John Frost

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John Frost during World War II

John Dutton "Johnny" Frost (born December 31, 1912 in Pune , India , † May 21, 1993 in West Sussex , England ) was a British major general who became famous through Operation Market Garden .

Life

Before World War II

Frost spent the first few years of his life in India before moving to the United Kingdom with his parents in 1914 . His father fought in France during World War I , where he received the Military Cross . Thereafter, his father was transferred to Mesopotamia , whereupon Frost returned to India with the rest of his family and learned Arabic there . He returned to the United Kingdom in 1921 and attended a school in Sandhurst . He was stationed in Iraq in 1938 and still served there when World War II began.

Second World War

He was asked by the Department of Defense if he would like to join the newly formed Special Air Service . Although he hardly knew what the SAS was, he accepted the offer and joined the SAS. He fought in Tunisia , Sicily and Italy . Frost also distinguished himself in Operation Biting (surprise attack on Bruneval on the French coast), the first major British paratrooper deployment , in which he led the C Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Paratrooper Regiment as a major .

During Operation Market Garden , he served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the British 1st Airborne Division . As the commander of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, he was under 740 lightly armed men who had the task of taking the bridge over the Lower Rhine in Arnhem and holding it until the tanks of the XXX advancing from the south . Corps reached Arnhem. After landing on September 17, 1944 near Wolfheeze , about ten kilometers northwest of the bridge, Frost and his men marched towards Arnhem without waiting for further reinforcements. Since the British hardly expected German resistance, they were surprised by the combat strength of the German units. The battalion was able to take the northern side of the bridge and defend it for a while. Frost's friend and deputy Major Wallis died in the turmoil caused by friendly fire . Frost replaced him with Allison D. Tatham-Warter . Frost and his men were overpowered and captured by German units after four days of fighting. He was held as a prisoner of war in Spangenberg near Kassel and later in a hospital in Obermassfeldt . When the area was captured by US troops in March 1945, it was liberated.

post war period

The John Frost Bridge over the Rhine near Arnhem

Frost met Jean MacGregor Lyle, his future wife, who drove tea carts past the 1st Airborne Division, in the Middle East. The two married on Frost's 35th birthday, December 31, 1947. They later had a son and a daughter together. When Frost retired from the Army in 1968, he was a major general honored with the Order of the Bath , Distinguished Service Order, and the Military Cross .

Frost and his wife moved to a farm in Liphook , Hampshire in the 1970s to raise cattle for slaughter. Initially the farm was in disrepair, but John and Jean restored it and were able to run the farm well. Frost headed a career in local politics with his old friend Freddie Gough and became deputy governor of West Sussex in 1982 .

His role during Operation Market Garden was the best-selling A Bridge Too Far from Cornelius Ryan noted that with Anthony Hopkins as John Frost filmed was. Frost took part in the shooting of the film in 1976 as he was in charge of the Arnhem scenes as a military advisor. Frost regularly visited the memorial to the Battle of Arnhem in the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek . Today his hunting horn , with which he used to gather his men, can also be viewed here. On September 16, 1978, the Rhine Bridge near Arnhem was renamed the John Frost Bridge in his honor. Frost himself wrote the novel A Drop Too Many about his experiences near Arnhem , which was published in 1978. He also wrote 2 PARA Falklands: The Battalion At War in 1983 , a critical book on the Battle of Wireless Ridge during the Falklands War , which caused much nuisance among the upper echelons of the British military. His autobiography, called Nearly There , was published in 1991.

Awards

John Frost Bridge

As part of the 1st Allied Airborne Army, the 1st British Airborne Division was deployed near Arnhem on September 17, 1944 (Aktion Market). Its mission was to occupy the bridge over the Lower Rhine near Arnhem and thus enable the advancing ground troops (Aktion Garden) to pass over the Rhine to the German heartland. The unit was commanded by John Dutton, called "Johnny" Frost.

The memorial plaque at the end of the bridge on the city side commemorates the events surrounding the heroic defense of the bridge by the Frost division.

Inscription:

“On September 17, 1944, the 1st British Airborne Division landed about 8 miles west of Arnhem with the aim of building a bridgehead in the north of the Lower Rhine.

The 2nd battalion, the paratrooper group, fought their way to Arnhem and occupied the buildings from which this bridge could be controlled. Here they met other parts of their division as well.

For 3 days and 4 nights the bridge was held against an overwhelming force by units of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps until, after all the ammunition had been used up and all buildings had been destroyed, a small group of unwounded people was overwhelmed. The courageous defense of this unit, cut off from the rest of the division by enemy activity, had a significant impact on the conduct of the campaign in Holland and the delay in German reconstruction efforts to make the river crossings at Grave and Nijmegen safe.

In memory of the heroes of the British First Airborne Division who, through their sacrifice, initiated the liberation of the Netherlands, the province of Gelderland installed this plaque on behalf of the thankful people of the province. "

Frost regularly visited the former battle area around Arnhem. On September 16, 1978, the Rhine Bridge near Arnhem was renamed "John Frost Bridge" in his honor.

Works

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Frost, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frost, John Dutton (full name); Frost, Johnny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Major General and Air Force Officer
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Pune , India
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1993
Place of death West Sussex , England