Dramatic Glider Landing behind enemy lines
101st Airborne Division / 401st Glider Infantry Regiment.

On September 18th, the second day of the Market Garden operation, the 101st airborne division was waiting for her glider infantry regiment. This was the 327th GIR.
Their departure from England was postponed due to the bad weather. Finely, with some hours delay, they departed.

From Aldermaston airfield, C-47s of the 434th Troop Carrier Group would tow gliders to the LZ located north of Son. The 434th would do this job with two serials. Each of these serials was compiled by two of the Groups four squadrons. Serial A-35 was flown by the 72nd and 74th TCS and serial A-47 by the 73rd and 71st TCS.

Capt. Towns and his men were among those who would fly with this first serial. The airborne outfits flown over in this serial were elements of the HQ-company, A-company and C-company of the 401st GIR  as well as elements of the 327th GIR HQ and Division Artillery HQ (among these later one was Gen. McAuliffe).
The 401st Glider Infantry Regiment was split up between the Glider Regiments of the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions.

The glider of captain Towns before taking of to the Netherlands

There was a shortage of glider pilots during this operation. Airborne soldiers and officers were given the task to fly as co-pilot on the gliders, mostly after a few minute course on how to fly the machine. Capt. Preston E. Towns would fly this mission as co-pilot for 72nd Troop Carrier Squadron glider pilot Carey M. Lee.
The flight to Holland led them over the western islands of Zeeland towards the town of Vucht/Boxtel. Not much had happened until then. German anti aircraft fire hot the tow ship. It was clear that the tug was going down. Probably the glider release handle didn’t work and Capt. Towns broke the Plexiglas window and cut the tow rope with his knife.
The glider was able to land safely near the hamlet Liempde, near the Smalderstraat.

Here we pick up the story of Jo van Eindhoven. He lived in the centre of  Liempde. At that time he was 24 years old.  Everyone knew each other in a small village as Liempde. Most resisted the German occupation.
Mr. Van Eindhoven:
On the second day of the operation, two gliders were forced to land a few 100 metres behind the farm of the De Beers family. This was near the Smalderstraat.
About 80 allied soldiers hid behind the house. I was warned by Curate Vogels and went to the soldiers to help them reach their lines.
The soldiers walked on two sides of the road. I walked in the middle with the commanding Captain. Some distance ahead of our group were my brother Theo, Bert Scheuntjes and Nelis Traa. They checked every crossroad to warn the group if necessary.
The Americans were trained to operate behind enemy lines. This was shown when somewhere a rifle went off. In a flash, I was the only one standing on the road. The Captain and the soldiers had left the road for cover in the ditches. We, civilians, didn’t know what to do, so we stayed on the road, not realizing what was happening.
Near the “Dire Baarsjes” (Three Perches) some planes had dropped supply bundles. The Captain aksed if we could hide these bundles. Theo and Bert did this while we moved on.
That last part of the trip, Nelis Traa was the only one who advanced ahead of our group.
After reaching the LZ, I was brought to a HQ in a monastery by jeep to provide information about the situation at Liempde.
I went back to the group I had guided to the LZ and stayed with them for a few days.
Mr. Van Eindhoven was cut off from his village. He wouldn’t see his village back until it was liberated in October 1944.

The place where the glider landed and the route the troopers toke to reach the original landingzone

Another story which was printed in “Fighting with the Screaming Eagles” by Robert Bowen. He wrote:
Just after dark Captain Towns’ glider load straggled in, and not long afterward the other mission two. They had all been led through the German lined by volunteers in the Dutch resistance. The 1st Platoon lost one of his best, however. Pappy Bates had been badly injured when his glider had cracked up eight miles short of the LZ. Nevertheless, he hid his injury until reaching our assembly area where he collapsed. A broken rib had punctured his lung but wasn’t found when he was taken to the aid station. He was taped up and sent back to fight.
Then we follow Bowen on his story after he reached “the Island” the area between Nijmegen and Arnhem. His outfit enters the area at dark.
I heard someone hit the ground ahead, then passed someone with medics bending over him. It was Pappy Bates who had been injured in the crash the day we landed and had gone to the aid station for treatment. The doctors there did not find his broken ribs, taped him up and sent him back. He must have been in great pain for a week, yet said nothing. Now he lay with a rib puncturing his lung. He died later that night.

Pfc Forrest H. Bates died on October 7th.

Author: Hans den Brok

Used sources:
Market Garden Then and Now – Karel Margry
Verdwenen Kerkhoven – G.Thuring & J. Hey
Bezet en Bevrijd, Liempde 1944
Interview Mr. J. van Eindhoven