TracesOfWar.com

Hotel Dreyeroord (The White House)

(Netherlands, the - Guelders - Oosterbeek)

The Hotel Dreyenoord was the heart of the northern defense of the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB). The hotel was also called the White House.
In the park behind the hotel, heavy fighting took place. There are still traces of these fights, such as the Tank tracks in the driveway of the hotel.
During the war, the hotel was heavily damaged. After the war, the family van Straaten became the owner of the hotel and recovered it in the old state. Today there is small museum in the hotel, dedicated to the KOSB.

Text on the plaque:
This plaque commemorates the battle fought in
and around this house by the 7th Battalion
The King's Own Scottish Borderers as part
of the British 1st. Airborne Division in the
battle of Arnhem in September 1944.

The house known to the KOSB as the
'White House', was the corner-stone in the
defence of the north-eastern sector of the
divisional perimeter.

The battalion, much depleted after earlier
fighting at Ginkel Heath and Johnnahoeve,
held this sector, under the indomitable
leadership of
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Payton Reid D.S.O.
from 19th. to 22nd. September in the face of
incessant attacks by an enemy superior in
numbers and heavy weapons.

"Once a Borderer
Always a Borderer"

Source

• Text: Ewoud van Eig
• Photos: Ewoud van Eig (1) & Nick Keetman (2-4)