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'She's single and ready to mingle': Kirsty Gallacher 'splits from boxing pundit boyfriend Johnny Nelson after their romance fizzled out' I'm A Celebrity: David Ginola narrowly misses out on a place in the final as he becomes the EIGHTH star to be eliminatedīillie Eilish gets FLASHED by an elderly Kate McKinnon in hilarious Nextdoor sketch as she pulls double duty as host and musical guest on SNL 'I’m just grateful that I am still here today.'īillie Eilish is introduced to the stage by her PARENTS as she performs latest alt hit Happier Than Ever during first-ever Saturday Night Live hosting gig 'I have often wondered about the lives of the other German soldiers who are in the pictures but I guess I will never now what happened to them - they probably died. 'But I was lucky enough to survive, marry my beautiful wife and bring up three great kids - who have given me wonderful grandchildren. 'We were a great unit and people have often referred to us as heroes but unfortunately we also lost a lot of great men through out the war. I survived the war - we had some pretty difficult task to complete - it was a tough old job,' he said. He stayed in Germany until he was demobbed in 1946 and went back to England to marry his wife June in 1947, who sadly died 10 years ago at the age of 74.īut Arthur, a father of three, spent the rest of his life living in Kent working as a coal miner until he retired at the age of 60 and has modestly played down his achievements. His first taste of action was storming the beaches of Normandy on D-day at the age of just 20.
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The heavily fortified port was the vital Normandy terminal of PLUTO, the Pipe Line Under The Ocean, which pumped millions of gallons of fuel under the Channel to France.Īnd their capture of it from the crack German unit, the 352 Infantry Division, went down in the history books as 'the most spectacular of all commando exploits during the actual invasion'.Īrthur joined the war effort in 1944 after carrying out over two years of training with the Commandos. The population had been alerted in advance via a pamphlet drop, but a mistake meant bombs also fell on a town, killing about 200 civilians.ĭespite the attack he Germans stayed so on November 1 troops invaded and re-took the island in a fierce battle.Īrthur and his unit famously captured the strategic port of Port-en-Bessin, in Normandy France after slipping behind enemy lines on D-DAY and completing a 12-mile march through Nazi territory. To breach Walcheren's defence, rather than invade, they decided to bomb a sea dike, causing a 150 metre breach that flooded the island. In early September 1944 the city and its port were taken easily, but Walcheren was still occupied so they could not use the Scheldt river. To launch the final attack against Hitler's Third Reich, the Allies badly needed Antwerp to ensure they could bring in ships with equipment. In fact by the end of the war it became one of the most bombed parts of Europe.Īfter four years of occupation D-Day came on June 6 and the race to take Walcheren was on. Soon after the Dutch surrender in May 1940 the Germans took it and scarred its landscape with bunkers and guns, making it a constant target for British bombers. Its strategic position at the mouth of the river leading to Antwerp meant that Walcheren paid a heavy price in the Second World War. 'We were sweeping the island of Walcheren in Holland, which was riddled with bunkers. I still remember in detail the moment I found the camera. They give a glimpse of war that is rarely ever seen,' he said. Grandfather-of-six Arthur, who lives in Greenhill, Kent, said said he had decided to share the images publicly for the first time after a request from local historians. Other pictures show officers attending a military briefing and posing up against a wooden post. In another snap soldiers can be seen sprawled across a grassy dune draped over one another while laughing and joking. In one of the photos a German officer can be playing with his cute dachshund in a scene that could not be further away from the brutal war that was raging around him. The pictures show one unknown German relaxing on the beautiful sand-swept Dutch island prior to the allied invasion. Hero: Former Royal Marine Commando Arthur Thompson took a camera from a Nazi bunker and revealed its contents nearly 70 years laterĪged just 21 then, Mr Thompson took the camera from a German bunker and carried it with him around Europe until the war was over - and there was even enough film left for him to take some of his own pictures.Īs soon as he was back in Britain he took them to be developed - and assuming the film would only contain his snaps - he was amazed at what he found.