It's the 18th of September 1944.
They are a day late, but the men of the South Staffs grit their teeth
and link arms as their glider speeds towards the landing zone,
the Battle of Arnhem has finally started for them.
This is a vital objective of Operation Market Garden,
the daring operation to secure crossings over the Rhine
and propel the Allied advance into Germany.
Commanding B Company is 35-year-old battle hardened Major Robert Henry Cain.
After a 14-hour forced march from their landing zone,
they reach the outskirts of Arnhem, bleary eyed and exhausted.
The sight they see before them fills the men with dread and apprehension.
Ahead is Arnhem and it feels like the world is on fire.
The sky is glowing red with tracer fire,
and woodsmoke fills the air.
Embers from burning buildings burn tiny holes into the uniforms of the men from Company B
with smoke and haze drifting over the British positions.
Further ahead the once peaceful city of Arnhem is now a battlefield
and things are getting tough for the advanced units of the 1st Airborne Division,
led by Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost
especially when they come up against SS Panzer troops.
The German resistance is very fierce
and elements of the 1st Airborne are already cut off
and are at risk of being overrun.
Cain and the ‘South Staff’ are ordered to move out
and advance towards Arnhem Road Bridge
to reinforce Frost and take the fight to the Germans.
Getting as far as Arnhem City Museum
Cain and his men have their first encounter with German tanks and self-propelled guns.
The battle doesn’t go well.
They are outnumbered and outgunned and forced to retreat,
he now knows he will not reach Arnhem Bridge and reinforce Frost.
Frost and his men are now on their own and will have to fight for their own survival.
The German tanks were absolutely fearsome
and the only weapon the men had against them were PIATs –
a basic weapon in anti-armour warfare.
Lieutenant Georges Dupenois is the ‘PIAT man’
but he is low on ammo.
Cain and fellow Major Jock Buchanan scramble across the city streets strewn with rubble,
dodging enemy bullets to keep Georges supplied.
When the tanks get closer to Dupenois,
Cain orders four Bren machine gunners to concentrate their fire on the nearest one.
Machine gun fire is nothing to Tigers
but with gunners opening up on them with bullets ricocheting off the armour
their officers must quickly drop inside the turret and ‘button up’.
At that point Cain nods to Dupenois and he fires his PIAT
at a range of 100 yards.
But the 2.5 pound bombs bounce off the thick enemy armour,
and Company B can barely delay or halt the tanks,
let alone knock them out.
Eventually at 11:30am the PIAT has ran out of ammo
and the Company has to retreat.
From then on the German tanks reign freely over the area
and proceed to blow the sheltering soldiers out of the buildings they occupy.
Eventually the men are forced to retreat and Cain orders a withdrawal to Oosterbeek, west of Arnhem.
Oosterbeek is strategic and it is protected by the 1st Airlanding Light Infantry Regiment,
who are expecting an all out German offensive at any moment.
After a night of no sleep an exhausted Cain watches a StuG III and a Tiger tank take a slow right turn
and start rolling down the street towards the South Staffs position.
With his complete loathing and hatred of tanks Major Cain picks up his trusty PIAT
and goes out alone to deal with them.
He lies in a shallow shell hole, and as the ground starts to shake and rumble,
he frames the StuG’s low silhouette in the sights of his locked and loaded PIAT.
Cain keeps his nerve refusing to flee, flinch or fire,
that is until the tanks are close enough.
After what seems like an age the lead tank is only 20 yards away and Cain opens fire,
to his horror it bounces off the thick armor.
The StuG halts ominously.
There’s a short pause, then it turns to bear the gun right at Cain’s position.
There’s a flash and the corner of a house explodes behind the Major,
the rubble almost buries him.
Although wounded by machine gun bullets and falling masonry,
the enraged and furious Major continues firing until he scores several direct hits.
The StuG jerks to a halt.
Then starts to smoulder with the crew jumping out before the ammunition cooks off.
Now bleeding and in pain Cain turns towards the second threat – the Tiger.
He takes aim, one shot, reload.
Two shots, reload, three…
but his fourth round is faulty and explodes just in front of him.
The Major is blown off his feet
and his face is peppered with metal fragments and what’s worse –
he's gone blind.
He later said:
"Shouting like a hooligan I shouted to somebody to get onto the PIAT
because there was another tank behind.
I blubbered and yelled and used some very colourful language
as they dragged me off to the aid post."
With the 2nd tank closing the Light Artillery Regiment steps in with their guns
and the threat goes up in flames.
Now wounded, blind and shot in multiple places
Major Cain is treated for his wounds and luckily recovers his sight.
But against all medical advice and common sense
he refuses a morphine injection and rushes back to his position
deciding that he "wasn't wounded enough to stay where he was".
Over the following two days the Tiger Hunter and his trusty PIAT
is everywhere where danger threatens.
Moving amongst his men he encourages them by his fearless example to hold out.
He drives off three more tanks that are roaming the streets
and sends them into retreat.
During the battle Cain's eardrums burst from his constant bombardment on enemy armour,
but he continues to go out alone in search of targets –
being a practical man he merely rips up pieces of field dressing
and stuffs them into his bleeding ears.
The Germans stage a large counter attack on Oosterbeek,
the SS are in town with tanks, self-propelled guns
and infantry squads armed with flamethrowers
to do everything they can to push the British back against the Rhine.
Cain and his men have run out of ammo for their PIATs
and so his only option is to grab a mortar tube.
Improvising it to fire from the hip
he wonders about the place and fires mortars at the approaching tanks!
One at the time six tanks and an unconfirmed number of self-propelled guns
are disabled or destroyed by Cain.
After an engagement of 3 hours, his brilliant leadership ensured that the South Staffords give no ground
and drive the enemy off in complete disorder and they retreat traumatized.
Ultimately though Operation Market Garden is a failure
and the British troops begin to evacuate by crossing the Rhine.
Major Robert Henry Cain has one last concern:
he has to shave, determined to leave the battlefield looking like a British officer.
Drying himself on his filthy, blood-stained Denison smock,
Brigadier Hicks takes notice and comments:
“There’s one officer at least who’s shaved!”
To which Cain replies:
“I was well brought up, sir.”
When the crossing of the river starts,
the Major ensures that his men have made it to the other shore before departing himself.
When his turn arrives he realises there are no boats left.
Cain and several other soldiers swim into the Rhine to retrieve a damaged assault craft.
Using their rifle butts as paddles they are the last men to make it to safety.
In December of 1944 Major Robert Henry Cain was awarded the prestigious Victoria Cross
for the gallantry, courage and leadership displayed during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden.
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