OXFORDSHIRE veterans are being invited back to the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War.

Men of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry were among those who gave their lives at Arnhem, in Holland, in 1944.

A military history group is inviting veterans and their relatives to join them on a visit to the site next month.

Under the National Lottery-funded Heroes Return scheme, financial assistance is available to help people make the pilgrimage.

Arnhem’s bridge across the River Rhine was the ultimate target in a daring attack – codenamed Operation Market Garden – aimed at shortening the war by opening the way for an invasion of Germany.

This September, exactly 67 years later, the War Research Society will take a party of veterans and relatives on an anniversary pilgrimage.

Organiser Alex Bulloch said: “The (1st Ox and Bucks) battalion took part in the ground operation that was intended to cross over three bridges taken by the airborne troops and on into Germany but the operation ended in failure.

“The 1st Ox & Bucks subsequently took part in operations around the Lower Maas in October and November.

“The Arnhem assault was immortalised on film in the 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far. Its name came from a comment supposedly made by Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, deputy commander of the First Allied Airborne Army, who told Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the operation’s architect: “I think we may be going a bridge too far.”

In what was the largest airborne attack ever attempted, the Allies tried to capture a string of bridges through Holland in an attack launched on September 17, 1944. Troops on the ground pushed forward to join up with the paratroopers and glider-borne troops holding the river crossings. But the plan failed when the Allies encountered stiffer resistance than expected, especially around Arnhem, where a number of elite German SS units were resting away from the front line. The British paratroopers who attacked the bridge there withdrew on September 25, after suffering heavy casualties.

Mr Bulloch said: “On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war in Belgium’s Ardennes mountains, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

“The 1st Ox & Bucks, along with the rest of their division, were rushed south to Belgium shortly after the offensive began, and experienced awful weather conditions, some of the worst Belgium had seen in years. The Allies launched a counter-attack in early January and the German offensive was defeated later that month.”

The visit to Holland will take place from Friday, September 16, until Tuesday, September 20, including stops at museums and sites associated with the ill-fated Allied offensive, and war cemeteries.

The cost of the tour is £422 per person.

For more information about the pilgrimage and the financial assistance that is available, call Alex Bulloch of the War Research Society on 0121 459 9008 or see alexbulloch.org.uk