ABSTRACT
The total force at the bridge thus numbered an estimated 740 men, equivalent to less than one and a half parachute battalions. Look-outs in the top rooms of the houses occupied by the airborne men drew to the attention of their officers the column of vehicles assembling on the bridge approach. That attack by the Germans over the bridge proved to be the high point of that first full day. After the attack was over, John Frost reviewed the situation of his force. Lance-Corporal James Lowrie, a signaller in a nearby building, was watching this action: Diagonally to people left was a large house adjacent to the bridge. The German officer was Standartenführer Heinz Harmel, commander of the 10th SS Panzer Division, whose zone of operations included the bridge and the main road down to Nijmegen. The Arnhem road bridge had been held until well after the expected relief time by the ground forces.
