On Monday the 18th of September 1944, the village of Cuijk was liberated by only&nbsp;two American paratroopers. This liberation was the result of a strange coincidence of&nbsp;events.On Sunday the 17th of September, the paratroopers, the Smith brothers, were en&nbsp;route in a Skytrain transport aircraft to their drop zone at Groesbeek. Along with&nbsp;thousands of other American, British and Polish paratroopers, they would be dropped&nbsp;during the largest airborne operation of World War Two, Operation Market Garden.&nbsp;These airborne troops had to capture and hold roads and bridges near Eindhoven,&nbsp;Nijmegen and Arnhem, so that the British XXXth Corps could advance via that route&nbsp;to Arnhem, and from there, to Germany.Because the parachutist in front of them did not jump, perhaps because he was&nbsp;injured, the Smith brothers jumped from the aircraft too late. They therefore missed&nbsp;their drop zone. They drifted in the direction of Cuijk and ended up in a field at the&nbsp;Kalkhofseweg between Cuijk and Haps. There, they were picked up by members of&nbsp;the underground. The next day, they advanced with the resistance fighters to the&nbsp;German position on the River Maas. After a brief firefight, the Germans surrendered. This brought to an end the occupation of Cuijk and the village was liberated. But&nbsp;Cuijk remained under fire until February 1945.

Bevrijd door twee parachutisten