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Gavin - 6

had stabalized, Eckman counterattacking at Mook and Mendez stopping
the offensive at Beek.

I asked Gavin about the bridge, in particular why it wasn't blown.
He told me airborne troops were instructed and specially trained in
demolition work; they were told to first look for the nearest dwelling
to a bridge and cut all wires, even telephone wires, then go look for
the charges and take them all out.

Capt. Jonathan Adams, who had gone into the city to get to the
bridge on the night of the 17th, had instructions to save the bridge.
Bestebreurtje's underground men were told not to let anyone near
the bridge. Gavin felt reasonably certain for these reasons that
the Germans could not blow it. His trump card, however, was the
Post Office. He had heard that the demolition controls were located
there and he thought there was good reason to believe they were. He
therefore ordered the Post Office searched and it was subsequently
burned down. "I felt reasonably safe when it was burned down," he
says.

As the interview drew to an end, I told Gavin the Bestebreurtje
version of their encounter with the German machine-gunner shortly
after they dropped into Holland. Gavin listened intently and smiled
frequently. When I finished, he chuckled and said: "That's certainly
an interesting version. Now let me tell you what I remember."

Gavin said he had assigned some engineers to take the point on
their way into Groesbeek and, being engineers, they were overly
cautious. "I said to Harry, 'Come on, let's you and I take a look,' and
we took the point. Harry was on the left side of the road, about
10 yards ahead of me. I was on the right. We hadn't gone very far
when a machine-gun opened up on us. I was under the impression that
Harry shot from the hip, but I could be wrong. I know as soon as I