Major James Anthony Hibbert
National Archives catalogue reference - WO 208/3325/19
Name: 795351 Major James Anthony Hibbert.
Unit: Headquarters, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division.
Captured: Arnhem, 21st September 1944.
Escaped: Brummen, 23rd September 1944.
Left: Eindhoven, 24th October 1944.
Arrived: Barkston Heath, 24th October 1944.
Date of Birth: 6th December 1917.
Army Service: Since January 1938.
Peacetime Profession: Regular Army.
Private Address: Brocas Farm, Lower Foyle, Near Alton, Hants.
1. CAPTURE.
I was dropped by parachute with my Brigade at about 1400 hours on 17 Sep 44, about 7 miles West of ARNHEM.
Bde. H.Q. arrived at ARNHEM bridge at 2100 hours on 17 Sep with the 2nd Para Bn., and held the bridge until 2200 hours on 20 Sep.
During the night 20-21 Sep the force on the bridge was split up in order to infiltrate the remainder of the Division in parties of ten.
I lay up in a coal shed about 30 yards North of the main bridge at ARNHEM on the morning of 21 Sep with Major COTTERILL, a war reporter, and we were discovered about 0900 hours by a German patrol which was searching the houses very thoroughly.
We were taken to a church about 200 yards away, where there were about 25 officers and about 200 O.R.s.
At 1800 hours we were moved about two miles E.N.E. and put in a large hall.
At 0300 hours (22 Sep) we were marched to the Divisional P/W cage of the S.S. Division HOHENSTAUFFEL, which was in a house called BENESITA at VELP (N.W. EUROPE, 1:250,000, Sheet 2A & 3A, E 77).
Up to this time we had received no food since our capture, and most of our people had had nothing to eat for five days. At 1800 hours that evening, after repeated protests from Major GOUGH, the S.B.O. of our party, we received one piece of bread and some meat paste per man.
2. ESCAPE.
On the morning of 23 Sep we were told to be ready to move, and names and addresses were taken. I managed to avoid giving mine. Lorries turned up and each took away a batch of about 30 men.
At 1730 hours the officers were ordered into a lorry. About 25 officers and six O.Rs, who were left over, got on board. There was one S.S. guard sitting on the front mudguard with a Schmeizer and two Luftwaffe guards sitting in the back, armed with rifles and pistols.
We discovered that when we gave the V sign to Dutch civilians, whom we passed, the Germans became infuriated and stopped the lorry to remonstrate with us.
The lorry was stopped several times for this purpose, and when we stopped at BRUMMEN (E 98), at about 1800 hours, on one of these occasions, I made a sign to Major MUNFORD, of the 1st Air Landing Light Regt., R.A., who nodded, indicating that he had understood my meaning.
I was standing next to one of the Luftwaffe guards, and when the lorry started to move again I placed one of my hands on the German's shoulder and the other on the side of the lorry, preparing to vault over the back. The Luftwaffe guard felt my hand on his shoulder and started to turn towards me shouting "Nein, Nein". I shouted to one of our own people next to him to keep him busy and then jumped. I could see that Major MUNFORD had also jumped and was just getting up from the ground. (Another German lorry was approaching from the opposite direction, and I heard later that Major MUNFORD was captured, uninjured, by a guard on this lorry.)
I ran round the back of our own lorry and got into some gardens on the right of the road. There was a great deal of shouting and shooting, but I was running too fast to see what was happening.
I heard later that the S.S. guard had shot his Schmeizer straight into the back of the lorry, killing two officers, severely wounding four, and lightly wounding another four. The first Dutch doctor who reported to attend the casualties had been turned away by the Germans, but the second doctor was allowed to attend them for a few minutes. I saw this doctor later, and he stated that all the casualties were in the lorry. There was, therefore, no question of an attempted escape on the part of the others. The doctor was only allowed to use rough dressings and morphia. The dead and wounded were piled into the lorry again, and driven off in the direction of ZUTPHEN (E 99). This doctor's daughter was an eye-witness to the shooting. The doctor also said that one of the German guards was shot and killed, but he had not seen in what circumstances.
I hid in a garden some 200 yards away, until 2200 hours that night (23 Sep). I then made my way N.W. for about three miles and lay up that night and the following day in a wood.
That evening (24 Sep) I knocked up a farmer and was put into touch with the underground movement at BRUMMEN. From this point my journey was arranged for me.
[Note: Major Hibbert reached the Allied lines on the 22nd October 1944 with Operation Pegasus; the completely successful evacuation of 138 evaders, mostly of the 1st Airborne Division, across the River Rhine. See Major Hibbert for more information.]