Croydon is today “celebrating” 17,000 casualties among British and allied troops in a key battle of World War II, according to a press release issued by the council’s insensitive and ham-fisted press department last night.
Lasting memorial: two British soldiers killed in Arnhem 80 years ago, but only recently identified, have been buried in Oosterbeek’s war cemetery this week with full military honours
The council has also inadvertently confirmed that there will be no ceremonies taking place in Croydon this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem. Not even one of their favoured, tokenistic flag raisings outside the Town Hall
Kola Agboola, the New Addington councillor who is this year’s holder of the keys to the Town Hall’s dressing-up box, together with his wife, Helen, have been flown out to Arnhem today. Fortunately for them, they are not in the back of a military glider nor being parachuted in to the Netherlands under enemy fire, as was the case 80 years ago for allied forces engaged in Operation Market Garden.
The deployment of Croydon’s civic mayor on a three-day trip to participate in solemn commemorations of the battle that took place in Arnhem, Croydon’s twin town, in September 1944 was seemingly not known to council officials when Inside Croydon questioned them about the matter earlier this week.
Further questions, about when the decision was taken to send ceremonial Mayor Agboola to this weekend’s commemorations, have also remained unanswered by council officials.
Tactless and insensitive: for the council’s propaganda bunker, Arnhem’s solemn commemorations are a cause to ‘celebrate’
One reader emailed iC to say: “Thank you for highlighting this issue.” Their father, they wrote, “was proud to belong to the Croydon-Arnhem link as he had served in Arnhem in the Royal Artillery just after the end of the war”.
And they added, “I am pleased to read that I am not the only person to remember this important anniversary in Croydon’s history. It seems to appear that it is no longer relevant to Croydon or worthy of commemoration.
“I wrote to Croydon Council asking if there were any plans to recognise this event.
“I did not get a reply.
“There were no events as far as I could research, or see when I visited Croydon last Saturday.
The council “ripping out the Arnhem Gallery, replacing it with a ‘Wreck’,” at the Fairfield Halls “…and removing the Arnhem memorials is such a lack of respect to those who fought for our freedom.
“No one there knew what I was talking about when I asked where the memorials had gone, which was the final insult. I told them I would never set foot in Fairfield Halls again, I was so disgusted.”
Somewhat belatedly, the council’s press office staff did manage to put out a press release last night under the tactless headline: “Croydon celebrates bond with twin town for 80th anniversary”.
The press release also included historical factual errors and contradictions, as well as an effective admission from (executive) Mayor Jason Perry that he had allowed Croydon’s Arnhem commemorations to lapse in his first two years in office. Or just forgotten about them altogether.
Better late than never: civic mayor Kola Agboola flew off to Arnhem today
Following Inside Croydon’s report earlier this week, Croydon’s Mayor announced that he has “reinstated” the borough’s connections with Arnhem.
“The visit this week by our civic mayor is important in forming a key element of civic pride, as it recognises the sacrifices of so many and the rebuilding of our links with Croydon’s twin town of Arnhem,” piss-poor Perry said.
“That is why I have made sure that these connections are reinstated and that the civic mayor will be in Arnhem this year to remember the 80th anniversary.”
As the 80th anniversary is actually taking place this week, Mayor Agboola is more likely attending, rather than remembering it.
The council press release also misleadingly claims that Croydon has been twinned with Arnhem only since 1985, an error of about 39 years from when the first twinning arrangements were made in 1946. The press office also has a problem with the spelling of the word “airbourne” [sic], a bit of an issue in respect of an announcement about a large military engagement involving 1st Airborne, the British and Polish paratroopers dropped in or around Arnhem.
Councillor Agboola will attend today’s commemoration service at Eusebius Church, followed by a silent walk through the Airborneplein Cemetery to lay a wreath. The council release states: “On Saturday, they will drive in convoy with [Arnhem’s] Mayor Marcouch and the King’s Commissioner to airbourne [sic] landing sites and commemorations. On Sunday, they will pay their respects at an Airbourne [sic] Memorial Service at Oosterbeek War Cemetery.”
After the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, Operation Market Garden was British General Montgomery’s bold scheme to seize strategically important bridges through almost 70 miles of low-lying Dutch lands and on towards the Rhine and Nazi Germany.
Key to this was the final bridge, at Arnhem, where British glider-borne troops and paratroops from Poland and Britain were sent on a mission to secure and hold the position for 24 hours until the heavy armour of XXX Corps could relieve them.
It all proved to be another British military misadventure, of course, with tragic outcomes for the troops thrust into the front line. The Allies held the bridge for three days and four nights, all to no avail.
Some 17,000 British, American, Polish and Canadian troops were casualties during the course of the week-long action.
Since the end of the war, the Battle of Arnhem has been marked by Dutch, British, American, Polish and, more recently, German veterans, with a range of activities, including an annual Airborne March, with more than 30,000 participants.
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