Figure 1.-- Here troopers of the 101st Airborne give a stick of chewing bgum to a bemused litle Dutch girl and her brothers after landing. (Notice the woodn shoes.) We doubt if she knew what chewing gum was. It was a day light drop. They jumped Sunday afternoon around 1 o'clock and landed at Son, Sint Oedenrode and Veghel. There were few losses and initially hardly any German opposition. The paratroopers were enthusiastically welcomed by first curious, then jubilant Dutch citizens. An hour after the landing, the American troops began their task: the conquest of no fewer than twelve river crossings over the Brabant waterways. The Germans reaccted quickly. The troopers after seizing the croosings had to defend whaht becmde 'Hell's Highway' north, some of their toughst fighting of the War. In 1974, 101 veteran Bernard M. Nakla from Seattle contacted the newspaper in Eindhoven (Eindhovens Dagblad). He was the soldier on the right and wanted to know who the little girl and boys were in the photo. Only in 1994 were their names traced. The Dutch civilians from left to right: Rini Hilgedenaars, Johan and Wim van Nostrum and their 8-year old sister Anneke van Nostrum. Photo: U.S. Army.

The Ameican 101st Airborne Division jumped kicking off Market Garden (September 17). It was their second jump. They had been used as infantry after the critical D-Day Jump (June 1944). They were assigned four drop zones to land paratroops and one landing zone for gliders. The gliders were important for equipment and supplies, including a few jeeps and light artillery pieces. They would needed it because the Germans unlike the Americans were heavily armed. Not far away from their dropn zome was the headquaters of Kurt Student, the mam Lugtwaffe chief Herman Göring had personlly selected to train an lead the German his Fallschirmjager (airborne) forces--the first such force in history (1939). Student would command German operations. The American 101st objectuve was to secure the southernmost bridges before the Germans blew them. Montgomery's concept for Market Garden was to open a narrow corridor from Northern Belgium towards Arnhem and the Rhine. That corridor, however, had to cross several rivers and canals. The bridges were need so the Anerucan and British armor could move rapidly north. There were quite a few bidges, including one over the Wilhelmina Canal at the town of Son, a pair spanning the Dommel River at St. Oedenrode, and then four more over the Aar River near Veghel. Eindhoven was also to be captured while the men of the 101st held open 15 miles of the road toward Arnhem for the XXX Corps' tanks By the end of their service in Market-Garden, the men of the 101st would refer to this stretch of road as 'Hell's Highway.' At first the paratoopers encountered little resistabce, butthuis soon changed. The Germns had evcuted most of Belgium without a fight. In the Netherlnds hey decided to make astnd. The 506th Parchure Infntry Regiment was ordered to secure the single paved highway that passed through Eindhoven that British armor would pass over to reach Arnhem. The Germans who had retreated from France and Belgium, decided to stand and fight in the Netherlands. There was generlly rejouycing mong the suprised Dutch until the Germans struck back in force. Even after Market Garden had ended, figting continued for 'Hell's Highway'. One of the paratroopers describes the bitter fighting. "Galbraith took cover in a ditchclose to Kiley, then looked on as the lanky officer walked across the street, and stood onstinately in full view, studying the church and road ahead. Even though thge captain's bars on Kiley's helmet has been painted out, he could ill-afford to be reckles. 'Sir,' shouted Galbraith, 'Sir--if you don't get back into cover right now you are going to get your arse shot off by a sniper!' The boss looked back ahd replied, 'If I get down, Bill, so will everyone else.' Moments later John Kiley was struck in the neck by a single and collaosed, his wound pumping out blood." [Gardner]

Sources

Gardner, Ian. Deliver Us from Darkness: Thge Untild Story of Third Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during Market Garden (2012), 336p.

Van Lunteren, Frank. The Battle of the Bridges: The 504th Parchute Infantry Regiment in Operation Market Garden (2014), 336p.

Created: 10:07 PM 7/30/2022
Last updated: 10:07 PM 7/30/2022