Discover places that will tell you all about the heroic battle of Operation Market Garden, such as the Wings of Liberation museum. Read, hear and experience stories of sacrifice, but also of moments where the war could briefly be forgotten. And stories about bewildered Germans and the allied race against the clock to relieve their comrades.

The Netherlands

Visit Brabant Routebureau

Mill in Eerde

Cycling Liberation Route Son en Breugel

Liberation Route Son en Breugel

Berta Roefs and her family lived in the Helena Hoeve, a farmhouse right in the middle of the landing area. On 17 September Berta and her mother fled into the air raid shelter. They could hear the planes and anti-aircraft fire from their hiding place and they could see the coloured parachutes.After many anxious moments in the shelter they found three wounded soldiers in the barn. “We didn’t really understand what was going on but from one moment to the next the war was all around us”.The Americans quickly set up an improvised field hospital at the farmhouse. Berta and her family decided to help them in any way they could. Wounded soldiers were received and dispatched. More than 65 years later Berta commented: “It was unbelievable to us how they all remained calm and were so friendly, but it was a pity that we couldn’t talk to them.”&nbsp; After all, they couldn’t speak English. “We still regret that we didn’t write down any names of the ones who stayed with us for longer or shorter periods. I hope the men who survived the war had a good life!”In 2011 Battle detective Tom from Eindhoven, specialised in Operation Market Garden, received a letter from the veteran John Nasea Jr., then aged 89. He was seriously injured when he landed in Best in 1944 and after a hellish ride was taken to a field hospital at a Brabant farmhouse. He kept falling in and out of consciousness. After staying in various allied hospitals he finally made it safely back to the United States. John Nasea has spent his entire life wondering where it was that his life was saved. It was his wish to celebrate his 90th birthday in that very place.Battle detective Tom got down to work and quickly came to the conclusion that John was almost certainly treated in the Helena Hoeve farmhouse. In 2012 and accompanied by his daughter, John Nasea Jr. travelled from America to the Netherlands. On 13 June, his 90th birthday, he visited various remembrance locations of Operation Market Garden. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon he arrived at Helena Hoeve. He was welcomed there by Berta Roefs, then 98 years old. On his birthday John gave her an orange handkerchief on which was written: September 19th 1944 June 13th 2012.So after almost 68 years the paths in the lives of John and Berta crossed once again. After many years Berta received an explanation as to what happened to the wounded soldier and John finally could picture where he had been rescued, and by whom.John was never decorated for his contribution to Operation Market garden. In October 2012 Battle detective Tom travelled to America to pin the Oranje Erekoord (Orange Lanyard) on John Nasea Jr. in commemoration of his contribution to the liberation of the Netherlands.

John Nasea's birthday

Eight year old Mariet van Kronenburg lived with her eight brothers and sisters in the neighbourhood of de Vleut which was right on the firing line. One day at the end of September 1944, the American commander decided that it was not safe to let the children stay in the farmhouse. Father Jan and mother Tonia would be allowed to stay because someone had to look after the cattle. Their young son Johan who had learning difficulties could stay also, together with one brother or sister, but the other children had to leave – including Mariet.PearsFather Jan van Kronenburg put his children in the cart – together with a bucket of pears – and took them to the house of some good acquaintances in Sint Oedenrode. Mariet and her sisters and a couple of other evacuees slept in the Van Schijndel family’s farmhouse, and the boys and men slept in the hayloft. Through the window Mariet could see the landing strips in the Sonniuswijk area where American gliders and paratroopers landed. The Van Kronenburg children could play close to the farmhouse, but the Van Schijndel family did not allow them to go onto the landing strip, at least not unaccompanied.On 20 October 1944, Janus, one of the Van Schijndel sons, was working close to the landing strips. Mariet, her sister Jo, brother Kees and little sister Sjaantje went with two other children to call him for the midday meal. They could return over the landing strip – after all, 21 year old Janus was with them.&nbsp; Mariet and Jo dawdled, together with their young friend. Who knows, maybe the American soldiers had some spare chocolate… It wasn’t allowed, because Janus had already gone on, but they did it anyway; they walked towards the aircraft.Green jacketThen Mariet heard a big bang. She looked up and saw a cloud. She ran towards it, something had exploded and the children who had been walking there were no longer standing. ‘I can still see my little sister lying there, in a green jacket with a white stripe across it.’ Mariet ran away in panic. She remained standing on the edge of the field in tears, with her little sister and friend. The priest from Sint Oedenrode took the three girls back to the farmhouse where they were staying.Father and mother Van Kronenburg searched for three days for their children. Kees was thirteen and was killed instantly by the force of the explosion. They found him in the convent in Sint Oedenrode. It proved more difficult to trace six year old Sjaantje. She had been taken, seriously injured, from the emergency hospital to another hospital but did not recover from her injuries. Eventually her mother and father found her in Zeelst. They took her body, wrapped in a blanket, back home. The children were buried in Sint Oedenrode in small coffins made of wood from the gliders. What exactly exploded is not known. Janus also died and could not recall it. One of the boys, eleven year old Ties survived the blow. He described the projectile as a small, shiny box. Kees had picked it up and opened it.This story was part of Brabant Remembers, a campaign for 75 years of Freedom in the province of North Brabant.

