LEOPOLDSBURG TO EINDHOVEN: XXX COPRS MOVEMENTS
• Itinerary One starts at Leopoldsburg in Belgium where General Horrocks gave his famous MARKET-GARDEN briefing, crosses the border into Holland and follows the XXX Corps Corridor to Eindhoven. There it examines the US 101st AB Division’s drops and actions.
• The Route: Leopoldsburg - Sherman Tank, Site of Cinema Splendid, Belgian Military Cemetery, CWGC Cemetery, Military Museum; Hechtel Sherman Tank Memorial; Lommel - Polish Cemetery, German Cemetery; ‘Joe’s Bridge’ over Schelde-Maas Canal and Memorial; Dutch-Belgian Frontier/Liberation Gate Memorial; Café t’Heertje Memorial; Valkenswaard - CWGC Cemetery, Dommel Bridge, Liberation Memorial; Aalst Liberation Memorial; Eindhoven - Liberation Monument, Bombardment Bas Relief, Liberation Bas Relief, VVV/Railway Station.
• Extra Visits are suggested to the Resistance Cemetery and Memorial, Leopoldsburg Military Barracks; Captain Freddy Limbosch Monument and Grave, Peer; Philips WW2 Memorial; Mierlo CWGC Cemetery; Helmond Liberation and Royal Norfolk Memorials; German Cemetery, Ijsselsteyn; Venray CWGC Cemetery; Lobeek Norfolk Regiment Memorial; Overloon Chapel of the Safe Hide-away, National War & Resistance Museum and CWGC Cemetery.
• Additional Extra Visits to Nedersweert CWGC Cemetery and Weert RC Cemetery; Memorials at Zandoerle, Bladel, Netersel, Hoogeloon.
• Planned duration, without stops for refreshment or Extra Visits: 6 hours
• Total distance: 62 kms/38.8 miles
• Leopoldsburg Station. Sherman Tank/Site of Cinema Splendid/0 kms/0 miles/10 minutes/RWOMap 9-l/la/2
Outside the station is a Sherman tank, No (left) E4151 B1782 40 (G) S, (right) E1231 B1636 LO (G) 2. The caption recounts how on 12 September 1944 Leopoldsburg was liberated by the Piron Brigade (British accounts say that the Belgians ‘assisted’ the 8th Armoured Brigade to liberate Leopoldsburg on 11 September) and that on 16 September General Horrocks gave his famous briefing (see below) - the beginning of the campaign that came to be known as ‘A Bridge Too Far’. The barrel of the main gun points at the site of the Cinema Splendid. On the turret is a Browning machine gun and on the side of the tank is the Guards Armoured Division ‘Eye’ insignia.
Sherman Tank Leopoldsburg Station
Walk 100 metres down the road past the station to the site of No 49 on the left.
This is now the Residentie Splendid, named after the old cinema.
On 16 September 1944, the day before MARKET-GARDEN was to begin, Leopoldsburg was ‘invaded’ by British Military Police who controlled the vehicles that brought in the officers of XXX Corps for their briefing by General Horrocks. He addressed what he described as ‘a motley audience’ (because of their extraordinary variation in dress - the General himself was wearing a high-necked woollen sweater) at 1100 hours in the Cinema Splendid. Standing in front of an enormous map of Holland and holding a long pointer Horrocks began, ‘This is a tale that you will tell your grandchildren and mighty bored they’ll be’. He talked for an hour, imbuing his listeners with a sense of excitement and urgency that many of them remembered long afterwards, but not everyone was totally happy with the plan. Armoured commanders were apprehensive about moving tanks along a single narrow road, but a collective aura of adventure and opportunity overtook them all.
The area around the town had been turned into a huge engineer dump in order to support the coming operation. Among the 20,000 or so vehicles of XXX Corps were more than 2,200 engineer and transport lorries carrying the supplies that would be needed if all of the bridges to be captured in the forthcoming airborne operation were blown by the Germans.
Today there is a wide variety of different nationality restaurants within easy walking distance of the station, including many that serve the simple dishes at which the Belgians excel - chicken and chips with mayonnaise and an interesting salad garnish, pepper steak etc.
Return to your car. Continue on the N73 (back into the one-way system) and turn right at the T-junction signed to the CWGC Cemetery. Continue towards the church and turn left and then right following CWGC signs. Straight ahead on Leopold 11 Laan is
• Leopoldsburg Belgian Cemetery/1.1 kms/.7 miles/15 minutes/Map 9/3
The cemetery, which was originally a burial ground for the Germans who died in the nearby Camp Hospital (and who are now reburied in the German Military Cemetery of Kattenbos), contains 826 burials from WW1 (including 408 Russians). Some of the Belgians also died in the Hospital, others in POW camps in Germany and who were not reclaimed by their families to be buried in their home villages. It was officially established as a military cemetery in the early 1920s.
