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After the regiment has rested in the vicinity of Leichester, England, and is supplemented with new recruits, they are prepared for the next assignment: “Market Garden”
To avoid mistakes during the dismount, E-company sits at the tail of the formation heading to drop zone “O”. They approach their destination, the throttle on the engines is reduced, the light turns green. Thompson, as jumpmaster, assesses the landscape in the doorway that is slipping away beneath him, wait a moment, a little too much construction, then a fairly flat terrain, now jump, GO! GO! GO!
Wait a moment, a little too much buildings, then a fairly flat terrain, now jump, GO! GO! GO!
The straps of the harness hit the body, then concentrate on the rapidly approaching earth, with a big thump the jump is over, barely ten minutes later he has gathered his group. Supplies dropped separately have been collected, counting noses, hey, 4 men are missing. Found, splashing and spluttering sounds are coming from a waterway nearby. One man has gone under and is having the greatest difficulty getting his head above water. The weight of supplies tied to his body pulls him down. Bad luck, the radio is also included, so he can forget about connecting with Commander VanPoyck. An orderly is sent to the rear with the message that the group is heading towards the bridge, the company's number 1 objective.
Shots can be heard from the city, but here in the field they hardly notice them.
When they advance to the bridge, using the cover of ditches and ditches as much as possible, they still come under heavy fire, and the flak on the tower on the south side of the bridge is also heard. As they get closer, they get some protection from bushes and are clearly under the flak's field of fire.
A quick consultation, Thompson and his group will provide fire cover, while the other group makes a detour towards the pumping station. Thompson sees Germans running back and forth between the pumping station and the bridge, are they going to destroy the bridge? So close, that won't happen to him. The Germans are fired upon, 4 or 5 of them are shot. The flak and the machine gun nests behind them are fired upon and the bazooka team looks for position to fire on the high-placed guns. The first shot is wrong, somewhere at the foot of the concrete colossus. The second grenade is better, a hit close under the parapet surrounding the flak. One edge is completely blown away, the crew is disabled. The job is actually done, vehicles arriving from the fortress city approach so innocently that you assume that they do not realize that the area around the bridge has been designated a battlefield since this afternoon. At the end of the afternoon the first men of F company reached Thompson. An orderly is sent out with the message “bridge eleven is ours”.
