Princess Anne pays tribute to fallen heroes on 80th anniversary of Battle of Arnhem | Royal | News

Princess Anne laid a wreath today, September 22, during a ceremony at the Oosterbeek War Cemetery in Arnhem, the Netherlands, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem.

The 74-year-old Princess Royal represented King Charles at several events held to mark the milestone this weekend.

Princess Anne was accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence as she delivered her brother's speech at a reception at the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek last night.

The former hotel served as the headquarters of the 1st British Airborne Division during the battle.

Anne said on behalf of the King: “Eighty years ago, this very weekend, Operation Market Garden took place in this region of the Netherlands.

“An ambitious joint operation by air and ground troops aimed at capturing key bridges and thus enabling the advance into Germany. Its ultimate goal was to end the war within a few months.

“The friendships forged between the Dutch and their liberators in those difficult days in September 1944 remained intact even after the war.

“I was able to experience this myself five years ago when I took part in the 75th anniversary commemorations as Colonel of the Parachute Regiment.”

Yesterday, around 700 paratroopers, including the Red Devils, the British Army's freefall parachute aerobatic team, took part in a jump to mark the 80th anniversary of Arnhem.

Paratroopers from eight NATO countries, including Britain, Spain and the United States, jumped from twelve different aircraft over the Ginkelheide, a nature reserve near the Dutch town of Ede.

The event was held to commemorate the Allied airborne troops who parachuted into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during a daring military offensive in 1944.

Eighty years ago, among those parachuted into the Netherlands for the Battle of Arnhem were 1,900 Allied airborne troops from the British 4th Parachute Brigade.

The attack plan called for the capture of key bridges by a combination of land forces (known as the “Garden”) and airborne troops (known as the “Market”).

However, the airborne troops landed about 15 kilometers from the bridge at Arnhem, thereby losing considerable ground, which gave the Nazis time to set up blockades and thus repel the attack.

A bloody battle was fought for nine grueling days until the order to retreat was given on September 25th.

More than 8,000 British soldiers were killed, missing or captured during this offensive. It remains one of the most tragic losses in British history.

Geoff Roberts, now 99, was one of the 35,000 men who took part in that attack, and his memory has remained with him since the tragic events of World War II.

After meeting Princess Anne, Private Roberts said his final wish was to be buried alongside his fallen comrades.

He said: “I can't think of a better place for my ashes than this, reunited with my comrades who never came home.”