PUB landlord comic Al Murray has become Lord of the Landings.
Murray is now one of the leading experts on the disastrous Battle of Arnhem which is being commemorated today.
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A book Al has written about the nine-day battle capture a bridge over the River Rhine in September 1944 is a top-ten best seller.
And in Arnhem this weekend Al was mobbed by fans wanting to know the inside story of the ill-fated battle which claimed the lives of more than 1,500 British soldiers.
He will attend a moving service at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek today and on Saturday he watched as 700 NATO paratroopers dropped onto Ginkel Heath where the Paras landed 80 years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Al revealed he once jumped from a World War II Dakota aircraft and was injured landing badly on Ginkel Heath to mark the battle of Arnhem.
He says: “Last time I was here I was doing a programme and I jumped in an old-style parachute.
Absolutely terrifying. Nice to get a glimpse of insight into how some of them might have felt.
“I landed very heavily on my backside, I’m not really sure I broke my coccyx.
“But I’m not going to be repeating it, I’m too old and fat, and I’ve been forbidden from doing it.”
The British as a people are attracted to tragic stories of war.
“And the pity of war can’t be better exemplified than in the Battle of Arnhem, where so much was at stake and it came to nothing.
“Incredible bravery, incredible courage incredible hardship, people’s endurance and the sort of real genuine strength of chance that they might have ended the war by Christmas.”
In his new book Arnhem, Black Tuesday, Al argues that the battle Codename Operation Market Garden could have been won and victory would have shortened World War II by five months.
He also tells of the of the heroism of the lightly-armed British troops who landed by parachute and glider before coming up against Hitler’s crack Panzer tank crews.
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Al says: “Five Victoria Crosses were awarded at Arnhem which is a fairly reliable indicator that things went wrong.
“This isn’t to say the five aren’t worthy of it. The mystery is why there weren’t ten. The bravery the men showed was absolutely extraordinary.”
“One of the things about this battle that you really do need to remember is it’s not just the parachute regiment.
“It’s all the people they bring with them, engineers and gunners and Royal Army Service Corps and even military policemen.
“The description of the fighting is like a vision of hell.
“Being surrounded by Germans and the buildings being on fire. and there’s men on the roof of the building, silhouetted in the fire so the Germans can shoot them.
“The story of Captain Desmond Cavanagh is amazing.
“Cavanagh is a supply guy. It’s his job to make sure people have mmunition and medicine and fuel.
“On the Tuesday afternoon of the battle, September 19ththe blackest day, he sees some supply canisters land.
“The supply drop goes wrong. The Germans hold the supply. But he sees some stuff drop short.
“If I can get over there he can get a hold of it because that’s his job.
“So, he grabs a bunch of guys together on a jeep and they go over the railway and it is immediately ambushed.
“He tells the guys to go, he grabs the Bren gun off one of the other soldiers. But he’s only got a mix up.
Al Murray: He can’t use the one with the other. But he’s got the Bren gun and he says ‘get out of here lads’.
“He’s last seen with the Bren gun defending them as they run away.
“As they get the hell out of there, they slither down the railway and then go back to their positions where they’ve come from. And he is killed in action.
“He was never decorated for it. The men regard him as the bravest of the brave and the finest man of all.
“The interesting thing about Cavanagh is that his best friend was Lieutenant Richard Adams, who became the novelist who wrote Watership Down.
“And Cavanagh is Bigwig, the rabbit who dies for the colony in Watership Down.
“That’s just one of the interesting stories of Arnhem.”
Al was in Arnhem with historian James Holland – his co-presenter of their We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast.
The pair took part in the commemorations, including travelling in a World War II Sherman tank in the colours of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry.
Al says: “We kept having to stop at red lights in this convoy but it was absolutely amazing.
“The people coming out to wave at the procession, just the feeling of the Dutch people here are absolutely amazing.”
Al Murray believes that when the last of the veterans who were there pass away we will still be fascinated by the Battle for Arnhem.
He says: “I remember thinking 10 to 15 years ago, whether people’s interest might disappear with the stories.
“But I think the second world war remains incredibly pertinent and relevant, you look around what’s going on in the Ukraine.”
* Listen to ‘We Have Ways Of Making You Talk‘ wherever you get your podcasts
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