We awoke this morning in Eindhoven, Holland with a plan to drive up Hell’s Highway (well you can’t really drive up it as most of the way has been converted to bicycle and pedestrian trails) and follow the path of the Allied Operation Market-Garden. We were so excited and got a quick breakfast and were on the road by 8:30am.

Goedemorgen from Eindhoven Bridge! Eindhoven was the smallest of the 3 bridges and really is just a small 2-lane draw bridge over a canal. Not much at the 101st Airborne Memorial that was nearby as the screaming Eagle insignia has been removed but it says “For those who here fell”.

As we stood there, looking around the bridge and the canal, I was caught up in the thought that so much life was lost on this operation that ultimately failed. I think that this was a politically and socially motivated attempt to end the war by Christmas, which was impossible to know at the time, but was also overly ambitious with so many moving parts all relying on each other for ultimate success. The first bridge at Eindhoven was the linchpin and had it failed the whole operation most likely would have been aborted.

Here is a look at the area around the Eindhoven Bridge from Holland ‘44 from GMT Games, which is one of my favorite games covering Operation Market-Garden. After seeing the bridge in person, these 3 hexes were spot on and represented well what we saw of Eindhoven.

We next made our way 30 miles to the next bridge in the operation being that of Nijmegen Bridge! This bridge was truly something and much larger than Eindhoven.

We parked about a half mile away and walked through a farmers field with grazing cattle to reach the bridge. After climbing 72 steps, which we counted, we walked to the middle of the bridge and really got a great look at the area around. The bridge traverses the Waal River which appears to be a fairly deep and fast moving body of water.

In the picture below, we saw a beautiful view of Nijmegen and the cathedral of Saint Stephen. I love this picture as the clouds were blocking the sun that was trying desperately to peek around it. Just a very picturesque view!

Here is a look at the area around the Nijmegen Bridge from Holland ‘44 again. You will notice there are a few bridges shown on the board and they were there on the day of the operation. Nijmegen is the dark yellow bridge to the right.

We then arrived in Arnhem and first visited the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek, which is dedicated to the 4-day Battle of Arnhem in which the Allied Forces attempted to form a bridgehead on the northern banks of the Rhine river in September 1944. Hartenstein served as the headquarters of the British 1st Airborne Division and the museum has an extensive and diverse collection of weapons, uniforms, and vehicles.

I was very impressed with the displays and particularly was moved by the Remembrance Room where there were pictures of a lot of soldiers and a computer data base with their stories.

We then made it over to Arnhem Bridge, which is now named the John Frost Bridge. This bridge was the best of the 3 and I very much enjoyed the atmosphere and the way that the town has honored the 1st Airborne Division.

Here are some bullet holes from the fighting on and around the base of the bridge.

Here is the board section for Arnhem from Holland ‘44:

There is also a nice little monument to John Frost on the east side of the bridge that is a photo mosaic made up of a few hundred smaller pictures of the soldiers who fought there. John Frost was played by Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge Too Far and is famous for saying “Bring up the PIAT!”

Major-General John Dutton Frost was an airborne officer of the British Army, best known for being the leader of the small group of British airborne troops that actually arrived at Arnhem bridge during the battle. He was one of the first to join the newly formed Parachute Regiment and served with distinction in many wartime airborne operations, such as in North Africa and Sicily and Italy, until his injury and subsequent capture at Arnhem.

In fact, he was a great leader and they had a sign he wrote to the soldiers the day of the battle on an old door. Here it is:

Just a great way to end our historical tour of northwestern Europe and I will remember all of these sites and our experiences forever.

Tomorrow, we will be attending SPIEL Essen and I am very much excited about it. We hope to play some games, check out prototypes, talk with publishers and designers and just have a good time. I will continue these posts but they will be focused on our next 3 days at the convention. Thanks for reading along!

-Grant