Wings of Liberation Museum (“Bevrijdende Vleugels")

Historical information

Operation “Market Garden”: the plan

In September 1944 the allied forces had captured the North of France and Belgium after the successful invasion of Normandy (D-Day).
Now two ideas of how to continue the battle existed:
a. The Americans wanted to attack Germany on a broad front
b. The English Field-Marshal Montgomery wanted to advance through the Netherlands to the Dutch Ijsselmeer and then turn to the east and march into Germany. In this way the German forces in the West of the Netherlands would become isolated and the heavily reinforced Siegfried Line was avoided.
After many discussions Montgomery got a go to carry out his plan “Operation Market Garden”.
This plan existed in two parts:
a. Market: Capturing the bridges between Eindhoven and Arnhem by means of airborne landings of the 1st Airborne Corps if the 1st Allied Airborne Army.
b. Garden: The advance from Belgium to the 30th Army Corps of the 2nd British Army via the occupied bridges to Arnhem.

Note: 36 Dutch soldiers took part in Operation Market Garden.

Operation “Market Garden”: the outcome

On September 17th, 1944 between 1.30 and 2.00 pm the airborne landings started.
The American 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles” landed between Son and Veghel, the American 82nd Airborne Division “All American” near Grave and Nijmegen and the 1st British Airborne Division near Arnhem.

In September 1944 more than ten thousand British and Polish Airborne troops fought in and around Arnhem. Their objective was to take the Rhine bridge. Six hundred of them managed to reach the bridge. Waiting for reinforcement they fought for four days holding the Northern ramp. The rest of the force, however, did not succeed in reaching them. Those held out for five more days at Oosterbeek before finally making their way across the Rhine to Allied held ground. Only 2.293 made it back to England.

Due to multiple causes the operation went not as planned. The advance of the British army from Neerpelt in Belgium was delayed because of the German heavy resistance and because the bridge over the Wilhelmina canal in Son was blown up by the Germans and a Bailey bridge had to be built. The advance was then already 36 hours behind scheduke. Bad radio links prevented adequate communications, especially in the Arnhem area. Because of the bad weather reinforcement troops and supplies could not be dropped in time. The presence of two SS divisions in the vicinity of Arnhem was fatal for the British troops.

Finally the objective was not met. The bridge at Arnhem could not be captured and so the advance into Germany was not possible. However the south of the Netherlands was liberated. The rest of the country had to wait for their liberation until the next year in 1945.

The museum

The liberation of the South of the Netherlands during World War II is the central issue in the Wings of Liberation museum.
Documents, photographs, audio-visuals, memorabilia, etc., illustrate the backgrounds and causes which led to the outbreak of the war. The occupation, suppression and finally liberation of the Netherlands are covered extensively.
In a number of halls, different important events from the Second World War are visualized by means of diaporamas.

The museum stands precisely in the area where, on the 17th of September 1944, airborne units of the 101st US Airborne Division landed as part of the Operation “Market Garden”.
Special attention is paid to these landings, because they were the start of the liberation of the Southern part of the Netherlands.

The museums is situated on an area of 16 ha (a former military camp), where it has 15 large halls at its disposal. The total surface of the halls is 15.000 square meters. The museum includes the following halls:

Exposition Second World War
Operation "Market Garden"
Operation “Barbarossa” / The "Battle of Berlin"
Highland Division
Liberation of South Limburg
Aviation hall 1
Aviation hall 2
US Mobile Command post
C-47 Dakotas

The displayed Dakotas

The DC-3 Dakota was used in its military versions as
a. a cargo plane equipped with a large cargo door in the left side of the fuselage (officially called C-47 Skytrain)
b. a plane designed to transport paratroopers and to tow gliders (officially called C-53 Skytrooper but was in fact called “Goony Bird” by Americans and “Dakota” by the RAF).

The DC-3 Dakota is a twin-engined transport aircraft from the Second World War. Without the Douglas DC-3 Dakota, the large scale airborne operations like Market Garden, would not have been possible. That’s why the museum wanted to have a Dakota in its collection.

On 25 February 1999 a Dakota arrived at the museum (it was found in 1996 in Texas). It was named “Darlin’ Dorien” from the daughter of the director of the museum. It is painted in the Operation Market Garden colours, the markings are also in accordance with for this operation. During this operation, the aircraft made flights to carry paratroopers and supplies to the Drop Zones near Arnhem and Grave. This aircraft made more than 55.000 flying hours.

The other Dakota came from the former V for Victory museum in Arlon (Belgium).

The official website of the museum stands here.

Location information

The museum is located at Best (Sonseweg 39, 5681 BH Best, Postbox 89) between ‘s Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Museum’s authorities can be contacted here.

Personal note

.Many diaporamas are used to present military vehicles in combat situation. Use of various halls in a former military camp makes this visit quite original (since you often move outside between halls, visit this museum in summer, furthermore at this period many vehicles are displayed outside, it's far better for photos). This is also a great opportunity to see Dakotas. The museum is located at 130 km of Liège (Belgium).