost’s British Paratroop Battalion approached they were held off by fire from Buttlars group. Since they assumed stronger German forces, the English attack on a 400 meter front. A small group of courageous Frundsbergers held off an entire British Battalion which thus lost precious time, enabling the German forces at Arnhem time to prepare” (Tieke 236)
One of the most spectacular incidents at Arnhem Bridge involved a Hohenstaufen unit temporarily under the command of the Frundsberg Division. The armoured reconnaissance battalion SS-Panzer Aufklarungs Abteilung 9, under SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Grabner, had already crossed the Arnhem Bridge southwards when news of the Allied attacks arrived, and raced to secure the road through Nijmegen. On finding the defense of the Nijmegen Bridge well organizes, it had returned to Arnhem, and on 18 September it attempted to cross the bridge northwards again and seize the northern end, now held by LtCol John Frost’s 2nd Parachute Battalion. With a mixture of armoured cars, armoured personnel carriers and other light vehicles, Grabner rushed the bridge, only to be met with a hail of fire from the British paratroopers. Many light armored vehicles were knocked out by PIATS, and Grabner himself, leading from the front as always, was among the dead.
SS Troops ensconced on the southern bank and in brickworks near the southern end of the bridge were able to keep up suppressing fire on British movements on the northern bank. Cut off from reinforcements and running out of ammunition, the survivors of Frosts; few hundred paratroopers were forced to surrender on 21 September after three days and four nights of bitter fighting. Frundsberg units then moved to their allotted task of supporting the German defenses at Nijmegen, and later slowing the advance of the British XXX Corps armor after it cross the Waal. Considerable casualties were inflicted on the British during the stubborn German defensive fighting. Frundsberg’s Kampfgruppe Knaust and SS-Pz AA 10 stubbornly defended the town of Elst, the capture of this town would be the only hope for the British of rescuing the beleaguered 1st Airborne Division. British XXX Corps under General Horrocks viciously pounded the town and on September 25, British forces penetrated the first houses of the town. The Battle raged on the following day, the brave Frundsbergers defended the town house for house, forcing the British to pay dearly for every meter advanced. Based on the increasing pressure and the situation at Elst, General Bittrich ordered the withdrawal of Elst to a bridgehead prepared south of the Rhine. On September 25th, the order was made to send a unit composed of elements of the Dorsetshire Regiment and the Free Polish Brigade across the Rhine River in order to link up with the 1st Airborne Division at Oosterbeek. During the night, these units ferried across the river, however German forces on the north bank soon became well aware of the crossing. Kampfgruppe Harder and SS-Pz AA 10 opposed the crossing, inflicting Heavy casualties on the Poles. Out of 400 British and Poles, only a handful reached the north bank, wounded, fallen, or drowned. XXX Corps and the Polish Brigade were unable to reach the 1st Airborne Division. The remainder of the 1st Airborne Division was eventually forced to withdraw over the river by night, leaving their wounded to surrender on 29 September 1944.
(Oberscharführer HinterHoltz, Kommandeur Heinz Harmel, Unterscharführer Friedrich)
(Tieke 287)
