Talk:Joe's Bridge

message: I read that this article is in need of citation.  I'm pretty new to wikipedia so I'll let someone else add this material if they wish:
These are excerpts from JOE Vandeleur's book, "A Soldier's Story" regarding the capture of Joe's Bridge (which is in Neerpelt by the way, NOT Lommel as stated in the article.  I've been to the bridge and am quite sure of this.  It's near a hotel in Neerpelt called The Dommelhof):
"We reached Helchteren about midnight. Again, the Germans had come back and were holding the north end of the village, a windmill, and the woods to the flank with S.S. troops. We . . . finally captured the windmill about dawn. We were then ordered to break off the Helchteren fighting and make our way as fast as possible to Hechtel to help the Welsh Guards. We reached Hechtel about two hours before sunset . . . in some sandpits close to the Bourg Leopold road . . . from these sandpits we could easily see Germans running about . . . and we had some pot shots at them to ease our feelings. The Welsh Guards were up against very severe opposition in Hechtel and it took them many days to capture the place. The Germans had been ordered to fight to the death there. It was not only strongly garrisoned but the Germans were supported by tanks and self-propelled guns." Vandeleur goes on to describe how while they were doing some recon to figure out the best way to cut off the Germans in Hechtel, they discovered that Joe's Bridge was intact. ". . . I acted on impulse. At Exel, we found an unfinished road running due north to the Escaut Canal . . . we hid the head of the column behind the factory and ran upstairs, where we obtained a perfect view of the bridge. Incidentally, a large staff car full of German officers tried to cross us on the way up. We killed them and captured their maps. From the top window of the factory every detail of the German defences could be clearly seen . . . there was a "jink" in the road. This "jink" was very important, because it denied the German 88 mm. guns a clear view of us until we were within 100 yards of the bridge . . . The plan was a very simple one. David Peel's squadron was to send one troop of tanks . . . up to the corner of the "jink." This was to be accompanied by a platoon . . . This was to be the assault force with Michael Dudley's company and the remainder of Peel's squadron engaging the enemy with point-blank fire for twenty minutes. It was to be a shooting match of twenty minutes duration. If, at the end of the twenty minutes, the bridge had not been blown, [several units] were to charge, followed immediately by Hutton and six Guardsmen to remove the explosive charges. We had no artillery support and were fifteen miles north of brigade headquarters, so there was no wireless touch. It came off perfectly . . . A large number of German troops had been cut off from their line of retreat and they were not going to take this lying down. Early next morning we were attacked by enemy infantry, supported by armour and S.P. guns from our left rear . . . In the middle of the battle I saw a S.S. man sitting on a window sill shooting our stretcher bearers in the back. Accompanied by a Guardsman, I rushed up the staircase, telling the Guardsman to throw a grenade in. he was too slow and the brute came out with his hands up. I was on the point of killing him, but the Guardsman restrained me. We remained in this bridghead for a week and were severely counter-attacked in the woods north of the canal, but the position held firm."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.130.6.6 (talk) 06:16, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Looks like whoever wrote this used exact details during a scene from the film Bridge Too Far! Eastfarthingan (talk) 14:52, 10 February 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bridge Too Far scene