A small shiny box

On 20 September 1944, the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division moved from Son to Henkenshage Castle in Sint-Oedenrode. On 24 September, General Horrocks, the commander of the British XXX Corps, was told here that he could make one last attempt to reach the British forces north of the Rhine. If this attempt failed, Operation Market Garden would fail.Meanwhile, German troops had breached the corridor at Koevering (between Veghel and Sint-Oedenrode). The Allied advance had come to a halt. Residents of Sint-Oedenrode still remember General Horrocks swearing and yelling in the market. He did not reach his own headquarters in Nijmegen again until the following morning. The last attempt to reach the British and Polish troops at Oosterbeek was unsuccessful. As discussed in Henkenshage, Operation Market Garden was stopped.

Henkenshage Castle

The Koeveringse windmill used to be on this spot. This mill was set on fire on 25 September and completely destroyed.A little to the east, towards the highway, a few Allied tanks were knocked out by the heavy German artillery. Seriously injured soldiers lay in no man's land around the burning tanks. When Private George Whitfield, of the 326th Airborne Medical Company, heard what was happening, he drove to the scene of his own accord. He parked his Jeep behind a burning tank and crawled over to the heavily wounded, moaning tank crew He tended to their wounds under persistent shelling and crawled back to his Jeep. Grenades were falling everywhere, and ammunition from the burning tanks exploded all around him. All the same, Whitfield managed to get to the wounded in his Jeep and take them to the field hospital in Sint-Oedenrode.He then drove back to the tanks, risking his own life in the process. He parked his Jeep, out of sight, behind a shed. In search of more wounded, he was shot at from German positions. The farm received a direct hit, and his Jeep got buried under the rubble. He quickly cleared the debris and drove to another, badly injured tank crew. The shelling continued, but Whitfield also managed to get these men to the field hospital. Whitfield saved the lives of his comrades with this feat of heroism. Private George Whitfield was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States Army’s second-highest award, for his outstanding bravery.

 Koevering

The “Monument to the Dutch” was unveiled on 16 September 1994 in the presence of veterans of the 101st Airborne Division. South of the monument, the “Surprise” bridge (now called the Alzenau Bridge) is located. This bridge was not on the American maps. It was a surprise when they saw it, intact. By quickly adapting the plan of attack, the bridge could be swiftly captured. The “Surprise” bridge proved to be a faster route to reach the Ham bridge north of the monument, the main target of the attack. All the heavy traffic of General Horrocks' XXX Corps crossed this bridge as it advanced towards Arnhem. This was one of the bridges that had to be captured during Operation Market Garden. Despite considerable German resistance from the cemetery behind the monument, the attack on both bridges was successful. Sint-Oedenrode would not be surrendered anymore.

Monument to the Dutch 

Joe MannThis monument is a tribute to the American paratrooper Joe Eugene Mann and all others who fought for the liberation of Best. Joe Mann was an American soldier in the Second World War. He served with the 101st US Army Airborne Division during Operation Market-Garden and was killed in action at Best around the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal on 19 September 1944 by sacrificing himself to save his fellow soldiers. He used his back to absorb the blast of a grenade and thereby saved the lives of his comrades. For this act, he was posthumously awarded the highest US military honour, the Medal of Honor. He is buried at Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane, Washington State, USA.The story of Joe E. Mann only became known in the region later, through a publication by Cees Wittebrood in the 'Bata Koerier' of 22 October 1954, which led to the construction of the Joe Mann Theatre and the Joe Mann War Monument.Reliefs on the monument﻿The reliefs on the monument depict Joe Mann's heroic deed. Sergeant Bertras is depicted on the far left at the front. He threw a hand grenade from the shelter in which Joe Mann was lying with a number of wounded. On the far right is Private Laino, who was seriously wounded in the face when a shell exploded on the barrel of his machine gun. The main motif on the front of the monument depicts Lieutenant Edward Wierszbowski bending over the dying Joe Mann. The images on the front continue, as it were, into the relief on the right of the monument, which shows the wounded Joe Mann in his shelter. The Great Seal of the United States of America (eagle with coat of arms) is depicted on this part of the monument.&nbsp;The small relief on the back depicts St. Odulphus, who appears in the coat of arms of the municipality of Best. Private L. Koller, who was killed by a bullet while sleeping, is depicted on the left. The eagle that appears in the unit crest of the 101st Airborne Division is also depicted there.The base of the monument bears the same text as the 'Medal of Honor': "His extraordinary kindness and his brilliant conduct were a perpetual inspiration to his comrades, for whom he gave his life".The image was designed by Nijmegen artist Ad Berntsen and unveiled by Joe Mann's parents on 17 September 1956 in the presence of Mayor Notermans, the military attaché of the American Embassy in The Hague and 13 Americans of the 101st Airborne Division and many others.<iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eNCJmTG_w9A?showinfo=0"></iframe>

