Operation Market Garden and Floriade 2022 led by Andy Johnson

Independent travel to London St Pancras for the mid-morning Eurostar service to Amsterdam Centraal. On arrival, we will make the short drive to the Jan Luyken Hotel Amsterdam where we check in for a three-night stay. This evening a private evening dinner cruise is included which will take you through Amsterdam’s winding waterways.

Breakfast will be served in the hotels each morning. This morning we will travel by coach to the Floriade Expo in Almere where you will have plenty of time to enjoy this horticultural delight and extraordinary experience. This expo will also be the start of a new city district close to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Almost everything that will be built for the exhibition will become part of the legacy of Almere and the structures will remain and become part of the community. The expo site will be developed as a Green City Arboretum, serving as a model for green structure development in cities. This arboretum will consist of a variety of trees, shrubs, perennials, creepers, hydrophytes and flower bulbs, all of which contribute to a green, healthy and sustainable city. Around 3000 species have been selected that contribute to the green city in terms of biodiversity, air purification, food production and city climate management.

Enjoy a full day at leisure in this beautiful capital city. You might like to visit Anne Frank’s House or the Rijksmuseum, wander through the cities cobbled streets and narrow alleys or simply relax in one of the many bars and restaurants located in this wonderful city.

Departing Amsterdam after breakfast we will drive to the Dutch Belgian border where we will visit the start line of Operation Market Garden, a daring Allied operation to secure the Rhine Crossings and advance into Northern Germany. We will follow the advance of the XXX Corps of the British Second Army, passing Valkenswaard War Cemetery and the Son Bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal which played a major part in the operation before visiting the Bridge at Graves over the River Maas, which was captured by the 82^nd Airborne Division. A visit to the Freedom Museum, formerly known as the Liberation Museum 1944 – 1945, in Groesbeek is included and we will also drive by the Siegfried Line and the start line of Operation Veritable in early 1945 before checking in to the Mercure Nijmegen Hotel for our two-night stay.

The River Waal at Nijmegen was an important natural barrier and Allied forces feared the Germans would destroy the road bridge at Nijmegen rendering Operation Market Garden a failure. Today starts with a visit to the bridge that was captured intact by the Allies. Our tour will continue as we drive to Arnhem where we will visit the DZ-X drop zone and LZ-Z landing area where the 1st Airborne Division fought against Kampfgruppe ‘Von Tettau’ 9^th SS Panzer Division. We will visit the Hartenstein Airborne Museum, formerly Major-General Urquhart’s Headquarters during the Battle of Arnhem, and pay our respects at Oosterbeek War Cemetery before we follow the route taken by 2 Para to John Frost Bridge over the River Rhine, where we will hear about the battles that were fought for its ownership. This evening a farewell dinner is included at a local restaurant.

After checking out of the hotel we will visit Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. Most of those buried here are Canadians who died in the Battle of the Rhineland but within the cemetery stands the Groesbeek Memorial which commemorates by name more than 1000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in north west Europe between the time of the crossing the Seine at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe. We’ll honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in a special Act of Remembrance before driving to Amsterdam for our return Eurostar journey to the UK, arriving London St Pancras late afternoon.