Deliver Us From Darkness

by Ian Gardner

  Photograph of 3/506 taken by teenager Piet van Heeswijk while visiting his fiancé Rieky Janssen, who lived with her family at 82 Frankrijkstraat. (Piet van Heeswijk via Tom Peeters)

  This scout car from the Household Cavalry was the first British vehicle to arrive in Vlokhoven around 1300hrs on September 18. This same vehicle later went on to make contact with H/502 at Best. (John Reeder via D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center, St-Côme-du-Mont)

  506th PIR commander, Col Robert Sink salutes Gen Taylor as he departs the forward CP at Vlokhoven. Taylor visited the Girls School at 1335hrs to advise Sink about relocating to the former German HQ in Eindhoven. (John Reeder via D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center, St-Côme-du-Mont)

  Troops from the 506th PIR moving along Frankrijkstraat on their way into Eindhoven. (Tom Timmermans)

  Local farmers from Son helping the 506th PIR move supplies and equipment into Eindhoven. (Piet van Heeswijk via Tom Peeters)

  Rieky Janssen smiling at the camera hands a peach to a passing soldier from 3/506. (Piet van Heeswijk via Tom Peeters)

  A soldier from 3rd Bn, probably from the MG Ptn, advancing along Boschdijk carrying an A-6 machine gun. (Tini van der Voort via Tom Peeters)

  The crowds begin to gather as members of 3/506 reach the Texaco Groot Tourisme Service Station at the junction between Boschdijk and Marconilaan. (J. J. M. van Kruijsdijk via Tom Peeters)

  Paratroopers from the 506th PIR searching German prisoners near the Philips Company electricity sub station on Lijmbeekstraat just off Boschdijk. (Tom Timmermans)

  As German influence collapsed many unofficial “resistance workers” took to the streets such as this group outside the Van Abbe Museum of Art. (Hendrik Beens)

  Capt William “Bill” Leach, Regimental Intelligence Officer (S2). (Currahee Scrapbook)

  17-year-old Leonardus “Leo” Jeucken joined 3rd Bn as an irregular and fought with HQ Company up until his death at Opheusden on October 5, 1944. (Bernard Florissen – Opheusden)

  3/506 gathering in Eindhoven while waiting to be deployed. (Hendrik Beens)

  Troops from 2nd Bn searching POWs at Elzentbrug. Mainly Luftwaffe personnel captured at Hagekampweg-Zuid by the local resistance. Nowadays the bridge is near the finish for the annual Eindhoven Marathon. (Tom Timmermans)

  More prisoners are brought in by the 506th PIR accompanied by Dutch police officers. (Currahee Scrapbook)

  German POWs waiting to be processed outside Don Bosco School (now called De Trinoom) along Bilderdijklaan, not far from the Art Museum. (Tom Timmermans)

  This picture of a 3rd Bn trooper posing with locals at Stratumseind, close to St Catharina Church was taken shortly after the 506th arrived in Eindhoven. A few hours later, when the British arrived, the streets were packed with people. (Tom Peeters)

  Mail clerk, Cpl Richard Stockhouse (left) from Indiana and Assistant S1 2nd Lt John Weisenberger both seem to be enjoying the moment. (Hendrik Beens)

  24-year-old Cpl Harry Buxton and Sgt Norman Capels are pictured with 22-year-old Francisca Janssen and her sister. Francisca (right). (Hendrik Beens, Tom Peeters, Tom Timmermans, and Jell Jansen)

  Cpl Nathan Bullock from the Machine Gun Ptn, seen here on the raised lawn outside the Van Abbe Museum of Art admiring a pair of souvenir clogs. Bullock is also sporting a lapel broach, which like the shoes was most probably a gift from a member of the local population. (Tom Timmermans)

  A modern view of Den Elzent, which became the command post for Col Sink and Maj Oliver Horton, 3/506, from late afternoon of September 18 to 21.