Joe Mann Monument

In the garden and the woods behind the sanatorium, soldiers of the American and German armies fought hard. American paratroopers marched from the dropzone near the hamlet of Sonniuswijk through the woods to the Wilhelmina Canal, with the important mission to capture the bridge. As they emerged from the edge of the woods, they were targeted by the two German 88 mm guns positioned by the canal to defend the bridge.As the sanatorium was already equipped for the care of patients, the US Army set up a field hospital here. Tents were erected in the gardens and operations were carried out in the hospital. Today, the Emilius School and Zonhove residential care facility are located on this site. The spire of the old sanatorium can still be seen.

Sanatorium used as a field hospital 

During the airborne landings at the Sonniuswijk dropzone, as part of Operation Market Garden, and the fierce fighting that followed at the capture of Son and the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal, many soldiers lost their lives. They were buried in Wolfswinkel, together with the dead from the field hospital at the sanatorium in Son. Soldiers of the American Graves Registration wrapped the deceased soldiers in parachutes, German prisoners of war had to dig the graves.Impressive rows of white crosses stood on the grounds. A sign at the entrance to the cemetery read "Here lie the honored dead of the 101st A/B DIV." From 1944 to 1946, several hundred German soldiers were also buried here at the edge of the cemetery. These German soldiers were then reburied in Ysselsteyn in the province of Limburg. The British soldiers were reburied in British war cemeteries in Mierlo and Bergen op Zoom in 1947. Around 1948, relatives of fallen American soldiers were given the choice of reburial in America or a final resting place at the American cemetery in Margraten, Limburg. About 60% of the American dead were thus transferred to the United States. After all the dead were reburied, the cemetery was closed down on 30 May 1949.

Temporary war cemetery in Wolfswinkel

The Vlagheide was part of Drop Zone A. On 17 September 1944, American parachutists of the 101st Airborne Division set foot on Brabant soil for the very first time.&nbsp;This area played a crucial role during Operation Market Garden, when roads and bridges had to be captured to enable the allied army to advance on Arnhem.&nbsp;Despite the speedy liberation of the nearby village of Eerde, the operation did not proceed as planned.&nbsp;A bloody battle took place near the hamlet of Koevering.&nbsp;German troops cut through the corridor and held up the allied advance for forty hours.&nbsp;This appeared to be one of the determining factors in the failure of Operation Market Garden.&nbsp;One of the soldiers engaged in the fighting around the corridor area was Bobby Hunter.Bobby Hunter's personal storyBobby Hunter was one of the first parachutists who jumped out of his aircraft over Eerde on, 17 September, Sunday afternoon. The aircraft transporting the D Company that he was part of, were the first to appear above the marked drop zone. Once the light in the aircraft turned green, he exited the plane. The weather conditions for a jump were ideal, the sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. As they jumped from a relatively low height, there was little opportunity for any corrections. “I floated straight towards the only tree in the entire area. The field had recently been ploughed, and it felt as if I was landing on a cushion, ” Bobby said. After quickly removing his parachute, he wanted to run to the assembly point when he heard the voice of Francis McKeown calling out to him. Francis had jumped right after Bobby and had landed a bit further on. He had hit the ground with one leg in the soft field and the other on the paved road (Koeveringsedijk), severely spraining his ankle as a result. Bobby went to him and, in addition to his own equipment, also carried everything Francis had with him, while supporting him as he limped to the assembly point. Here Francis had to stay behind with the other wounded, to be moved at a later stage to the nuns in Veghel, who helped take care of them. Heavily packed, Bobby and his group set off on the quick march towards the road bridge across the canal in Veghel. Bobby took part in all the fighting around the Corridor area and on 24 September 1944, when his unit was sent to Eerde as reinforcement, his friend Francis, who had just re-joined the unit, fell in battle. This deeply affected Bobby and his comrades, as Francis was a well-liked person within the unit.Bobby often returned to the place where his Market Garden “adventure” had begun and always made sure to pay a visit to the tree where he landed that day.<iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yOk4gE3NNoU?showinfo=0"></iframe>

