[Scott Bentley]

Taken from a Brigade Mess Dinner Speech a few years ago on the topic:

"Just over 60 years ago the largest Airborne Operation in history, “Market Garden” took place in Holland in an attempt to bring an early close to the World War 2. The goal of “Market Garden” was for three Airborne Divisions to seize three groups of bridges, the 101st at Eindhoven, 82nd at Nijmegen and the British 1st at Arnhem.
Simultaneously the British 30th Corps was to smash through the German front lines and link up with each of the bridges ending in Arnhem. As you know this did not go too well for the British 1st Airborne Division.
The British drop at Arnhem consisted of 10,000 1st Airborne Troops. Unlike the two American Drops to the south, the 1st Airborne encountered some serious setbacks ranging from improper functioning communications gear to being dropped some 10kms from their objectives. To further hamper their operation, battle hardened German Troops from the 9th SS Panzer Division had coincidently been sent to Arnhem to regroup a few weeks earlier.
After putting up an incredible seven-day fight against German Tanks with no effective resupply, the British 1st Airborne Division was totally exhausted and 30 Corps was still too far away to relieve them. Plans were soon drafted to prepare an evacuation effort named Operation Berlin. In the morning of Sept 25th 1944, the order came down from General Urqhart: “Operation Berlin must happen tonight”.
23 Field Company RCE was then dispatched to evacuate the remaining members of the British 1st Airborne Division.
When Major M.L. Tucker (the commanding officer of 23 Field Coy.) arrived at an O-Group, he was assigned a sector and told to bring out as many survivors as he could. No one could say how many survivors there might be and there was no information available on the enemy situation or the crossing sites.
20 and 23 Field Companies with their Evinrude powered wooden Storm Boats would be assisted by the British 260 Wessex Fd Coy who were equipped with collapsible canvas paddle type Assault Boats which were described as being “Really quite useless”.
For 23 Field Company, the task of moving 14 x 20' long Storm Boats 500 yards and up over two 18' high clay dykes in the rain and under German Shelling was only the beginning.
The first boat to arrive on the far side was one of the small assault craft of the British 260 Wessex Field Company. The current in the flooded river was very strong and the British Sappers had to approach diagonally while paddling furiously. On the return trip, the passengers had to help out or risk being swept away.
The rescue of large numbers of men depended solely upon the Canadian Sappers, but the first boat they launched sank after being badly holed by Machine Gun fire. The second boat, captained by Lieutenant JR. Martin, set off across the river to determine the situation and start the evacuation. Witnesses reported that a direct mortar hit caused it to break apart in mid-river. None of the crew survived. Still, 23 Field Company pressed on.
To Quote Major Tucker the Commanding Officer of 23 Field Company:
“The night was intensely dark, but fires started by our bombers in the afternoon and the numerous flares sent up by the enemy must have revealed a great deal of our movement to him. There was a great deal of enemy fire during the night. Machine-guns set on fixed lines swept the river and beaches on both sides.... Mortar and 88-mm fire fell everywhere.”
He goes on to say:
“It was impossible to regulate the number of passengers carried in boats at times. Men panicked and stormed onto the boats, in some cases capsizing them. In many cases, they had to be beaten back or threatened with shooting to avoid having the boats swamped. “With the approach of dawn, this condition became worse. “They were afraid that daylight would force us to cease our ferrying before they could be rescued. A corporal operating a boat which was leaking badly decided he could make one more trip and bring off a few men before it went down. It sunk as it approached the south shore, but fortunately the water was shallow and they were able to wade ashore safely.”
It is estimated that the storm-boat crews of 23 Field Company with an average load of 16 passengers brought 150 boatloads back. Thus, of the approximately 2,600 British Para’s who were rescued, 2,400 to 2,500 troops were brought across the Neider Rhine River by 23 Field Company alone.
The cost to 23 Field Company was by no means light. Of the 50 odd men directly involved with the evacuation that bone chilling night, 6 were killed or missing in action, and 5 were seriously wounded.
Lt Russell J. Kennedy, resident of Kingston Ontario was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery and actions as the Troop Commander on site during the Arnhem operations. Also awarded, was the DSO to Major Tucker and Military Medals to Spr’s Thicke, Lebouthiere and McCready.
It was these actions of the Sappers from 23 Field Company that laid the foundation for 23 Field Squadron and 2 Combat Engineer Regiment. If the Sappers of 2 CER are ever called to do so again, they will be there."