A Second World War British Paratrooper Helmet, “2 Para-1944Õ, the shell retaining much of i

A Second World War British Paratrooper Helmet, “2 Para-1944Õ, the shell retaining much of its green paint finish with a painted regimental divisional flash, and covered with helmet net and sacking camouflage, original padded lining, the leather brow band bearing maker’s mark “BMBÕ dated 1944, size 7 3/8, and in ink “SP CoyÕ, “2 ParaÕ, with webbing straps and leather chin piece. 2 Para Arnhem Bridge 1944 - Operation Market Garden. Having parachuted nine miles to the west of Arnhem during the early afternoon of the 17th September 1944, 2 Para reinforced by elements from the 1st Parachute Brigade reached the road bridge at dusk. German guards were surprised and overwhelmed at the north end of the bridge but an attack by A company to capture the opposite bank was repulsed. Lt Col Frost commanding 2 Para established a tight perimeter in houses overlooking the northern bridge exit. On the morning of the 18th an attempt by the Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion of the 9th SS Hohenstaufen Division to rush the bridge, was shot to pieces on the exit ramp, blocking the road. Further Panzer and infantry attacks from the factory district to the east and from the wider road approches from the north, which were driven home by the Kampfgruppen Brinkman and Knaust, were also re-buffed. An attack by 3 and 1 Para along the lower road and 11 Para and 2nd South Staffs on the high road was blocked by the Germans during the night of the 18th/19th, they had fought their way to within 900 yards of Frost’s beleaguered positions but suffered such heavy casualties they were forced to withdraw to Oosterbeek, 2 Para were now completely cut off. Over the next few days the Germans began to systematically destroy houses with armour and artillery to gain entry and to burn the remaining paratroopers out. Some of the fiercest fighting of the war raged around the bridge, Frost was wounded and by the 20th was packed alongside 200 of his fellow soldiers, sheltering in the cellar beneath his HQ. Men of the Paratroop Regiment re-occupied the burnt out buildings, before the Germans could secure them, more willing and more prepared to fight amid red hot rubble, attacking SS soldiers told of their men being attacked by paratroopers armed only with knives because they had run out of ammunition. The 1st Airborne Division had been asked to hold the bridge at Arnhem for 48 hours before being relieved by the approaching XXX Corps, fighting up the “airborne corridorÕ laid down by the American airborne divisions. Frost’s battalion group had held for three days and four nights.