Leopoldsburg Belgian Cemetery
The WW2 extension (at the back of the cemetery behind the central chapel) contains 418 burials. At the rear are symbolic crosses for the Belgian Resistance workers who were shot at the nearby execution site (qv) and whose bodies have since been removed. There are also members of the Piron Brigade and in the top right-hand corner, a small plot with six Russian graves, one bearing a large Cross of Lorraine. Until the 1950s the cemetery maintenance was assisted by the Red Cross and the Association ‘Nos Tombes - Onze Graven’ [Our Graves]. It is now exclusively maintained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Graves Service (qv).
The Belgian Piron Brigade in Belgium
The Brigade was created on 3 January 1943 at Clacton under Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Piron and consisted of three Motorised Units (MOTs), an Armoured Squadron, an Artillery Battery and various Support Units.
The Brigade landed at Arromanches on 8 August 1944 and was attached to 6th AB Division. It liberated Deauville on the 22nd, Trouville on the 24th and Honfleur on the 26th.
On 28 August the Brigade was attached to 49th Infantry Division and on 2 September to the Guards Armoured Division. The next day it crossed the border into its native Belgium at Rongy and on the 4th entered Brussels to much joy and acclaim.
On 11 September the Belgian Group left the capital and was attached to 8th Armoured Brigade in the assault on Leopoldsburg, crossing the Albert Canal at Beringen at 1930 hours. At 1700 hours the 1st MOT Unit liberated 900 Political Prisoners at Leo Camp, 2nd MOT Unit moved to the west and 3rd MOT Unit stayed at Beverlo Camp.
Continue on Leopold II Loan to
• Leopoldsburg CWGC Cemetery/1.3 kms/.8 miles/15 minutes/Map 9/4
The cemetery is on the road leading to the military camp that was known as the ‘King’s Camp’. Of the 800 burials in it, 35 are original burials of casualties from isolated engagements in or near the town. The remainder were either from the military hospital established at Leopoldsburg during the latter part of 1944 or brought in from the surrounding district. There are 638 named UK Army graves (including 1 Special Memorial) and 14 Unknown, 69 UK Air Force and 3 Unknown, 27 Polish Army, 27 Canadian Air Force, 8 Australian Air Force, 1 South African Air Force, 1 Dutch Navy and 3 Dutch Army. Two graves are entirely unidentified.
Unusually, this attractively designed cemetery is not enclosed at the front by a hedge or wall, but by a ditch and rows of trees.
Many of these historic regiments represented here have since been amalgamated or disbanded and cemeteries such as these are among the only places where one can see carved on the headstones their proud regimental or corps badges.
Members of the Canadian, New Zealand and S African Air Forces and the Canadian Forestry Corps are represented.
The ages range from several 18-year-olds to the 45-year-old CSM of 129th Forestry Company, RE, Robert Johnston Clayton, 10 December 1944 [Plot III Row C Grave No.5 - III.C.5], 47-year-old Private Frank Jones of the Herefordshire Regiment, 20 September 1944 [V.C.5.] and 49-year-old Sergeant Michael Maloney of the Pioneer Corps, 18 October 1944 [I.B.5.].
Some entries make reference to a brother who also died on service, such as Private Harold Dawber of the 4th Lincolns, age 21, 25 September 1944 [V.A.18]. Trooper Ernest Dawber, RAC, 10 August 1940, is buried in Bebington Cemetery, Cheshire.
Corporal John William Harper of the Hallamshire Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment, was awarded the Victoria Cross when he first led his section, then took command of the platoon when his commander was killed, in an attack on the Depot de Mendecite near Antwerp on 29 September 1944. Corporal Harper killed or captured all the enemy holding the position - surrounded by a dyke and an earthen wall. He then led his platoon over 300 yards of open ground under severe mortar and small arms fire, climbed the wall, killed more of the enemy and established his platoon. He was fatally wounded while approaching a ford which crossed the dyke. Harper was 28 years old.
Major Edwin Swales of the SAAF, serving with 582nd Squadron RAF, age 29, won the DFC as well as the Victoria Cross. On 23 February 1945, as a ‘master bomber’, Swales took part in the night raid on Pforzheim. Over the target his aircraft was repeatedly attacked and severely damaged, but Swales continued to issue aiming instructions until the objectives were achieved. He managed to bring his plane back over friendly territory and ordered his crew to bale out. Then the plane plunged to earth and the gallant Major was found dead at the controls.
