EINDHOVEN IN OPERATION MARKET GARDEN
Eindhoven
is the Dutch city which lies at the bottom of the 'Corridor'
along which the ground forces of Operation Market Garden
were due to advance.
Barely
six miles north of Eindhoven is the small town of Son with
its bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal which was a 17 September
1944 objective of the 101st US Airborne Division - the Screaming
Eagles. The city was due to be taken by 2000 hours on 17
September but the US paratroopers, who dropped north of
the bridge, found it blown and were unable to cross the
canal.
However
the bridge was repaired and on the 18th, the 2nd and 3rd
Para Battalions led the way into the city followed by their
Commander General Maxwell Taylor. Later that day the tanks
of the Irish Guards came up from the south completing
the capture of the city, the first in Holland to be liberated.
Eindhoven
is the city that remembers and each year a flame of remembrance
is brought from Bayeux in France, the first city to be liberated
there.
The
full story of the fighting and more about the city are in
our book Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation
Market Garden - Arnhem which can be examined further by
clicking the cover picture in the box below.
