Because of the success, the exhibition The Network in the Airborne Museum in The Netherlands is extended and recently is the museum in temporary possession of the diaries of Major Tony Hibbert.
Specially for this 75th commemorative year of the battle of Arnhem the museum received the original diaries of major Tony Hibbert on loan. They now make part of the exhibition The Network.
Major Tony Hibbert
During the Second World-war Hibbert was an officer who served in North-Africa and Italy. In July 1944 he got promoted to major. In the Battle of Arnhem he was the major of the British 1st parachute brigade and fought till the Rhine bridge at Arnhem. He was captured by German troops but managed to escape by jumping of the truck.
Hibbert was found by the Dutch resistance, they hid him and he managed to escape, with other survivors of The Battle, during Operation Pegasus I to the other side of the river Rhine. During his time in hiding with the Dutch resistance, Hibbert wrote a few diaries.
These diaries, from a private collection, are now, in the context of the 75th Airborne commemorations, lent to the museum and became a part of the exhibition around the Dutch Resistance. An investigator of the museum found out that the part of the resistance was much larger then people thought.
Major Hibbert came to visit The Netherlands many times to participate in the commemorations. He died on October 12th, 2014.
The Network, about the Dutch Resistance
In The Network exhibition, three stories around the Dutch resistance during the Battle of Arnhem are told with special sets and staged audiovisual resources. One of the stories is about Operation Pegasus I. After the battle many different Airborne troops stayed behind in the woods surrounding the area.
They were helped by the resistance. They gave them shelter and helped them organise to cross the river in the night of 22nd to the 23rd of October during Operation Pegasus I.
Because of the success, the exhibition is extended this year and, togheter with the diaries of Major Hibbert, to be seen til the 27th of October 2019 at the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek, The Netherlands.
Also read: The resistance played a major role during the Battle of Arnhem