  The Catholic Community Centre on de Wal, became the command post for Regimental HQ Company on September 18. (John Reeder via D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center, St-Côme-du-Mont)

  US troops moving through the Demer area which was destroyed during the bombing by the RAF on December 6, 1942. Note the twin towers of the St Catharina Church at Stratumseind in the background. (Tom Peeters)

  3rd Bn Executive Officer Capt Robert Harwick (left), Maj Oliver Horton (3Bn commander), and possibly Sgt Donald Embody (HQ Co) touring the Demer area. Note the peach in Harwick’s left hand and the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver on Horton’s belt. (Tom Timmermans)

  Post-war aerial view of Sint Joris College. (Eindhoven Regional Historical Center)

  British vehicles trying to enter the city begin to back up along “P. Czn. Hooftlaan.” Note the main gate to Den Elzent (506 regimental command post) on far right of picture. (John Reeder via D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center, St-Côme-du-Mont)

  A British ammunition truck exploded and set fire to a number of dwellings in Hertogstraat, including the headquarters of the renowned marching band Apollo’s Lust. It was virtually impossible to evacuate the residents of the affected areas, even though Sint Joris College had been converted into an emergency reception centre. Even the spirit of Eindhoven, Frits Philips’ boyhood home, De Laak on Nachtegaallaan, was damaged by fire. The worst tragedy occurred at the entrance to one of the public shelters on the northern edge of the city at Biesterweg, where almost 50 people were killed.

  A large crowd looking for missing relatives began to gather at City Hall. Frans Kortie was the only person from the council who turned up, and he did his utmost to assist the worried families. In total 227 civilians were killed during the bombing, and 800 were wounded. Three men from Regimental HQ were also killed, including Sgt Bill Myers, who three weeks earlier had led the honor guard during the ceremony for the missing at Littlecote House. A Jewish family, the De Wits, who had been in hiding for several years, had been storing their belongings at a friend’s house on Potgeiterstraat, which was also destroyed in the bombing.

  Before the raid, Woenselsestraat, on the northeastern edge of the city, was clogged with tanks, artillery, armored cars, trucks, and jeeps as Jos Klerkx recalled:

  Later in the afternoon, we were told to evacuate as a large group of enemy tanks from the 107th Armored Brigade had been sighted near the village of Nuenen [four miles northeast of Woensel] heading in our direction. Not knowing if, or when, we would be coming back, we put on as many layers of clothing as possible. The authorities instructed the neighborhood to move on foot to the center of the city, but it was getting dark by the time we left Woensel.

  We had just reached the Boys School when the first aircraft came over from the east. As the bombs began to fall, my family took cover behind a nearby stone building. Mother started praying out loud and we all quickly followed suit. A German aircraft strafed the street and the British opened fire with everything they had; the noise was incredible as the enemy pressed home their attack.

  One plane crashed nearby sending pieces of flaming wreckage hurtling over our heads. After the raid, we were told that the German armor supposedly approaching Nuenen were no longer a threat, so my parents decided it was time for us to go home. The road was full of debris from damaged buildings but despite this Vlokhoven remained totally untouched. The next day a newspaper boy arrived selling copies of Eindhovens Dagblad [Eindhoven Daily News] and I vividly remember that the pages were edged with a black border as a mark of respect to the victims of the raid.

  Along Boschdijk, Jenny van Hout was taking part in a street party when she heard the sound of the approaching aircraft. “My brother guessed correctly that they were German because of the high-pitched engine noise and everybody started shouting, ‘Orange fire, orange fire’ and the party came to an abrupt end. My father quickly collected Mr and Mrs Faber, who lived opposite at number 249, as we fled around the corner to a shelter below the bakery in De Ruyterstraat. Luckily none of the ammunition trucks parked along the street were hit, because the consequences would have been utterly devastating.”

  Before first light the following morning, 3rd Bn returned to Eindhoven, while G Co remained behind at the airfield. Bob Harwick soon began to realize how fortunate the battalion had been: “Moving through streets strewn with glass and burning embers, several people timidly inquired if we were German. With daylight we found that the damage wasn’t as great a
s we’d first imagined but so many people had been killed and injured.” It was a sobering thought for all concerned, that despite the earlier carnival atmosphere, the Germans were still a force to be reckoned with as Jim McCann recalled: “When we came back to Eindhoven, the people believed that we’d received inside information about the raid. It was only after the Dutch underground, who had been with us all along, explained the situation, that good feeling and friendship returned.”

  The 3rd Bn reoccupied its original positions at Sint Joris College and were placed on standby in regimental reserve. Medic T/5 Mainard “Cliff” Clifton became the last person from the unit to die during the liberation of Eindhoven. John Gibson remembers: “I think Cliff was shot in the kidneys on September 19, and died the following day.” During the night 1/506 (less A Co) was sent to Son, to assist 1/327 GIR, along with a company from 326 Airborne Engineers, to defend the Bailey bridge. This was well timed because shortly after dawn on September 20, the German 107th Panzer Brigade launched another attack against the crossing.

