The Battalion

Born:
Died:
Age at death:
Company: SP
Platoon: MMG
Section: -
Parachute Course: 64

Life Story:
6141287 Sergeant Arthur James Ayres was born on 21 Jul 1919.
He was on parachute course 54 at Ramat David, Palestine.
Arthur was assigned to Support Company as Section commander of the Medium Machine Gun (MMG) Platoon, 11th Parachute Battalion.
His first operational Jump was on the Island of Kos in September 1943. The operation went very well and he was soon back in Palestine.
The 11th Parachute Battalion left Saltby airbase for Holland on Monday, September 18, 1944, at approximately 10:30 AM. Arthur remembered that when he went out the door of his plane over the landing zone (LZ) he could see the tracer bullets going past his face.
“It was the worst jump that I‘ve ever had”, he later said.
During an interview on December 21, 1944, he said the following.
“We arrived in the west of Arnhem late that Monday evening. Early the next morning, the attack began towards the road bridge to support Colonel Frost and his men. The fighting was a bit spasmodic at first and then a good deal of street warfare. The Germans had been reinforcing all the time and out came a sticky part for us, one of the worst parts. We were left to fight a rear-guard action. Myself, my two machine guns and their crews and an anti-tank gun and their crew. We got a German tank, routed two others and with the machine guns stopped some German infantry that were advancing up the road”.
Ultimately, after heavy fighting, they had to withdraw to the outskirts of Oosterbeek. After nine day of severe fighting, Arthur crossed the river Rhine and got in safety behind allied lines.

For his outstanding bravery during the Battle of Arnhem, Arthur was awarded the American Silver Star. The citation says:
“During the action at Arnhem from 18th to 25th September, Sergeant Ayres showed the most outstanding courage in the manner in which he kept his machine guns in action. At no time did he let them go unmanned despite continuous enemy mortar and shell fire. His example and devotion to duty were of the highest order. During the heaviest shelling and small arms fire he was always to be seen, going round encouraging his men. On more than one occasion he led a party under heavy shell fire to deal with snipers who were interfering with the guns. He was entirely responsible for the successful beating off of two large scale counter attacks on his sector. It was due to the exceptional valour of Sergeant Ayres and his disregard of danger that the machine guns were kept in action and the vital part of the sector held intact”.