The Tafelberg Hotel, HQ of Field-Marshal Model

The Tafelberg was at Oosterbeek centre crossroads, virtually adjacent to the Hartenstein Hotel. In September 1944 it was Model's HQ. He was the C in C of Heeresgruppe B, the German equivalent of Field-Marshal Montgomery. He was at lunch when he was told about the airborne landings at Wolfheze - the beginning of Operation Market Garden. Perhaps thinking of the British Long Range Desert Group's attempt to kidnap the famous German General Rommel in 1941, he thought that the paras were coming for him. He immediately moved his men from the Tafelberg and the Hartenstein to the HQ of General Bittrich at Doetinchem. As Market Garden progressed, the 1st AB Div soldiers were squeezed by the Germans into a smaller and smaller area centred on Oosterbeek - an area that became known as The Cauldron'. The building went in and out of German hands all the while acting as a medical treatment centre. This picture shows the facade essentially as it was during the battle and before it was later developed

Adjacent Airborne Cauldron Centred Crossroads Developed Equivalent Essentially Failed Field-marshal Hartenstein Heeresgruppe Immediately Kidnap Landings Moved Oosterbeek Paras Perhaps Progressed Smaller Squeezed Told Virtually

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