Vlagheide

On 24 September 1944, during Operation Market Garden, the Mill of St. Anthony was heavily damaged during the fighting in the sand dunes near Eerde. Eerde was a strategically important location, situated on the ‘’German line’’ (Boxtel-Wesel railway line) and the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal. The Americans used the village as a buffer for the bridges in Veghel, whereas German commanders acknowledged the importance of the village for assembling their troops and launching coordinated attacks on the bridges. The battle for the village was harsh and resulted in many casualties. There is a plaque on the mill with the names of the allied soldiers who lost their lives in Eerde, including parachutist Carman Ladner.Carman Ladner's personal storyCarman Ladner enlisted in the paratroopers, a new elite unit within the American army of which he really wanted to be a part. Elaine Smith, his fiancé, was dead against it out of fear that her Carman would be killed in action. They had a row during his last leave, just before he would take off for Europe. Yet Carman left for New York to embark. After he left, Elaine regretted what she had said and travelled from Maine towards New York to look for him. Against all expectations, she found Carman amidst the thousands of men preparing for the big crossing. They patched up their quarrel and promised to write to each other often.However, one day the flow of letters from Carman stopped. Elaine anxiously waited and tried to get in touch with Carman's parents, who lived in the countryside with no electricity or telephone. One day, she found three letters addressed to her in her letterbox. They were her own letters which she had sent to Carman. The word “DECEASED” was stamped on the letters. At that moment, Elaine was confronted with the bitter truth that the love of her life was no more. Her life fell apart. Because they weren't married, the official notification of him being killed in action was sent to his parents who did not know how to get in touch with Elaine. At a later stage, she received the message that he was MIA – Missing in Action. But the hope that he would return soon faded. Elaine found out the full facts of his death in 2006, during a visit to Eerde.The letters of Carman and Elaine, including the three “DECEASED” letters, are on display at the Geronimo Museum in the mill, as are several other personal items relating to this story.A passage from one of the letters written by Carman to Elaine: “I love the paratroops, although we know that if we ever…and we will…go over, chances are that 90% of us will never come back. We know that, but it doesn't bother us.&nbsp;We are trained just for special missions, and we know even though we may get “knocked off”, maybe we saved a few hundred lives. That is why we are Paratroopers. "For more personal stories, please visit the Brabant Remembers website: <a href="https://www.brabantremembers.com/strijd-1944/hier-verrees-mijn-phoenix-uit-zijn-as" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: blue;">"Here my phoenix rose from its ashes"</a><iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uNaMEFHBubo?showinfo=0"></iframe>

The Mill of St. Anthony

Eerde near Veghel was one of the first villages to be liberated During Operation Market Garden. This massive airborne operation began on the 17th of September 1944. Thousands of American, British and Polish paratroopers landed at different drop zones near Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. Their mission was to seize and hold the roads and bridges as quickly as possible, so the XXXth British Corps could advance along the road to Arnhem.Paratroopers from the US 501st Parachute Regiment Infantry landed here at Eerde. Among other objectives, they captured the windmill and used it as a lookout post. But Operation Market Garden did not go as planned. On the 24th of September, German troops launched a counterattack from the Eerdse Bergen on the narrow strip of land that had been captured, the corridor. This attack proved fatal for the success of Market Garden. What’s more, the windmill was destroyed by German artillery.The Americans moved their lookout post to the church tower. This was also destroyed by German troops during the fighting. An American paratrooper did succeed in placing the American flag on the remains of the tower. Eerde remained in American hands.<iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uNaMEFHBubo?showinfo=0"></iframe>

The observation posts over the battlefield at Eerde

The advance of the British 30th Corps to secure the bridges captured by U.S. Airborne forces, met with fierce German resistance. The 30th Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, launched its attack on the morning of 17 September from a small bridgehead across the Maas-Schelde Canal, just inside of Belgium. Initially all went well. The first objective was to relieve the airborne forces near Eindhoven on the evening of day one. The Airborne forces in Arnhem, which were the furthest away, were supposed to be relieved within four days at the latest. This ambitious time schedule could not be carried out. The village of St. Oedenrode was the scene of ferocious counterattacks by German forces in their efforts to cut the Allied corridor north to Nijmegen and Arnhem. For days the bridge over the river Dommel was the focus of these counterattacks.Between 24 and 26 September 1944 a bloody battle raged in the low hills around Koevering and Eerde, two hamlets near St. Oedenrode. The German Jungwirth Battalion succeeded in cutting off the road here and managed to halt the Allied advance for almost 40 hours. As a result, vital supplies and reinforcements remained stuck in the Brabant area. The road was finally recaptured and cleared on 26 September. On that same day, the British decided to evacuate their troops from Oosterbeek near Arnhem. The bold plan to push on to northern Germany via the Dutch river bridges could not be carried out. Operation Market Garden had failed.

