EINDHOVEN

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 & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation Market-Garden/Arnhem.