At Arnhem the British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were tasked with securing bridges across the Lower Rhine, the final objectives of the operation.

[5] Their presence added a substantial number of Panzergrenadiers, tanks and self-propelled guns to the German defences and the Allies suffered heavily in the ensuing battle.

[7] Major General Roy Urquhart decided to deploy the 1st Airlanding Brigade first, as glider troops could assemble more quickly than parachute infantry and secure the landing areas.

[8] Cain took off with the first lift along with two companies of the South Staffords but only five minutes after departing from RAF Manston the tow rope connecting the Albemarle tug to his Horsa glider pulled out of the leading aircraft.

[10] The 1st and 3rd Battalions were unable to penetrate the outer suburbs of the city and their advance stalled, so in order to support them the first lift of the South Staffords were sent forward on the morning of the 18th.

[12] Lieutenant Colonel David Dobie of the 1st Battalion proposed a concentrated attack on a narrow front between the Lower Rhine and the Arnhem railway line.

[16] Their position was clearly hopeless and so Lieutenant Colonel McCardie, the commanding officer (CO) of 2nd Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment, ordered them to withdraw from the dell.

[19] Gilchrist was unable to oblige and so the Staffords regrouped behind the 11th Battalion's positions; roughly 100 surviving men forming into five small platoons under Cain's command.

[20] Lieutenant Colonel George Lea, commander of the 11th Battalion, ordered them to capture a piece of wooded high ground known as Den Brink to cover a fresh advance, and a bayonet charge quickly cleared the enemy there.

[20] However, the thick tree roots on the hill made it impossible to dig in, and after suffering severe casualties, Cain took the decision to withdraw back to Oosterbeek.

Here they were gathered into defensive units by Lieutenant Colonel Sheriff Thompson, CO 1st Airlanding Light Artillery Regiment, who forcibly stopped many of the panicked troops.

[21] Alarmed that the many retreating units would soon leave his own 75 Millimetre Howitzers undefended, he sought out Cain, the most senior officer, and ordered him to form the men into a defensive screen ahead of the gun positions.

[21] Thompson later sent Major Richard Lonsdale to take command of these outlying troops, and throughout Wednesday 20 they weathered strong German attacks before falling back to the main divisional perimeter.

[23] To the north and west of Oosterbeek other units fell back in the face of strong German resistance and over the next few days a thumb shaped perimeter formed around the town, with the Rhine at its base.

Guided by a colleague in a building above him, Cain waited in a trench until the first tank—actually a StuG III self-propelled gun (SPG)[28]—was close enough to engage.

[34] Fifty-nine decorations were published for the small group of men who successfully escaped Arnhem and these were awarded in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 6 December 1944.

[36] Posthumous VCs were announced later, including one for Lance Sergeant John Baskeyfield of the 2nd South Staffordshire Battalion's anti tank platoon.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve awards of the VICTORIA CROSS to: — Captain (temporary Major) Robert Henry Cain (129484), The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, (attd.

Major Cain, by his outstanding devotion to duty and remarkable powers of leadership, was to a large extent personally responsible for saving a vital sector from falling into the hands of the enemy.

Although wounded by machine gun bullets and falling masonry, Major Cain continued firing until he had scored several direct hits, immobilised the tank and supervised the bringing up of a 75mm.

In the next morning this officer drove off three more tanks by the fearless use of his P.I.A.T., on each occasion leaving cover and taking up position in open ground with complete disregard for his personal safety.

He refused rest and medical attention in spite of the fact that his hearing had been seriously impaired because of a perforated eardrum and he was suffering from multiple wounds.

On 25 September the enemy made a concerted attack on Major Cain's position, using self-propelled guns, flame throwers and infantry.

However, by a skilful use of this weapon and his daring leadership of the few men still under his command, he completely demoralized the enemy who, after an engagement lasting more than three hours, withdrew in disorder.

The action described as occurring on the 20th actually took place on the 21st[28] (indeed this is the day on which Lieutenant Meikle—his spotter in the building above—was killed),[39] and the Tiger tank he engaged was in fact a StuG III.

[41] Having remained in the service of the South Staffordshire Regiment, Cain officially relinquished his wartime commission on 28 December 1945 and was granted the honorary rank of major.

[47] She was married to British television and motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson (divorced 2014), who presented a BBC documentary, "The Victoria Cross: For Valour" on Cain and other VC recipients in 2003.