Lieutenant Bucknell's Airborne Recce Jeep ambushed north of Arnhem, Sept, 1944.

uss frolick · May 7, 2020

Lt. Bucknall was the first Recce officer to die during the September, 1944 Arnhem attack, and quite possibly, the first British Airborne officer to die on the ground. He and three men were unlucky victims of a German Ambush on Sunday, Day 1, September 17th, 1944. Leap-froging with jeeps of 9th Section, Lieutenant Bucknall's jeep was the first to run into SS Major Kraft's blocking line on the Duitsekampweg Road, the northernmost of three attack routes to Arnhem Bridge.

Here is a photo of Lieutenant Bucknall from the C Troop's group photo, from "Remember Arnhem". Notice how much taller he is than his fellow troopers:

0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

Here are a couple first hand accounts of Peter's last ride. Firstly, here is from from Trooper Arthur Barlow, normally the wireless operator in Bucknall's jeep, taken from "Arnhem 1944":

"We landed by parachute and were waiting for the jeeps. Lieutenant Bucknall was very impatient; he knew we should be first off. The second jeep was arrived first, but not Bucknall's. Most of the others were ready but Bucknall was very impatient; his language would not be printable. He was furious. So he took the second jeep, turning the driver out and taking the wheel himself, and telling me to stay behind and wait for Number 1 Jeep, which had the wireless. We were at least half an hour late. Bucknall set off, bumping along the tracks to Wolfheze, and went out of sight. It was four or five minutes later when the other jeep turned up and we followed, with Lance-Sargent McGregor in charge. The other sections followed us; they all assembled properly, and they moved off at the proper intervals, with in hand signaling distance from one another, But Lieutenant's jeep was five minutes ahead of us."

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McGregor's jeep was shot up too, and he killed as well. Sergeant Christie led the body recovery group afterwards. He recalled:

"I was in the leading jeep and I was never more scared of anything. I remembered that we drove slowly down the valley where we found one of the 8 Section jeeps. The only member of the group I recognized was Sergeant Tom McGregor, who was lying about five yards from the vehicle, with two bullet holes through his head and about seven in his chest. He still grasped his sten gun in the hip position with his left arm folded under him. We found Sargeant Stacey also dead, he had one bullet in the back and two in his stomach. By the pool of blood around him it was obvious he bled to death ..." They drove on, up the rise on the other side of the dip and found Lieutenant Bucknall's group. "They were laid in single file, about one yard between each man. None of them was wearing any equipment, nor had they any weapons. All had about ten bullet holes in the back or on the neck. We later found their equipment on the jeep. From this it was obvious that the germans had taken them prisoner and shot every one of the in cold blood. Lieutenant Bucknall had his face burned right off. I could recognize him by the blue polo necked sweater that he had been wearing and his identity discs."

I obviously have no Peter Bucknall head-sculpt, but I do have one that best conveys his strength and attitude, and that is one of Dragon Models best ones, ironically, a German, named "Ansgar". While he has a binocular case and a pistol, I have given him a rifle instead of a sten-gun, because it made him look more like a ordinary trooper than an officer. Likewise I have left off any rank insignia, also a common practice.

Behind him is the exact point in the road where the troop was ambushed. He stands on a German machine gun position, as seen today:

0-8 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

He stands in front of the Hotel Tafelberg, the site today of SS Major Kraft's headquarters:

0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

His radioman stands at the Duitsekampweg Road sign, one mile from the ambush point:

0-8 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr