Welcome one and all to the community as an alternate to a page on the usual social channels. This is just as much about you and your interest and links and dits as it is about the very well documented events that still fires the imagination and continues to inspire people to come and see for themselves. Please do introduce yourselves here, what your interest and connection is to the place. What you want to discover, learn, contribute if anything? It is currently free to join, either by my invitation or by your referral in to the group. Those of you who join as free members will retain your free membership - BUT in return please, this community is not supposed to be just me being 'stuck on send'. As a tongue-in-cheek condition of founding free membership, your contribution to discussion, spinning dits, bringing new information to light is a very valuable resource please. It will add considerable energy to the build and will give more people more reasons to interact. And I get bored of the sound of my own voice. I will at some point flick across to a paid group for new members to join, not least because I will by then have invested a fair bit of time and effort building out the content. I'll continue to develop out the content but to do so will require more trips and more time across there, at Kew National Archives etc. I'm keen to serve the community and keep these stories alive for the enjoyment, entertainment and inspiration and marvel of many generations to follow. I'll go first with the introductions: My own connection to the battle is through my maternal Grandfather, Lt Roderick Pearson and so much of my interest and content begins with him and his unit, the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment Royal Artillery. He and his Regiment, equipped with and firing 75mm Pack Howitzer shells ,were dug in around the Old Church in Lower Oosterbeek, in the South Eastern corner of what became the Airborne defensive Perimeter. This Sector saw a lot of Jerry attention SS Panzer tank and Self Propelled Gun attacks from the direction of Arnhem along the river road, all intending to drive a wedge between the units of 1 Airborne Div and the river, to deny them a possible route of escape.