Sergeant Patrick J. Quinn
Unit : Intelligence Section, 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron
Army No. : 7014787
Patrick "Peter" Quinn was born in Athlone, Eire, on the 27th August 1914. He enlisted on the 26th April 1939, and had been serving with the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles in the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade when it was converted to the Airborne role in late 1941. During the following year he joined the 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Company, later renamed the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron, and served with them in North Africa and Italy. While in the former, in July 1943, he completed a parachute course at M'Saken. In September 1944, he participated in the Battle of Arnhem, and wrote the following brief report:
We dropped in two parties, about 139 Other Ranks and 21 Officers. Rendezvoused just south of railway (Gr: 643, 805). Took us quite a long time, about an hour, to unload the gliders and form up. They [the gliders] got in about 1.30, but we found that owing to the soft soil a lot of the undercarriages stuck in the ground and we had a lot of trouble getting our stuff out.
We formed up at 3 o'clock. Our idea was to push along the north side of the railway on to the main road. We got about as far as [unreadable].
Our jeeps are specially designed; we have three speeds, green = maximum, yellow = 20 m.p.h., red = 5 m.p.h.
We got up to Wolfhezen at approximately 3.45 and met the enemy. The first thing we heard was about six mortar bombs. That stopped us, and we got out of the jeeps. One section went into Wolfhezen itself, and two sections spread out on either side of the wood. We had a set-to, more noise than anything else, for the first half hour. Then the Germans put in an attack from the north-east, which we drove back very quickly. We used a Vickers very fast-firing gun. The Germans brought up some armoured cars. We engaged them, and one of them was knocked out, and the other went away. No casualties.
About 5.30 the rest of the battalion [possibly either the 1st Parachute Battalion or Glider Pilot Regiment] came up in support. We were withdrawn from the area by Division. We came down the West side of Wolfhezen about 6 o'clock, just as it was getting dusk.
In the meantime our C.O., Major Gough, had vanished. We were told we could contact him at Heelsum. We pushed down there with our support troops. We left one troop behind.
We ran into an S.S. lorry full of hay. One of our men looked into the lorry, and the German looked at him. They stayed like this for about five minutes!
A Dutch civilian came out of a house and told us in very good English that Heelsum was very strongly held by the enemy. We went back to the west of Wolfhezen. We were told to hold a perimeter west and north of Wolfhezen.
On Monday morning we were given a totally different road. At first light we moved down the track and reached the south road, well east of Heelsum at a place near Laag. The whole Squadron moved, less 'C' Troop, who were left behind, still north of Wolfhezen, coming under the control of Division.
We moved along the southern road right in to the northern half of Oosterbeek. We came under intense fire from the enemy. We had to get out because our sections are very small. We put in flank attacks from 7 a.m. to 12 noon.
We had orders to withdraw. We did so, leaving two troops, one of whom almost got to the road bridge.
My wireless worked until Thursday, with a range of 7 or 8 miles.
On Thursday there was a very strong attack from the Germans on the right flank. At least two companies strong. There were the usual cries. The attack was at about 3 o'clock. Small parties of German infantry came forward thinking we would all be dead, but vanished when we opened fire.
Food was very short. We could still get water from a well. We went four days without food.
On Friday the fun started. The Germans were picking off people every time we showed ourselves. They were firing from office windows fifty yards away.
We built a figure of a helmet with a pillow stuffed underneath it, and put it on a broom handle. That made an appearance every now and then. The next house down had one of our men in it watching for the sniper. When he appeared we shot him. One individual got more than 15. I got about 2 or 3. We were using Stens and Brens. The best way to fire a Sten is to fire individual shots.
On Saturday the Germans put a strong attack against [us with mortars], which whittled down our sections. A troop consisted of 16 men, a section of 4, another was only 2. The Troop strengths is usually about 40.
On Sunday the Germans put a very strong attack in the morning. One troop was driven out of the house it was in by the systematic destruction of the houses on either side, then their own house fell in. Our fellows knocked out a vehicle carrying a gun.
Our fellows hung a sheet out of a window. The Germans came forward, and we let them have it. We got about 20 or 30.
Some Germans were cooking in the next room, so the blokes knocked them on the head and ate the food.
On Monday evening we decided to pull out. We came to a house just north of the road and heard voices. We found they were some glider pilots.
We got word we were evacuating at 9.15, so we did. We were attacked three or four times on the way down to the river.
About 50 odd got back, and 7 officers.
END
In the book "Remember Arnhem" by John Fairley, Quinn wrote of the mortar bombardments during the withdrawal to the Rhine: "About 2130 hours a clatter of mortar bombs came down, lighting the woods and road with a queer blue light. The men scattered like demons in a pantomime. I was lifted off my feet with the blast of one bomb, and came to lying against the foot of a tree. There was no one about, so I pushed on quickly and eventually contacted two of my section. An MG was firing at us, so we dashed pretty fast across where there was a clearing on the right, until we came, more or less, under cover. Everything went all right then until we came to a T-junction. Here, we saw some figures standing in the darkness of some houses opposite and slightly to our left. Having our previous experience in our minds, we went as quickly as we could to the right, which proved to be the correct way." Quinn subsequently encountered Major Allsop, the Second-in-Command, who had been hit in the left leg by a mortar fragment just 200 yards short of the riverbank; Quinn helped him along and saw him into one of the boats.
After their return to the UK, Captain Geoffrey Costeloe, the Adjutant, recommended Quinn for the Military Medal but it was not awarded. The recommendation reads:
At Arnhem on Sunday 24th September 1944, the enemy with the help of an S.P. Gun broke through into a wood some 100 yards in front of his position. His position was then subjected to intensely accurate mortar fire. During the whole of this bombardment Sergeant Quinn continued to fire his Vickers Machine-Gun in to the front edge of the wood hence preventing the enemy from launching an attack on his position. Throughout the whole of the action this N.C.O. was always cheerful, calm and inspiring to his men. He was continuously moving among his men under fire keeping them cheerful and encouraging them.
Sergeant Quinn continued to serve with the Squadron after Arnhem and took part in the Liberation of Norway, from May to August 1945.
Thanks to Bob Hilton for this account.