Major David Peel (qv) of the Irish Guards, age 33, killed on 12 September 1944 was awarded the MC [VI.C.3]. His father, the Rev. the Hon Maurice Peel, also won the MC and Bar and was Chaplain to the Forces. Flight-Lieutenant John Pinny of the 313rd Czech Squadron, RAF, age 24, was awarded the Czechoslovakia MC. He died on 1 February 1945 [I.B.13].
Major Hugh Lister, MC, Welsh Guards, age 43 ‘B.A. (Cantab.), Clerk in Holy Orders’ [IV.A.10.] killed by a German sniper at ‘Welsh Corner’, was described by a fellow Guardsman as ‘a real Christian, never afraid of death’ and ‘a great loss for the Welsh Guards’. See Update Page xix.
The aristocracy is represented by Major Andrew Bonham-Carter of the RNF [also commemorated on the Hechtel Sherman Tank Memorial (qv)], age 30, died on 11 September 1944, [I.C.8.], son of Air Commodore Ian Bonham-Carter and Major William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, 5th Coldstream Guards, age 26, MiD, son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire who died on 9 September 1944 [IV.B.13] at Heppen. He had married President John Kennedy’s sister Kathleen (‘Kit’) who was killed in an aircrash on 13 May 1948.
Commemorated on a Memorial in Oostham (qv) where they were killed on 9/10 September 1944 are Troopers J. Hill and S. Moffatt 4th/7th RDG [IV.C. 6 and 7.], and Lieutenant R.J.N. Ellis KRRC [IV.B.6.].
The cemeteries are in the large military area of Leopoldsburg, but the Belgian Army has a very open relationship with the civilian population who may freely move in many parts of the camp, other than obvious restricted zones. Many of the imposing mansions in the area are occupied by serving and retired generals and several impressive military memorials to earlier campaigns can be seen.
Leopoldsburg CWGC Cemetery
Continue along Leopold II Laan to the next crossroads and turn left on Zegeplaats.
After some 250m the magnificent Statue of Lieutenant General Chazal with a lion at his feet is to be seen on the right. Bas reliefs around the monument commemorate the battles of Bruxelles 1830 and Anvers 1859.
Continue on Prince Boudewijnlaan to the main wad and turn left.
On the right the splendid Obelisk Memorial to the Mexican Wars is passed.
Continue to the Museum and the VVV on the right.
• Museum/Leopoldsburg VVV/2.7 kms/1.7 miles/15 minutes/Map 9/5
This traditional military museum is housed in the old military hospital which in pre-WW2 days was a model of modern military medicine. In 1943/44 the Kriegsmarine was stationed at Camp Beverlo, which was established in the late 19th Century and is to the Belgian Army what Aldershot is to the British. In May 1944 heavy bombing destroyed many of the original buildings. The history of the camp and various Belgian campaigns is demonstrated in the Museum in which there is a small MARKET-GARDEN exhibition. In it is one of the original posts against which many of the people were shot in the nearby forest (qv) and some photos of Leopoldsburg’s Liberation by the Piron Brigade. There is also a Royal British Legion Section. Open: Every weekday from 1300 - 1700 hours (other than public holidays) also the 1st and 3rd Saturday each month. It is closed from Christmas to the end of January. Entrance fee payable. Tel: [00 32] (0) 11 344804. www.museum-mkok-leopoldsburg.be
Many vintage tanks and vehicles may be seen amongst the buildings around it.
Next to the Museum is the Leopoldsburg Tourist Office, where a useful detailed map of the town may be obtained. Tel: [0032] (0) 11 402184
N.B. Some 100m down the road towards Leopoldsburg the Police Station is on the right. On the wall is a Plaque to Adjutant Dekeser F. L. J., born in Bierbeek on 11.4.1897, who died for the Fatherland in the German Concentration Camp Van Gross-Rosen on 11.12.1944. Map 9/6. Over the road, in a garden behind the Military Hospital bus stop, is a Patton Tank (M47), acquired by Major John Vanoverbeve, the former Commander of the Garrison, to embellish the garden of his HQ. Map 9/7.
The Air Club on the right was a pre-war Belgian Recce Airfield. At the water tower behind the airfield many local people were shot by the Germans.
Continue to a white sign to the right (6.7/cms/4.2 miles) to Monument v/d Weerstand (the Resistance Memorial)/Doorgaand E.
• Extra Visit to Limburg Resistance Memorial and Cemetery, Leopoldsburg Military Exercise Ground (Map 1S-4/5) Round trip: 2.2 kms/1.4 miles. Approximate time: 20 minutes
NB: Prior permission to visit this memorial (on weekends and holidays only) in the Hechtel Woods must be obtained from the Security Officer, Kamp Beverlo - Koninklijk Park, B-3970 Leopoldsburg, Tel: [00 32] (0) 11 398785. Secretariat Tel: [00 32] (0) 11 398205, in case there are exercises in progress.
