Two-finger salute that said it all
The famous Arnhem photo that baffled British PoW’s German captors
DAEFIANT to the last, a captured South Staffordshire soldier at the ill-fated Battle of Arnhem puts two fingers up to his German captors.
The enemy believed the PoW was giving them Churchill’s V for Victory salute.
He wasn’t. Lieutenant Jack Reynolds later described the two-fingered gesture as his “f*** you, too” moment.
Not at the time, though. Reynolds, a member of the 2nd battalion South Stafford Regiment, decided it was best not to correct the Germans just then.
And the photograph, taken by a German propaganda snapper, was widely published at the time.
September 17 will mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, also known as Operation Market Garden and immortalised in the book and later film Bridge Too Far.
Airborne troops landed at Arnhem, in the Netherlands, to secure bridges, but faced unexpected and stiff resistance. In all, 1,984 of our troops were killed and 6,854 captured.
The picture of Reynolds encapsulates the mood of those men frogmarched to prisoner-of-war camps.
Born in Chichester on May 5, 1922, he joined the Sussex Yeomanry in March 1939, and the unit was mobilised at the outbreak of war.
Reynolds continued his training as a signaller, serving with several searchlight units in the Thames estuary area, reaching the rank of Bombardier, followed by a posting to Mumbles in South Wales, this time as a signaller and signals instructor.
While at Mumbles, he was recommended for a commission and joined the Royal Artillery Officer Cadet Training Unit in Plymouth.
But, frustrated by the lack of action, he applied for, and was accepted by, the 1st Airborne Division and joined the 1st Air Landing Brigade, consisting of four regular infantry battalions which were dropped into battle zones by gliders.
Reynolds commanded the 2nd South Stafford’s Reconnaissance Platoon for the air landings on Sicily in Operation Ladbroke.
He reached the island and took part in the defence of a bridge before being captured – but was freed shortly afterwards and returned to the bridge in an attempt to retake it.
His bravery earned him the Military Cross. His citation read: “This
officer, with his party of nine men, landed at 22.25 hours some four miles south of the battalion rendezvous. He led his party throughout the night to Waterloo Bridge, encountering stiff opposition on the way, during which six of his nine men became casualties.
“On the way up he collected several stragglers, forming them into an organised group, eventually assisting in the defence of the Bridge, during which two more of his men were killed and another missing. Throughout the fighting this officer set a very high example of courage and leadership in the face of heavy odds.”
Back in England, training continued until mid-September 1944, when the battalion was sent to Manston Airfield, which was quartered under canvas near the Kent coast.
It was here that they were briefed for the Arnhem operation.
Prior to taking off from Manston, the troops received a surprise rum ration. Reynolds said later: “Knowing for a fact that the Army does not indulge in that sort of generosity very often, I put two and two together and made four very smartly about what we had in store.”
The flight was “pretty uneventful” and Reynolds was in the first wave of glider-borne troops that landed safely with the Signals Company, 2nd South Staffords.
Despite being the officer commanding No1 mortar platoon, the brigadier sent Reynolds off as a pillion passenger with a motorbike despatch rider. “You’re me eyes, Reynolds, I want you to go forward and tell me what’s going on down the road,” said the brigadier.
They encountered sniper fire which disabled their motorcycle and both men dived into a ditch. Reynolds continued his journey on foot, monitored German infantry and tanks, then returned to pass on the information. The battalion had, by this time, marched off towards Oosterbeek, with D Company South Staffords at the vanguard.
They met with heavy resistance along the way and tank fire. Reynolds and his men caught up with stragglers from the South Staffords, who had taken a lot of casualties, and found a spot safe from the German 75mm and 88mm tank fire.
He left his sergeant with the platoon and went forward alone to find out the strength of the opposition, but was cut off by the advancing German infantry and tanks. He met up with another signal officer, Hugh Cartwright, and they spent several days behind German lines, seeking information and avoiding sniper fire.
Eventually, they made their way back to Battalion HQ, which was completely overrun by a German attack and they were forced to sur
render. He joined the 2nd battalion South Staffords commander Lieutenant-Colonel McCardie and his second in command, who were captured on the same day.
It was while being marched to a prisoner-of-war camp that Reynolds spotted an official German Army photographer wearing a forage cap and grinning. He impulsively made his famous two-fingered “gesture of goodwill, you might say.”
“The Germans thought it was a Victory sign from Churchill,” he said later. “I didn’t disillusion them.
“It was an act of defiance but a momentary lapse of military discipline. Given the circumstance, it seemed totally justifiable!”