During the battle of Arnhem in 1944, the St Elisabeth Hospital was a hospital in ARnhem. A medical unit of the British 1st Airborne Division, the 16th Parachute Field Ambulance, went to the building on 17 September 1944 to take care of the wounded of the 1st Parachute Brigade there. They arrived early in the evening and found, in addition to Dutch medical staff, a German medical unit, both busy tending to wounded of both sides. The British took over control of the hospital but allowed the Germans to keep working here. From that moment, Dutch, British and German medical staff work together to take care of incoming wounded from both sides.

The Hospital found itself in the front line on 18 September. While the war was raging outside, the people inside kept working to save lives. Late in the evening of 17 September, a group of German soldiers was cut down on the driveway of the hospital by British soldiers of C Company of the 1st Parachute Battalion.

As many as four times, the control of the hospital switched from one warring party to the other. When on 19 September the Germans finally took control of the hospital, they ordered the British medical staff to be transported into captivity. Major Longlang, the British doctor in charge, persuaded the Germans to leave two surgical teams behind to help the Germans tend to the continuing inflow of wounded. As a result many lives were saved, including that of brigadier Hackett who was wounded in Oosterbeek.

The Dutch underground, including resistance fighter ‘Piet van Arnhem’, was also active in the hospital. With their help, several British soldiers were smuggled out of the hospital to enable them to go into hiding and escape to their own lines. In this way, brigadier Lathbury and brigadier Hackett, among others, were saved from German captivity. Finally, it was decided in the middle of October that all British still present in the hospital would be transported to a POW camp in Apeldoorn.