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Joe's Bridge is the nickname given to Bridge No.9 on the Bocholt-Herentals Canal outside the town of Neerpelt, in the Belgian city of Lommel just south of the Belgian-Dutch border. [1] The bridge was captured by British troops in September 1944, becoming the springboard for the ground offensive of Operation Market-Garden.[ citation needed ]
While the Welsh Guards engaged the German forces around Hechtel, the Irish Guards advanced rapidly north-east through the villages of Eksel, Overpelt and Neerpelt, and launched their combined infantry-tank assault, with artillery support, from the grounds of the zinc processing factory in Overpelt and took the bridge undamaged. The capture of the bridge completed the encirclement of German troops in Hechtel. German units tried for some days to recapture the bridge from the north but were driven off, once with bayonets. Once the bridge was secure, men of the 615th Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, set about repairing it, while the Irish Guards secured a bridgehead along the N69 main road towards Valkenswaard. Some 1.9 mi (3 km) to the west, in the center of Lommel, SS troops had placed 40 randomly selected Belgian civilians in the street, at machine gun-point, as a human shield. The swift advance of the British from the east prevented a massacre. The Germans held the north side of the canal up to 17 September, apart from the area around the bridge. The bridge became known as "Joe's Bridge", after Lieutenant–Colonel Joe Vandeleur, or possibly because the Royal Engineers troop who repaired it was known as "Joe's Troop".
The bridge was rebuilt after the Second World War and a memorial below the southern edge of the bridge records its famous name. The Irish Guards Memorial is on the northern bank, on a side-road off the road to Valkenswaard. Joe's Bridge is on the "Airborne trail", a |140 mi (225 km) footpath from Lommel to Arnhem, created as a permanent reminder of Operation Market-Garden by the Dutch hiking associationOllandse Lange Afstand Tippelaars (OLAT). [2] It was officially opened in September 2004, during the festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the Liberation.
Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined US and British airborne forces ("Market") followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges ("Garden").
The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was formed in late 1941 during the Second World War, after the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, demanded an airborne force, and was initially under command of Major-General Frederick A. M. "Boy" Browning. The division was one of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, with the other being the 6th Airborne Division, created in May 1943, using former units of the 1st Airborne Division.
The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was created in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1941 during the Second World War from elements of the Guards units, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, and the Household Cavalry.
The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being the 1st Airborne Division. The 6th Airborne Division was formed in the Second World War, in mid-1943, and was commanded by Major-General Richard N. Gale. The division consisted of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades along with the 6th Airlanding Brigade and supporting units.
XXX Corps was a corps of the British Army during the Second World War. The corps was formed in the Western Desert in September 1941. It provided extensive service in the North African Campaign and many of its units were in action at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942. It then took part in the Tunisia Campaign and formed the left flank during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.
The Irish Guards (IG) is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infantry regiments in the British Army. The regiment has participated in campaigns in the First World War, the Second World War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan as well as numerous other operations throughout its history. The Irish Guards claim six Victoria Cross recipients, four from the First World War and two from the Second World War.
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century conqueror of southern Britain.
Operation Varsity was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it is the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location.
The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
This is the complete order of battle of Allied and German forces involved during Operation Market Garden.
John Ormsby Evelyn Vandeleur, DSO and Bar, usually known as Joe Vandeleur from his initials, was an Anglo-Irish British Army officer who served in the Second World War.
Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Alexander Meysey Vandeleur, DSO was a British Army officer during the Second World War.
Operation Berlin was a night-time evacuation of the remnants of the beleaguered British 1st Airborne Division, in German-occupied territory north of the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden in the Second World War. The aim of the operation was to withdraw the remnants of the division while covered by the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade and surrounded on three sides by more German troops with more heavy equipment and tanks and being in danger of encirclement.
The 442d Operations Group is an active United States Air Force Reserve unit. It is the flying component of the Tenth Air Force 442d Fighter Wing, stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
The Battle of Geel, also known as the Battle of the Geel Bridgehead, was a battle between British and German troops near Geel (Gheel) in Belgium. It occurred between 8 and 23 September 1944 and was one of the largest and bloodiest battles to occur during the first phase of the Liberation of Belgium.
The 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was created in late 1942 by the conversion of the 13th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment to parachute duties. The battalion was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, serving alongside the 7th and 9th Parachute battalions, in the 1st Airborne Division before being reassigned to help form the 6th Airborne Division in May 1943.
55th (Wessex) Field Regiment was a unit of the Royal Artillery in Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA). Its origin was a brigade organised in 1927 from the former West Somerset Yeomanry and field batteries from Wiltshire. Just before the outbreak of World War II the Wiltshire elements were separated to form a second regiment, after which the 55th (Wessex) was often referred to simply as the West Somerset Yeomanry (WSY). It served in Home Forces for the first part of the war, but in 1942 it was assigned to the Guards Armoured Division and served with that formation throughout the campaign in North West Europe, from Normandy to the German surrender in 1945. It continued as an artillery regiment in the postwar TA until 1967.
The Bocholt–Herentals Canal is a canal in Belgium that links the Zuid-Willemsvaart at Bocholt with the Albert Canal in Herentals, with a length of slightly over 60 kilometres. It is one of the seven canals linking the rivers Meuse and Scheldt.
The Liberation of Belgium from German occupation began on 2 September 1944 when Allied forces entered the province of Hainaut and was completed on 4 February 1945 with the liberation of the village of Krewinkel. The liberation came after four years of German-occupied rule. The Belgian government was returned to power on 8 September 1944 after Allied forces had captured Brussels four days earlier.
The Battle of Nijmegen, also known as the Liberation of Nijmegen, occurred from 17 to 20 September 1944, as part of Operation Market Garden during World War II.
