The elimination of this German 88mm gun (there were two) by F Company, 506th PIR at the entry of Eindhoven cleared the way to the city.

The barrel was pointed towards Kloosterdreef Straat and fired three shots point blank at Pvt. Robert W. Sherwood and S/Sgt. John H. Taylor the the 1st squad clearing their heads by only ten feet and damaging some houses in the process. The guns were hit directly with a rifle grenade by Pvt. Homer Smith of the 2nd squad and finished off with a round of mortar.

These 88 mm guns were mounted on 4-wheel trailers, towed on specially fitted lorries. When in action arms with jacks were swung out to form a secure firing platform. The dual purpose weapon could shoot down aircraft as readily as knock-out ground targets. For that time, this gun was extremely mobile, very accurate and could swiftly be ready to fire.

Also pictured here is one of the German gunners who is being searched by a paratrooper from F Company, armed with a M1928A1 Thompson submachine gun. There were some 41 German prisoners captured and taken to the POW collecting point established in the Don Bosco Elementary School on Don Bosco Straat, but not before being paraded through the streets of Eindhoven, courtesy of the 506th.

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer”
~ Corrie Ten Boom, Dutch survivor through WWII

The people of Holland have never forgotten their liberators and show appreciation and respect to this very day.

COMES A Soldier’s Whisper remembering history and our soldiers one day at a time….

For videos, shared stories, book excerpt or book purchase, visit our website.

Photo/Text Source: Orange is the Color of the Day