“Theirs is the Glory- Men of Arnhem” was filmed between August and October of 1945 in the ruins of Arnhem and Oosterbeek. It is a remarkable docudrama in which the parts are played by 200 still serving veterans of the battle who were essentially reproducing the parts that they had played for real only a year previously, ably supported by a number of Dutch civilians, including the saintly Kate ter Horst. The filming was rendered hazardous by the large quantities of live ordnance in the location, and the men were reprising their parts adjacent to the still extant field graves of colleagues who had been killed in the battle. Indeed, I believe that the paras took part in the inauguration of the Oosterbeek Cemetery during the course of filming. The film is rendered particularly interesting for students of WW2 history by the authentic tactics, speech and equipment, including what must be the only dramatic film footage that has featured real Panther and Tiger tanks. As well as the wrecks still present on the location, which included a number of king Tigers and Ausf G Panthers, operating examples of early Tiger 1, Hetzer, SdKfz 250s, a King Tiger and at least two Type D Panthers were aquired from ordnance disposal sites. Real munitions were used in situations which a modern health and safety regime would never come close to permitting, with large numbers of soldiers operating in one scene in precarious proximity to the business end of a flamethrower. A sequence which I have rather badly grabbed and show below features a para firing a Piat at a (seemingly already burned out) Panther and setting it on fire, whilst using what I think is a knocked out King Tiger as a leaning post.
Some have criticised the film for being dated, and the acting poor. I would differ from this point of view. If some of the dialogue seems a little ‘stilted’, I strongly suspect that it very accurately reflects the somewhat laconic air of the British serving officer at the time. There is a marvellous range of English regional accents on display amongst the soldiers, and the sound and ‘feel’ of a battle seems very authentic. One is particularly struck by the consistency of the din of battle - there are no sequences where the firing is ‘faded’ into the background to lend dramatic weight to a section of dialogue, and it is easy to imagine how exhausting it must have been to be subjected to such constant racket. The final edit was augmented by footage taken during the battle, and the result is far more seemless than it would be if attempted today.
The film devoted itself purely to the fighting at Arnhem and its suburbs, and unlike the later ‘Bridge Too Far’ (which draws liberally from this film, with one or two sequences virtually transposed) does not look at the wider Market Garden operation. It might therefore understandably be of less interest to the larger American membership of the G. However, it is a unique and remarkable historical document, and far from a quaint little period piece, and it will be of interest to any student of WW2 history.