The yearly commemoration of the World War II battle of Arnhem has for the first time been attended by the German ambassador. On Friday evening, he lay a wreath at the Air Borne Monument at the John Frost bridge.

Over the past few months Mayor Pauline Krikke had been consulting with British and Polish war veterans to discuss the German ambassador's presence. The municipality concluded there were no objections. In September 1944, as Germany's troops were retreating, allied forces began operation Market Garden to conquer a number of strategic bridges across the Rhine, Meuse and Waal. The airborne operation, said to be the largest ever, went wrong, causing an estimated 15,000 allied casualties.

(Photo Flickr / rakeman)