Major General Maxwell Taylor (Late)

Major General Maxwell Taylor commanded the American 101st ‘Screaming Eagles’ Airborne Division. He was assigned the lower portion of the corridor and would be responsible for securing the crossings of Son and Veghel. After that, his division provided corridor security for 30 Corps.

Taylor chose landing positions relatively close to his objectives, making sure that he put troops on both sides of the river crossings and attached airborne engineer support to each regiment so that it could quickly overcome the enemy and secure the bridges.

Since he could expect a quick link-up with 30 Corps, he opted to leave behind his division’s artillery in the initial drop, taking advantage

of the nearby British guns to lend support. This allowed him to focus his first drop on delivering as much infantry as he could to the battlefield.

Once the initial objectives were taken, he took to the offensive, launching spoiling attacks against the Germans to keep them from attacking in concert. Despite a few instances where the Germans managed to temporarily cut the road, Taylor kept the corridor open for business from Eindhoven to Veghel.