‘ENGLAND TO ENGLAND via Holland, Germany & Belgium’ – The Arnhem War Diaries of Major Frank Lindley, 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment

An extraordinary first-hand account of the Battle of Arnhem, seen through the eyes of a no-nonsense front-line officer.

Major Frank Lindley, Officer Commanding Support Company, 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, kept a detailed and deeply personal diary during his captivity following the Battle of Arnhem. His entries provide a vivid, day-by-day chronicle of the battalion’s movements, actions, and struggles — from departure at Somerby to the fierce fighting at Ginkel Heide and the Oosterbeek Perimeter, culminating in his wounding and captivity as a prisoner of war.

Frank Lindley’s writing is direct, often dryly humorous, and always evocative. He captures not just military manoeuvres but the personalities, camaraderie, and courage of the men under his command. His words bring the battle — and its human cost — into stark relief.

This remarkable diary is enriched with biographical material outlining Lindley’s journey from working-class roots in Doncaster and early service in the Scots Guards as an enlisted man, to his wartime commission and postwar military career across the Middle East, West Africa, and the British Army of the Rhine. A veteran of 25 years, Lindley’s story is one of resilience, leadership, and integrity.

Lovingly compiled by his granddaughter, Jade Lindley, and Grahame Warner of Friends of The Tenth, this edition draws exclusively from Lindley’s original wartime archive, entrusted to his family.

Features:

• A4 softback, 84 full-colour pages
• Over 50 rare photographs and operational maps
• Unpublished personal diary entries
• Annotated with historical context and commentary

A must-read for military historians, Arnhem scholars, and anyone interested in the personal experience of war.

100% OF PROCEEDS TO THE CHARITY

Price £15.00 plus postage & packing

Click this safe and secure link or visit our website to buy a copy

https://friendsofthetenth.co.uk/product/england-to-england

An important statement from Friends of The Tenth

When we formed our charity, a main objective was to ‘name in tablets of stone all the members of the Battalion at the time of the Battle of Arnhem’.

This mission will be accomplished by September this year with the installation of a Memorial pathway. More than twenty York stone slabs will be laid in the Memorial Garden oval path.

Each stone will be inscribed with approximately thirty names. The total, of more than 600 names, will identify those who were serving with the battalion from mid to late 1944. The path will, of course, include those, already named on the Memorial, who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The total cost is £27,000. We hope that you may be able to support this project. We have already received a hugely generous donation, covering more than half the cost, from our long-term supporter, Barratt Developments Ltd.

You may be a next of kin, family of one of those brave young men, or you may feel an association or have a connection. We will be very grateful if you wish to donate in memory of one individual soldier or all of them. You can donate and, if you wish add UK Gift Aid, by clicking this safe and secure link.

https://gofund.me/2297c349

Another way to support this project is to buy from our online shop where we have unique books and prints for sale.

https://friendsofthetenth.co.uk/shop/

During the course of the next few months, we will also be offering special items for auction.

We thank the following for their generosity –

Barratt Developments PLC

Steve & Nic Gornall, Seaport Engineers Ltd

Andrew (Charlie) McColgan

Bryan Burnikell

Laura Briggs

Jeremy Heygate

Richard Chevis (In memory of: Cpl J W Chevis 6400518 ‘A’ Coy)

Alan James

Norman Bishop

Bill Stokoe

John Fitzgibbon

Derek Maylor

Terry Lowe

Nigel Gunn

Alexandra Dembitz (In memory of: Pte Denzil Meyer Keen 6292817 ‘A’ Coy KIA)

Sally & Les Dyos (In memory of: Pte Frank Burton 4975961 ‘A’ Coy)

Karen Medhurst

John James

Paul Pariso

Steve Infield (In memory of: Lt Gerald Infield, 3rd Parachute Bn Arnhem)

Sue Clapson

Andy Sloper

Denise Earnshaw

Richard Drake

Mark Burgess (In memory of:  Lt William Burgess 172168 ‘B’ Coy KIA)

