The old Town Hall in Veghel

On 17 September 1944, during Operation Market Garden, American paratroopers of the 101^st Airborne Division captured the four bridges in Veghel. Then, all that day and night, a huge convoy of heavy Allied equipment passed the Town Hall towards Arnhem.

Residents of Veghel and surrounding municipalities passed through the German lines towards the Town Hall to see the spectacle from up close. And then to return home in the evening. Thick rows of celebrating crowds greeted the passing troops. Messages on the vehicles that Eindhoven had been liberated were added to by messages from the people of Veghel to the villages in the direction of Nijmegen that the liberation was a fact here too.

Two German counterattacks meanwhile cut off the advance through the narrow corridor for several days. The area around Veghel became the front line with heavy fighting. The road that the Allies used to advance northward was renamed Hell's Highway.