Hell’s Highway – 101st Airborne Battlefield Tour

In this full day Hell’s Highway battlefield tour, we will drive up and down Hell’s Highway from Veghel to Son. We will cover the objectives of the 101st Airborne Division to secure bridges across streams and canals at Son, Sint-Oedenrode, and Veghel and keep the roads in between them open.

The tour will start at the dropzones near Son and will then proceed towards the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal at Son and we will talk about the capture, rebuilding and then the defense of this vital bridge.

We will then shift our focus to the 502nd Parachute Infantry Brigade as we move towards Best and discuss the plan to capture the bridge there. This started off series of events that led to half the division being engaged. We will visit the monuments for Robert Cole and Joe Mann in the process.

We will then drive across the vast landing fields where hundreds of gliders landed and move to Sint Oedenrode where we will talk about the defense of the town and the battles on the road to Schijndel.

The tour will continue in Veghel where we will discuss the capture of the bridges and then to the location of the Cannae in which a battalion of Germans was captured in a stunning tactical move.

Then we will move to the North of Veghel where the Germans cut the road for the first time after which they tried again at Eerde and finally cut the road again at Koevering, which we will all visit.

Hell’s highway tour itinerary

Drop and landing zones near Son
Road bridge at Son
Joe Mann & Robert Cole memorials at Best
Sint Oedenrode
The bridges at Veghel
The Cannae to the west of Veghel
The first cut of the corridor north of Veghel
The windmill and sand dunes at Eerde
Koevering, where the Germans cut the road

This tour takes around 8 hours, please note that a visit to Eindhoven is not included in this tour but can be added upon request.

Languages

This tour is available in English and in Dutch.

Pricing

We have a flat fee price for our tours:

Price for a full day private tour for 1 to 4 persons including transportation is €450.
For 5-8 persons I have to charge €620 to cover the rent of a large minivan.
Lunch and museum entrance is not included in the price.
For a group of more than 4 persons please visit my Groups page