WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE ABOUT THEIRS IS THE GLORY           THE AMAZING STORY OF ARNHEM

Theirs Is the Glory (also known as Men of Arnhem), is a 1946 British war film about the British 1st Airborne Division's involvement in the Battle of Arnhem           (17 to 25 September 1944) during Operation Market Garden in the Second World War. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing British war film for nearly a decade.  Theirs Is the Glory focuses solely on the British forces and some civilians, and their fight at Oosterbeek and Arnhem.

German soldiers are played by local civilians. How many men of the 1st Airborne Division took part it not exactly known, a Dutch newspaper article from 1945, say 80,  The Press and Journal of September 1945, mentioned 350 men. So far I have gathered 176 names, of soldiers and civlians. Most likely the number will be 200 men.

With original footage from the battle with re-enactments shot on location at Oosterbeek and Arnhem, the film was shot a year after the battle had ravaged the towns of Wolfheze, Driel, Renkum, Heelsum, Doorwerth, Oosterbeek and Arnhem. As well as veterans, the film also features local people like Father Dijker (a Dutch civilian priest who conducts the service in the film) and Kate ter Horst (who reads a psalm to the wounded men in her cellar) re-enacting their roles and what they did for the airborne troops during the battle.

There are no credits before or after the film, some of the veterans that appeared as actors were Majors CFH "Freddie" Gough  (Recce Squadron) and Richard "Dickie" Lonsdale (11th Parachute Battalion), Lieutenant Hugh Ashmore (21 Independent Parachute Company), Sergeant Jack Bateman (10 Parachute Battalion) Private Harry Boardman (156 Parachute Battalion), also War correspondents Stanley Maxted and Alan Wood.

Each veteran was paid £3 per day by the Rank Organisation.

The World Premiere was on September 17th, 1946, however from an newspaper article of September 14th, it is known that a special preview to some troops was already given on Thursday September 12th 1946.

Whereas at first I thought the film had only been released in England, the Netherlands and Canada, over the years I have found cinema leaflets showing that the film must have been shown in more countries including:

Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Yugoslavia.