2006 The Dutch Trail - Army Cadets
The Dutch Freedom Trail – June 2006
Extracts of the post exercise report written by Cadets from the Broomhill Detachment, W Coy, Northumbria Army Cadet Force.
DAY ONE - The bus arrived at Broomhill to pick us up, with kit packed onto the back seats, there wasn’t much room. Once loaded we headed for Cramlington, to be issued with tee shirts with our county badge on – with Dutch Freedom Trail underneath. We then packed all our kit, tents, sleeping bags, roll mats, and put the kit on the roof rack of the mini-bus. With the kit packed we set off to North Shields to catch the overnight ferry to Rotterdam. We boarded the ferry, found our accommodation, recc’d the ship, and readied ourselves to watch the England v Sweden match. No seats were available so we plonked down on the floor at the front next to a bunch of friendly Swedes. With no air conditioning on we were sweating like an English monkey in Africa.
DAY TWO - Woken at 0700 for breakfast, at 0930 we were docking and we headed down for the buses. Three never heard the call, they were too busy watching the boats (country lads), (probably not seen anything like it before). They eventually arrived to a round of applause. We now headed to Amsterdam with a stop to check the roof rack, only to be moved on by the police. A short stop in Amsterdam, mostly trying to find a parking place, before heading for the autobahn and Arnhem. We eventually arrived at the campsite at about 1730, after watching bits of tarpaulin flying off the roof rack, getting lost a number of times, and, more worrying, our CSgt forgetting we were in Europe and momentarily driving on the wrong side of the road!!! We set up our tents in the open garden of the hotel, and went for some dinner. After dinner we were given a presentation by the ELMS - a talk on Operation Market-Garden. Afterwards we sorted out our kit and hit the sack.
DAY THREE - We got up at 0645, and made sure we were the first Company into the washroom, as it would have been very busy after Reveille at 0700. After breakfast we sorted our kit, and climbed aboard WW2 vehicles for the journey to the Arnhem Bridge. We pulled up near the bridge at a monument where an artillery weapon was situated. A veteran of the ELMS gave us a talk on the bridge, and we then headed for the bridge itself to lay a wreath. From the bridge we walked to the war memorial cemetery for fallen soldiers of foreign nationality to Holland. We were encouraged to look around the cemetery to get some grasp of the numbers of soldiers that died around the Arnhem area. Chris found someone who could be related to him, also from Yorkshire. From the cemetery we headed to the Hertenstein Hotel at Oosterbeeck – now the location of the Airborne Forces Museum.
After lunch we headed off to Wageningen, along the original Pegasus escape routes. Along the way we had another talk from a veteran who was a child at the time. We now walked back to the hotel campsite where we were treated to a fantastic BBQ. After our scran, we watched a film called ‘Theirs is the Glory’ which was about the Arnhem attacks. After the film we hit the tents and went to sleep.
DAY FOUR – After getting up we stripped our tents down and packed them away. The whole camp site was clear before breakfast. Breakfast again consisted of .., sigh, ham and cheese. Getting sick of the sight of the stuff now. We again boarded the WW2 vehicles and were now taken to the centre of Wageningen. We went to the Hotel de Werald where the unconditional surrender of the 25th German Army was given to the CO of 1 Canadian Corps on the 05 May 1945. It was interesting to see the photos on the walls and a short video, and then to actually be in the same room.
After this we got on to the WW2 vehicles for the final time. We were taken to Gebrebbeberg National Monument where we laid another wreath. The cemetery was for the people of Holland. The Walk today was mostly along the top of a dyke. There were markers every 100m so it was easy to work out we were travelling at 100m per minute, equating to 6kph. Major Spence informed us we only had ‘twenty minutes left to walk before lunch’, this equated to 7km – you do the maths. At lunch you can probably guess what we had – yep, cheese and ham. After lunch (by the way, we’d already walked 18km out of the 20km we were supposed to be walking today), we headed off again along the dyke. After about 9km, we reached urbanisation again – the outskirts of a small town. Major Spence told us it was only ‘twenty minutes’ until we reached the campsite for the night. 5km later (perhaps further), we reached the farm, where the back field had been turned into a campsite. After inspecting our feet, we got cleaned up, and headed for a meal in the barn. The owner of the site arranged a Chinese feast. And what a feast! There was far too much to choose from. The owners’ two boys were pleased to have so many guests of our age. We gave them Regt sweat shirts. After a few cokes in the barn we headed off for bed.
DAY 5 – Today was meant to be the longest day for walking (although yesterday was a real nightmare distance). After packing our kit, we headed for breakfast. Yep – ham and cheese again. We walked past a house that still had support for Hitler painted on the side of the building. Because of a dangerous road we were ferried by vehicle a short distance, and then continued on dykes. After a few more hours walking we made it to the town of Hank, and within minutes we arrived at the camp site. Much larger, with a swimming lake. The dinner tonight was Spaghetti Bolognaise – not the best meal we had had all week, but beats cheese and ham. After playing sport for a while, it wasn’t long before we got our heads down.
DAY 6 – Woken at 0500 by some local drunken yobs who were shouting ‘English people this is your wake-up call’, and pulling the tent guide ropes. The staff were not impressed, and within seconds they were up and chased them off the site. They never bothered us again. All our kit was again packed before breakfast, and we went to the bar for breakfast; the worst by far, cheese and ham! Just before 0900, we headed towards a little harbour where we boarded a barge to Lage Zwalue. The boat trip headed along the River Amer, giving us a tour of the escaper crossing points. When we got to Lage Zwalue we went to the Line Crossers Memorial where Chris laid a wreath. This was now the end of the walk.
We then boarded the buses, and in convoy headed for home. We boarded the ferry just before the England-Equador match and promptly dropped our kit in the cabin, then resumed our place on the floor in front of the big screen. At 0930 we sailed up the River Tyne and docked. We then headed for Amble, put the tents out to air, were back home by 1100, and had the rest of the day off school to recover.
Overall, it was a really good trip, we learned a lot about Holland in WW2. Really interesting seeing the sights, hearing the stories, like how the Airborne Division fought for the Arnhem Bridge. The walk was quite challenging. It gives us quite a perspective of how easy we have it in this day and age. Not least because lots of the soldiers killed during the battles were only a few years older than us.