Joe's Bridge

Joe's Bridge is the nickname given to Bridge No.Nine on the Bocholt-Herentals Canal outdoor the metropolis of Neerpelt, within the Belgian metropolis of Lommel just south of the Belgian-Dutch border. The bridge turned into captured with the aid of British troops in September 1944, turning into the springboard for the ground offensive of Operation Market-Garden. The authentic bridge had been destroyed with the aid of the Belgian Army in 1940, but the Germans had constructed a wooden pontoon bridge to the west of it.

This bridge changed into taken at the nighttime of 10 September 1944 with the aid of the Irish Guards below the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E Vandeleur. While the Welsh Guards engaged the German forces round Hechtel, the Irish Guards advanced swiftly north-east via the villages of Eksel, Overpelt and Neerpelt, and released their blended infantry-tank attack, with artillery assist, from the grounds of the zinc processing factory in Overpelt. They succeeded in taking the bridge undamaged.