American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 28

Royal Netherlands Army photo

battle at Arnhem. So the mission failed,
although we secured our objective at a
great loss. We continued in the Holland
operation for 62 days altogether, which
meant we fought the Germans in one
way or another for 62 days before being
relieved and pulled back to France.
When we were pulled out from
Holland, we went to France and stayed
in an old French army barracks where
we were preparing to spend Christmas.
Then, on Dec. 16, we got word that the
Germans had made a breakthrough
in Belgium and were headed for
Antwerp at full speed. Gen. James
Gavin received word that he would
become the acting corps commander
because Gen. Matthew Ridgeway
was in the U.S. for the holidays. The
commander of the 101st Airborne
Division, Gen. Maxwell Taylor, had

also traveled home to the states at the
time, so the Germans caught us by
surprise and broke through our front
lines in the Ardennes area, where we
had sent new troops, and were now
heading for Antwerp. Although Allied
victory seemed to be within reach, the
Germans were hoping to seize Antwerp
because it would provide them with a
port they could use, while also dividing
the British and U.S. forces, giving
them a better position from which to
negotiate some sort of settlement. Of
course, we were demanding nothing
short of unconditional surrender, but
they felt that if they could achieve a
victory at Antwerp they might be able
to negotiate and salvage something
since they weren’t going to win the
war. So, we spent 62 days in close
combat, fighting the enemy and the

most brutal winter weather we had
faced. Ultimately, we were successful in
stopping the German advances, and I
was involved in