Godfrey Yardley

20 year-old Lance Corporal Godfrey Yardley served in the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. This unit of approximately 800 men was part of British 6th Airborne Division. On March 24th, 1945, the battalion was to land in 66 gliders near the Issel River north of Hamminkeln railway station. Each British "Horsa" glider had a capacity to carry 25 soldiers, which was the equivalent of a platoon. Flying at the head of the formation Yardley's aircraft was one of the first to reach the landing zone. His battalion would suffer heavy losses during the airborne operation – 104 men from the unit were killed. Today, a memorial stone on Güterstrasse at the Hamminkeln railway station commemorates the victims.

Ernest John Rooke-Matthews

Serving as a Private in the 9. Parachute Battalion of British 6th Airborne Division, Rooke-Matthews (1924-2009) was one of about 1800 paratroopers who jumped on DZ A at Bergerfurth on March 24th, 1945.

John A. Clancy

This narrative, written in 1945, is an appendix enclosed in the war diary of 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Captain John A. Clancy (1918-2008) served in that unit and was captured on March 24th after landing far off his battalions drop zone. He describes his experience as a POW in German custody, including a forced march of thousands of POW from Fallingbostel POW camp (StaLag XIB) in the direction of Lüneburg. He and two others managed to escape on April 15th, 1945 and made it to the British lines. His observations are telling of the overall situation in Germany at that stage of the war and of the attitude of the Germans towards Allied prisoners.

Reinhold Peters

The then ten-year-old witnessed the American advance in the Hünxe area. In front of his parents' house on Bergschlagweg, he witnessed an argument between German soldiers that ended fatally. The situation was captured by an American army photographer at the time. In an audio recording from 2006, Reinhold Peters recounts what happened before the photographer took the picture. Reinhold Peters died in 2014; he was an honorary mayor of Hünxe for many years.

John G. Kormann

As an enlisted man he served in the 517th Airborne Signal Company of US 17th Airborne Division. John G. Kormann describes what was on his mind on the day before Operation Varsity and how he had to take a crucial decision shortly after landing in glider near Hamminkeln on March 24th, 1945.

Arnold L. Holt

Serving as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Air Forces he co-piloted an American Waco glider and landed near Hamminkeln. Arnold L. Holt saw his comrades being killed and was hit by a shell fragment. A German family initially helped him before US Army medics were able to evacuate him to a field hospital.

Magda Dresen

As an 8 year-old she made the acquaintance of German soldiers who were billeted in her parents' house. Magda Dresen also describes her first encounters with US paratroopers who had landed on drop zone “W” at Flüren on March 24th, 1945.

Klara Kempkes

Klara Kempkes (née Brömmling) remembers how Allied airborne troops landed near Hamminkeln. On the orders of British soldiers, she and other villagers were herded into the Catholic church in Hamminkeln. Confined to the building for two days, they had to endure the shelling that was directed at Hamminkeln by German artillery.

Josef Becker

As a 15-year-old, Josef Becker witnessed the heavy fighting in Bienen that took place from March 24th, 1945. Crowded into the basement of his parents' house he, his family and many neighbours sought shelter from Allied shelling. After the battle had ended, he realized that his village had been largely destroyed.

Maria Tepahs

On March 24th, 1945, Maria Tepahs, along with other villagers, found refuge in the basement of her parents' house during the battle for Bienen and witnessed German soldiers being wounded and killed.

Hans Heßmer

He served as a sergeant in a German parachute division and his unit was ordered to defend the village of Bienen. In the course of the battle, Hans Heßmer was wounded on March 25th, 1945, and taken prisoner.

Willi Schlaghecken

At the age of nine, Willi Schlaghecken witnessed his parents' house in Bienen being hit several times by Allied shelling. His mother, grandfather, and one of his brothers were seriously injured.

David Dickson

David Dickson served in the Canadian Army in 1945 as a major and company CO. During his unit's attack on the village of Bienen on March 25, 1945, he was hit by a bullet and narrowly escaped death.

John Harold Jenkins

As a Staff Sergeant in the Glider Pilot Regiment he piloted a Horsa glider and landed near Hamminkeln. He and several of his comrades were ordered to round up and guard the German civilians in the local Protestant church.

Oskar Treutlein

Ten year-old Oskar Treutlein witnessed British airborne units landing near Hamminkeln. He and his mother initially had lived with relatives in Wesel. After the nearly complete destruction of the city in February 1945, they all found accommodation on a farm near Hamminkeln. When British soldiers captured the village on March 24th, 1945, his family and other civilians were marched to the local Protestant church and placed under guard. They experienced dramatic hours when the Germans shelled the church, killing an injuring several civilians.