Driel, ‘Engineers monument‘

Location
Vogelenzangsestraat, 6665 LL Driel, Gelderland

Year of unveiling
1985

Designer
H. van de Brand

Commemorated group(s)
Allied Forces

Description
The ‘Engineers monument’ in Driel (municipality of Overbetuwe) consists of a granite (Bianco Sardo) memorial stone. On the stone two black granite memorial tablets are affixed. Two bronze emblems of the British and the Canadian engineers are attached to the left tablet. The right tablet contains an illustration.

Text on the monument
Inscription on the right tablet: ‘25 / 26 SEPT. 1944’.

Background
The ‘Engineers monument’ reminds the inhabitants of Driel to the British and Canadian engineers (also known as ‘Sappers’), who in the night of 25 to 26 September 1944 brought almost 2,400 British and Polish paratroopers to safety. Under constant fire of the occupational forces the soldiers were lead to the south of the Rhine in vulnerable canvas boats and motorboats.

During Operation Market Garden (a grand scale liberation offensive from 17 to 26 September 1944) the Allied Forces wanted to force through to Germany from Belgium by occupying bridges in the provinces of Noord-Brabant and Gelderland with the aid of paratroopers. During the Battle for Arnhem on 24 September 1944 the First Independent Polish Paratrooper Brigade, commanded by General S. Sosabowski, was dropped. Under heavy German fire they tried to cross the Rhine in rubber dinghies. They were sent to support the British bridge head around the Hartenstein villa, the headquarters of General Urquhart of the First British Airborne Division. In the night of 25 to 26 September their Dorsets covered the retreat of British paratroopers. Many soldiers were killed and wounded during the operation. When the Battle for Arnhem was lost, the advance was stopped. Parts of Noord-Brabant and Gelderland had however been liberated. From this area, ‘the Corridor’, the rest of Brabant was liberated in the months to follow. During Operation ‘Market Garden’ over 17,000 soldiers of the infantry and the paratroopers were killed, wounded or missing in action; a higher number than those who died in Normandy (D-Day).

Memorial services
The memorial service at the Driel war monument takes place on 21 September (to commemorate the Battle for Arnhem). Wreaths are laid. For more information, call +31(0)481 - 46 50 69.

The monument was unveiled on 15 September 1989. The monument is designed by H. van den Brand, a war veteran from New Guinea and a former member of the Marines from Arnhem who has a special interest in the history of the Battle of Arnhem. The illustration on the right memorial tablet was made by a Canadian Sapper when he was a prisoner of war.

More information
The monument is situated on the corner of the Vogelenzangstraat and the Drielse Rijndijk in Driel (municipality of Overbetuwe).

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