  LtGen Brereton and Gen Taylor met with Col Sink, at Den Elzent, to discuss the worsening situation. As a result A Company were sent to Nederwetten, and two companies from 2nd Bn were recalled to Nuenen, along with elements of 15/19 Hussars.

  Another British unit, the 44th Armored Regiment, was also attached to the 101st and sent to Helmond in a further attempt to destroy the enemy tanks. The 2nd Bn established a CP at Tongelre, on the eastern edge of Eindhoven, from where two roads led directly to Nuenen and Geldrop. It was obvious that the Germans might attempt a breakthrough towards their forces fighting at Best, therefore the regiment was keen to gather more intelligence about what was happening east of the city.

  A friend of John van Kooijk – Mr Van Lierop – who lived along the Nuenen road, volunteered to supply information to the 506th. Early on the morning of September 20, acting on information provided byVan Lierop, Ed Shames and “John the Dutchman” visited Nuenen, where John’s family were living. The two men were unable to reach the center of town because the German Panzer Brigade was closing in from Eckart. Standing behind a tank (most likely from the 44th Armored Regt), Shames and Van Kooijk were surprised by the lack of aggression shown by the British, who did not fire on the enemy although they were clearly within range. Afterwards, Shames and Van Kooijk were driven to Schijndel but were forced to withdraw at Sint Oedenrode due to the continued heavy fighting around Best. The various task forces were unsuccessful in stopping the enemy, and as darkness fell, the troops returned to Eindhoven to protect the city.

  After the 506th finally departed from Eindhoven, the Royal Artillery established a number of heavy gun positions along Boschdijk, and the Scots Guards set up a field hospital, HQ, and kitchens at the Theresia Catholic School on Barrierweg. The dead were buried in a makeshift cemetery next door to the school and the graves were later cared for by the Dutch. Many British servicemen were billeted with local families like Jenny Soon’s, who befriended two men, John Lambert, a Royal Engineer from London, and airman Len Mills from Liverpool. Len’s detachment was now occupying the Obam Garage across the street, which had been slightly damaged during the recent bombing. Ten-year-old schoolgirl Jo van Dongen (neé Van der Water) also lived on Boschdijk: “The day after the big raid we had several Englishmen living in our home. One guy, a cook from the Royal Army Service Corps, procured extra food for my family and was quite a bit older than Trooper Jeffries, from the 15/19 Hussars. On September 20, before leaving in the morning, Jeffries hung his rosary beads over my mother’s fireplace and said that they would protect us from harm. Later that afternoon we learned that the poor fellow had been killed at Best.” Several days later, Jan van Hout and his school chums decided to follow a convoy of vehicles along Boschdijk, hoping to get a closer view of the fighting at Best. When the boys arrived at the Wilhelmina Canal, Scottish troops from the 15th Infantry Division would not let them pass, as Jan cheekily recalls. “We told the ‘Tommies’ that we lived on the northern side of the canal and had to get home as our mums and dads would be worried sick, so they let us through! We spent the rest of the afternoon ‘sightseeing’ and when it was time to return, told the soldiers the same story and they let us back across the bridge.” It is interesting to note that despite successful operations elsewhere in the region, Best was not liberated until October 24, 1944.

  The new “guests” introduced their hosts to the music of Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, and Vera Lynn. Joop van Ginderen’s mother took in laundry from the hospital at Theresia Catholic School to earn a little extra money. “Things started to return to normal. Despite the occasional food parcel from the British, life didn’t get much easier but at least the people of Eindhoven were now free.”

  When the Allied battle lines were drawn along the corridor to Arnhem, nearly 300,000 German troops were trapped in the Netherlands. At their disposal was an almost unlimited supply of tanks, self-propelled guns, and 88s.

