John Greenacre

History

John Greenacre spent 24 years in the British Army as a commissioned officer in the Royal Corps of Transport and Army Air Corps. A reconnaissance helicopter pilot, John served on operations in the Gulf, the Balkans and Northern Ireland. He is a graduate of the Joint Services Staff College and worked in staff jobs from procurement to arms control, from the Falkland Islands to Canada. He left the Army in 2011. John was awarded his PhD from the University in Leeds in 2009 for the research on his thesis on the development of Britain’s airborne forces during the Second World War. His book on the same subject, Churchill’s Spearhead was published by Pen and Sword in 2010 on the 70th anniversary of the formation of British airborne forces. John is a badged member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and frequently leads groups across the battlefields of the First World War’s Western Front and Second World War battlefields in France, Holland, Germany, Italy and Malta. He is also an occasional lecturer in modern European history at University Campus Suffolk.

Movies

Operation Market Garden: Nijmegen
Presenter
Following on from the story of Hell's Highway, the series reaches the battle to seize the great Bridges over two of Europe's largest water ways; the Maas and the Waal at Nijmegen. Here the 82nd US airborne were, as elsewhere, denied coup de main attacks to seize the bridges by the air commanders. While the Grave Bridge was captured, confusion in US orders meant that the barely defended bridge in Nijmegen was only attacked when the Germans had taken the opportunity to reinforce the garrison. The resulting battle to regain control of the situation is an epic of Anglo-American military history. This programme tells the story of the amazing courage of the American and British soldiers who won this battle against desperate odds.
Operation Market Garden: Arnhem - Battle of the Woods
Presenter
Jumping in to Drop Zones eight to ten miles from Arnhem on the second day of Operation Market Garden was always going to be difficult for Brigadier “Shan” Hackett's 4th British Parachute Brigade. With little information on how 1 Para Brigade's battle went the day before or what faced them on the ground the stage was set for an epic battle. John Waddy, v company commander in 156 Para Battalion and a team of Arnhem experts cover the ground where 4 Para Brigade fought with 9 SS Pz Div in the woods to the west of Arnhem in what was to be an unequal but heroic battle; the result of a flawed concept and plan.Driven back the Brigade was withdrawing across LZ P when the Polish heavy lift gliders swept in to cause. Captain Quirepel was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his action in helping stem the enemy advance long enough for the Paratroopers to escape across the railway embankment by nightfall.
Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges - Part 1
Presenter
The Battle of Arnhem, fought in the early autumn of 1944, remains without a doubt the most hotly debated battle of the North West European Campaign, both then and now. From its inception in the sixteen cancelled airborne operations during August, we will chart the problems, many of which were ignored by men desperate to get into battle, the compromises and mistakes that pitched lightly armed and ill equipped paratroopers and glider infantry into an unequal struggle against an SS panzer troops. We follow the eight mile route that 2 Para took to reach the bridge at Arnhem, slipping through the German defences.In Part 2, a separate film we look at their epic battle.