David, Alan, Clive and Colin Wilmott (In memory of: Pte Albert Wilmott 4078589 ‘B’ Coy)

Ian Maguire

Liset Vos-van Der Ven

Tom Pooley (In memory of: Pte Victor Gregg 6913933 ‘S’ Coy)

Roy Lewis

Julie Thompson

Darren Dunne

Christopher Bower (In memory of: Pte George Albert Bower, 4746376 ‘HQ’ Coy)

Jill Thomas

We will be holding our annual service of Remembrance at The Tenth Battalion Memorial, Burrough on the Hill, starting at 10.45am Sunday 10th November 2024.

Everyone is welcome to the service and afterwards at the Get Busy Living Centre for tea, coffee and snacks.

In February 2023 Martin Sugarman, the archivist at AJEX, sent me a photo of a man in a WW2 uniform, carrying my Uncle Denny’s photo.  Martin is the author of ‘Fighting Back: British Jewry’s Military Contribution in the Second World War’ (Valentine Mitchell 2017) that includes an entire chapter devoted to the Jewish paratroopers who served at Arnhem.

My uncle had been killed at the battle of Arnhem, aged 21, in September 1944.  My mother never got over losing her younger brother and here was somebody out of the blue carrying his photo.  Who was he and why was he holding my uncle’s photo?  Martin not only knew the man in uniform, but also recognised the soldier because of all his research for his book.

The man was Mark Ganat, a British born Israeli who as a member of various US and Europe based parachute teams takes part in commemorative events of the airborne operations of WW2 by parachuting from period aircraft into the drop zones that were used in those operations, wearing period uniform.

Mark had sent the photo to Martin who not only recognised the soldier in the photo but told Mark he knew his niece.  And so started over a year of correspondence between the two of us.

I immediately got in touch with Mark and discovered that he is an ex-special forces soldier who is an IDF trained parachutist.   Through family in the US, he was introduced to an American jump team, Liberty, and did a refresher course so that he could honour the veterans of airborne operations of WW2 and later conflicts.  Like the other teams, Liberty has close relations with the US army and regularly jumps in France to commemorate the D-Day landings.

Mark makes a particular point of commemorating the Jewish participants in those operations, particularly those who were killed in action, by carrying their photographs when he jumps or performing short Jewish memorials at their graves.

My uncle, Private Denzil Keen (Denny),  has no known grave, but his name is engraved on the memorial at Groesbeek as well as on the memorial to the 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment at Burrough on the Hill, High Leicestershire.   I promised my mother before she died in 2021 that I would not forget her brother.  It seems others have not either.

Mark and I corresponded by email and I told him I planned to attend the 80th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem and hoped to meet him should he be going.  My son, husband and I booked our flights and booked our hotel to arrive late on Friday 20th September, thinking that this would be perfect timing.  How wrong could I be?  I then got the following message from Mark:

Is there no way you can extend the beginning of your trip? By one day? My jump in the British drop zone (1st Brigade, not the 4th) is on the 20th at Renkum. I am hoping that the head of Pathfinder Parachute Group UK will give me the lead position – first flight, first stick of parachutists, first parachutist out the door. Planned time-on-target is 1000. If so, I will be opening the whole event. And I will be carrying Denny’s photo like I did two years ago. It’s a very special event. It would be terrific if you could be there on the ground when I land. Any chance you can change that?

Well – how could I say no to that?  So, we are off on Thursday 19th September to watch Mark jump, carrying my uncle’s photo yet again.  I will also be laying a Star of David wreath at the service held by the Friends of the Tenth at Burrough on the Hill on the Saturday afternoon.

We will also be attending the service of Remembrance on the Sunday morning to which a cousin from Rotterdam will be joining us. He is our daughter in law’s relative who had escaped Vienna just in time as a small child and was hidden in The Netherlands.  He survived.  His father and grandmother were not so lucky, they were taken to and died in Auschwitz. He told us that he remembers seeing the paras drop and would be honoured to attend a service of Remembrance – yet again, what a small world.