Nazi bombers rain death on Dutch fete; 65 killed
Raid stops Eindhoven liberation celebration; resident says freedom’s price not too high
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
Eindhoven, Holland – (Sept. 20, delayed)
This debris-littered town of 100,000, whose celebration of liberation by the Allies was cut short by a German air raid, dug out today after its worst beating of the war – but still believing the price of freedom was not too high.
Sixty-five of the inhabitants were killed, 150 wounded seriously and damage was estimated in millions of dollars.
Site of an important radio works, Eindhoven had known air raids before, both German and Allied. None matched the one last night for suddenness and savagery.
Thirty minutes before the raid, crowds were cheering American and British soldiers who entered the town Monday.
Flags, bunting shredded
Dutch flags, which had been brought out of hiding after four years to fly for 24 carefree hours with bunting in bedecked streets, hung in burned shreds today from charred poles.
Streets where children had danced to accordion music, where crowds jammed around American vehicles so thickly that traffic was halted, were strewn with glass, brick, stone and cherished possessions.
The anti-climax to the celebration came between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. A rumor spread through the crowds that 117 German tanks were counterattacking the town.
Some tanks did get within shelling distance of the main British armored corridor and dropped a few rounds near a road north of here before they were eliminated.
As the rumors mounted, part of the troops were evacuated.
I was dining with Bill Downs of CBS at a hotel near the center of the city when I first noted panicky civilians outside running out and we started for headquarters.
Queen’s pictures hidden
From some of the windows the Dutch, fearful of German return, had removed flags and pictures of Queen Wilhelmina. Most of the American and British troops seemed to be gone. A few civilians stood wonderingly before houses.
Just before we reached headquarters, a lone German, twin-engined bomber swept over and dropped orange, yellow and green flares.
The town was without air-raid shelters so we sped toward the open country. We got only as far as the town park before the first bombers arrived.
Eindhoven pays fiddler
We lay on the ground while bombs ringed us and explosions within 100 feet showered us with twigs, branches and dirt. Shrapnel clipped through the leaves above. Ammunition exploded in deafening bursts.
Eindhoven was paying the fiddler.
Today cheerfulness was returning to the town. As the Allies pushed on toward the front, the inhabitants took time to look up from their rooms and shovels, smile and shout “hello.”