action. (Bundesarchiv)

Virtually all the officers commanding the spearhead elements werekilled in action. Casualties were heavy. A field dressing station in

off the action and some of its half-tracks aredriving eastwards; they could not be press-ured into remaining any longer.'So far as the troops on the ground wereconcerned it was finished. Most of theircommanders had perished. But still thatnight orders were given and further recon-naissance information passed on to con-tinue the attack the following day. Nobodyfelt confident about its outcome.

12

Maintaining thepressure.23 September .. .

On the western side of the corridorLieutenant-Colonel von der Heydte's

258

Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 was to pick upthe gauntlet now dropped by the virtuallyannihilated Kampfgruppe Huber. Hisexhausted soldiers had arrived too late tomeet the attack deadline of the day before.Companies began arriving in the forming-up place east of Boxtel. Von der Heydte'sknowledge of the situation was sketchy:American paratroopers had given upSchijndel and had established a blockingposition either side of Eerde.Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 was directedto attack the American positions south ofthe Veghel bridge again, this time advancingfrom Boxtel astride the Boxtel-Coch rail-way line. The aim was to seize the Veghelbridge, and cut off the Americans in Nijme-gen from those in Eindhoven.