  8

  “No time to bleed”

  Hell’s Highway – September 21–October 1, 1944

  By September 21 the German 107th Armored Brigade had joined forces with two other fighting groups and turned away from Son to focus its attention further north, launching a series of ferocious attacks along the “supply corridor” transport hubs of Sint Oedenrode, Veghel, and Uden. The town of Veghel stood equidistant between Sint Oedenrode and Uden. Veghel was crucial due to its position on the road networks, railway system, and its close proximity to the Zuid–Willems–Vaart Canal. Due to the constant German attacks the 40-mile stretch of road between Eindhoven and Arnhem became almost impossible to keep open. The fighting became so fierce along the route that the 101st Airborne Division named the road “Hell’s Highway.”

  Fortunately, the 101st now had a limited number of rocket-firing RAF Typhoons at its disposal, but there were still other operational issues as Hank DiCarlo recalls:

  The British Army could be quite inflexible, but sometimes they were prepared to take ad lib orders and go off-road to support our infantry. However, we soon discovered that once provoked they proved to be a worthy ally. I wasn’t alone in believing that we owned the highway, because when the Germans managed to interrupt the flow of traffic, we promptly attacked and restored order. I remember the first time we went into Veghel, the Germans were shelling the town and we were running from doorway to doorway. As we reached the town square, I could hardly believe my eyes: amidst all the shelling were British tanks, jeeps, and trucks all parked up as the troops stopped for a tea break. The other amazing thing about the British was how they could subsist and fight, considering the food they were issued. We were allotted the same 24-hour ration packs during our stint in Holland. I mean our K rations were bad enough, but compared to bully beef and rock-hard biscuits, packed in tins dated 1918, the US stuff was haute cuisine. I didn’t smoke but I am reliably informed that smoking the British Woodbine cigarettes [also called coffin nails] was like inhaling wet hay.

  At 0930hrs on September 20, Gen Brereton established his HQ in the 506th CP at Den Elzent, and before heading to Brussels for a conference, he met with Gen Taylor and Col Sink. After the meeting, Regimental Liason Officer Capt Dick Meason was asked to form a patrol (supported by a squad from I Co) and go to Best to discuss the possible surrender of the German garrison. Under a flag of truce, with Dental Officer Capt Sammy “Shifty” Feiler acting as translator, the patrol visited the German commander at the Bata shoe factory south of the Wilhelmina Canal, but the commander vowed never to capitulate.

  The previous afternoon, Daniel II had received intelligence reports from a KP group east of Veghel, that a sizable enemy force was planning an attack 22 miles north of Eindhoven, at Uden. There were unanswered questions regarding the enemy disposition on the western flank of the regiment. Col Sink thought it might be possible for the Germans to launch an assault from the industrial town of Tilburg. Previous aerial reconnaissance had shown that the Germans were using the city as a depot for operations in the northeast.

>   Ed Shames and John van Kooijk were elected to go to Tilburg and assess the situation, using the Philips telephone lines at the de Volt factory. The doctor from Veghel had a colleague who lived two miles east of the city in the village of Oisterwijk, and who agreed to look after the team. Oisterwijk was situated close to the main railway line, where sizable ammunition and medical supply depots were located.

  From Eindhoven, the doctor drove Shames and Van Kooijk to Nuenen, where Van Kooijk was able to briefly meet up with his family. “Afterwards we traveled towards Best, before diverting to Uden as part of the regimental recon for a meeting with a local resistance group,” recalls Ed Shames. “The doctor dropped us off in the Opel on the outskirts of town, where we rendezvoused with Milo [head of the southern command local resistance] and a couple of his men who decided to drive us to the village of Zeeland, situated three miles northeast of Uden.” When the men arrived, John went into the local unisex hairdressers on Kerkstraat 50, and asked the barber if he knew anything about the whereabouts of the enemy.

  The owner of the salon, Martien van Ganzewinkel, told John that the Germans had gone and, as far as he knew, Ed was the first American paratrooper to enter the town. “I just couldn’t resist the temptation and there and then decided to have a shave and a haircut, while John waited outside in the car with Milo.” The lieutenant was shocked to learn that one of the 32-year-old barber’s seven siblings, Piet, lived in the same town – Portsmouth, Virginia – as his older sister, Anna.*

  During the late evening of September 21, Ed Shames, Van Kooijk, and Milo arrived at the spacious home of 56-year-old Dr Frans De Sain and his family in Oisterwijk. Milo’s vehicle was parked out of sight in the doctor’s garage, situated behind the large outer wall surrounding the house. “A couple of guys from the local resistance group were already waiting and quickly ushered us upstairs into the attic towards the back of the house,” recalls Shames.