Hell's Highway

Robert Cole and Joe Mann

Liberation from the air

Operation Market Garden relied heavily on the ability of the airborne forces to seize and hold a number of key bridges over rivers and canals in the Netherlands. It could however not be expected of the airborne forces to hold the bridges indefinitely. The paratroopers carried only light arms and limited supplies. This made them extremely vulnerable to armoured attacks from German forces. It was therefore vital to relieve these forces as soon as possible. This task was given to the British 30th Corps under command of general Horrocks. From a small bridgehead across the Maas-Schelde Canal just inside of Belgium, the corps launched its attack. The first objective for the 30th Corps was to relieve the airborne forces near Eindhoven within a day. The troops in Arnhem, which were the furthest away, were expected to be relieved within four days at the latest. These objectives were not achieved. The advance of the ground units took place along a narrow front. The troops depended largely on a two-lane road running north along the axis of advance. This made the 30th Corps vulnerable to German counterattacks which occurred frequently and were ferocious in nature. The advance route was under constant, murderous fire. Many lives were lost. The British and Americans therefore called it ‘Hell's Highway’. The setbacks slowed the advance of the ground troops and meant that in the end, they could not relieve the besieged airborne forces in Arnhem which led to the failure of Operation Market Garden.

To secure the strategic bridges captured earlier by airborne forces, the Allied ground troops of Operation Market Garden, created a narrow front along a two-lane road heading north. This made their advance vulnerable to counterattacks on both flanks. Soon they came under constant, murderous fire. Therefore this route became known as ‘Hell's Highway’.

Operation Market Garden relied heavily on the ability of the airborne forces to seize and hold a number of key bridges over rivers and canals in the Netherlands. It could however not be expected of the airborne forces to hold the bridges indefinitely. The paratroopers carried only light arms and limited supplies. This made them extremely vulnerable to armoured attacks from German forces. It was therefore vital to relieve these forces as soon as possible. This task was given to the British 30th Corps under command of general Horrocks.

From a small bridgehead across the Maas-Schelde Canal just inside of Belgium, the corps launched its attack. The first objective for the 30th Corps was to relieve the airborne forces near Eindhoven within a day. The troops in Arnhem, which were the furthest away, were expected to be relieved within four days at the latest. These objectives were not achieved.

The advance of the ground units took place along a narrow front. The troops depended largely on a two-lane road running north along the axis of advance. This made the 30th Corps vulnerable to German counterattacks which occurred frequently and were ferocious in nature. The advance route was under constant, murderous fire. Many lives were lost. The British and Americans therefore called it ‘Hell's Highway’.

The setbacks slowed the advance of the ground troops and meant that in the end, they could not relieve the besieged airborne forces in Arnhem which led to the failure of Operation Market Garden.

Hell’s Highway

Go back in time to the liberation of the Netherlands: the sound of roaring fighter plane engines, heroic pilots and American paratroopers. The museum is situated in the area where, on 17 September 1944, airborne operations as part of Operation Market Garden marked the beginning of the liberation of the southern Netherlands. The timeline comprises the entire period from the occupation in 1940 and the repression years 1940-1944, through to the liberation in the final months of 1944. The museum has an extensive collection including dioramas, photos, tanks, aircraft, and weaponry that was actually used in Operation Market Garden. <iframe class="ql-video" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eNCJmTG_w9A?showinfo=0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Go back in time to the liberation of the Netherlands: the sound of roaring fighter plane engines, heroic pilots and American paratroopers.

The Wings of Liberation Museum tells the compelling story of the liberation of the southern Netherlands at the end of World War II. The museum is situated in the area where, on 17 September 1944, airborne operations as part of Operation Market Garden marked the beginning of the liberation of the southern Netherlands. The timeline comprises the entire period from the occupation in 1940 and the repression years 1940-1944, through to the liberation in the final months of 1944.

The museum has an extensive collection including dioramas, photos, tanks, aircraft, and weaponry that was actually used in Operation Market Garden.

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