The inhabitants of Den Dungen during World War Two

About forty residents of Den Dungen speak bout their experiences during World War II. Several people were interviewed, both resistance members and “ordinary” people.

In Den Dungen, more than 2,000 gliders flew over the village in September 1944. From September 17 to 26, 1944, the Allies wanted to create a bridgehead across the major rivers in the Netherlands with a major offensive (operation “Market Garden”). In a lightning-fast attack, airborne troops had to secure bridges. Ground troops then had to advance from Belgium across these bridges to the IJsselmeer. Three complete divisions were dropped: the 101st US Airborne Division at Eindhoven and Veghel, the 82nd US Airborne Division at Grave and Groesbeek and the 1st British Airborne Division at Arnhem and Oosterbeek. With the Americans, everything went fairly well. The bridges over the Maas and Maas-Waal Canal near Heumen and most of the bridges near Eindboven fell into their hands and after hard fighting also the Waal Bridge near Nijmegen. But the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem proved to be a bridge too far. The British paratroopers were surprised by German armored troops and had to retreat into the Betuwe under heavy losses.

During this massive operation, nearly 800 gliders landed on Brabant soil. In this province, the Den Dungen-Vught-Den Bosch triangle (codenamed ‘Ellis’) was a target for all towing and gliding aircraft. From here they flew to the landing sites.