Turn right up the track some .7 miles to a yellow rubbish bin and sign on the left to Dunes des Fusillés.
The information board on the left tells the story of this tragic site, known locally as the ‘Secret Cemetery’, in 4 languages. Classified regulations issued by the wartime German Military Administration in Brussels bear witness that the Hechtel execution site was started in May 1942. Records were to be kept of all executions that took place here: names, date and place of birth, offence, date of death etc. The cemetery started by the execution site was designated for all those executed in Belgium. Many locals were also shot here. Four execution posts were erected in front of a ‘bullet catcher’, a wall of stacked logs. Most of the killings took place between 0300 and 0400 hours, the scene illuminated by the headlights of the lorries which had carried the prisoners to their site of death. After being buried in the adjacent burial plot, the graves were marked by a numbered pole.
Monument and RAF Grave, Limburg Resistance Cemetery
From Adjutant BobVranken of the Belgian Army. (Contact: netedal@telenet.be)
Before the War my grandfather was a forester in this wood. He, my grandmother and my mother lived in a cottage beyond the execution site, which was enclosed by barbed wire, with a German sniper’s tower at each corner. My mother remembers seeing truckloads of people being driven past the cottage into the woods and then hearing screams and the sound of shots. After the liberation my grandfather came to the site where there were still the marks of the studs on the boots of the executioners on the grass, four posts, full of bullet holes, to which the victims were chained, a stretcher stained with blood and a large number of graves. The flimsy coffins were made of crates for carrying straw from the houses of Camp Beverlo. My mother then watched as a doctor who came from Brussels to identify the bodies as they were exhumed set up a table with his surgical instruments and a flask of strong brandy, the fumes of which he had to inhale to take away the dreadful stench. In the third grave to be opened was the body of the doctor’s own son, who had worked with the Resistance and disappeared. The poor doctor collapsed and another had to be sent for. She also witnessed a smartly dressed woman alight from an expensive car, kneel by one of the graves and ask for forgiveness. She then returned to the car, powdered her nose, said, ‘Well that’s done’, and drove away. It turns out that she was a collaborator with the Germans and had betrayed her Resistance Worker husband, who was then shot. German deserters were also executed at this place.
Two members of my family - my great-uncle and his brother-in-law - were shot by drunken German soldiers in Hechtel just before the Liberation (qv).
The site was visited by Norman Kirby, who was General Montgomery’s Intelligence and Security Officer and his Interpreter, on 23 September 1944. He had been sent to the area to recce ‘the Chief’s’ route through Belgium after their stay in Brussels and in a clearing in the middle of a fir plantation near where we had pitched our tents, I stumbled upon an execution firing range. There were four wooden stakes and butts riddled with bullet holes and approximately two hunded graves in an adjoining clearing indicated by posts each bearing a number engraved on a metal tablet.’ He recalled being ‘brought gruesomely to earth by another reminder of what the war was all about.’ (See Edition 6 Holt’s Normandy Guide).
Up till Spring 2001 there was a monument, in the form of a massive rock, on the site where the execution posts stood, with a fine bas relief portrait of a Resistance Worker by Louis Dupont after a drawing by Axheles. It is to the memory of Resistance Fighters who fell for Liberty. The Belgian Military then planned to remove the stone to the adjoining plot and re-erect four stakes on the site of the original ones in a project to restore the site to its precise 1944 aspect.
To the right is an enclosed area at the side of which are 174 crosses marking the original site of the graves of those who were shot here, although 204 bodies were actually exhumed. They were erected in 1984. Among them is a ‘Serg of the RAF’ (and it is believed that at least one other RAF airman was shot here), about whom no details are known. A 6-metre high cross was raised on 5 September 1987 by the Limburg Secret Army Veterans. It is known as the Cross of Resistance and to its left is a board with the 698 names of local civilians killed in the war - many of them in the September 1944 period of reprisals - inaugurated by Joseph Bussels, then Burgomaster of Hechtel and author of a book called The Battle of Hechtel. A German Padre had kept a list of all those who were shot here, starting in 1942, which made identification easier. Every 4 September there is a ceremony of remembrance at this spot when children place a flower in a container decorated with the colours of the Belgian flag before each symbolic grave.
Turn round, return to the main road, turn right and continue the main itinerary.
Continue towards Hechtel to the crossroads and traffic lights.
N.B. 100m before the crossroads is a small alleyway to the left. Along it is a red brick wall which still shows damage from the Battle of Hechtel. Beyond it is the old distillery where, on the night of 11 September 1944 eleven locals were shot by drunken Germans, including the members of Bob Vranken’s family mentioned above.
• Extra Visit to the Grave and Monument to Lieutenant Limbosch, Belgian S.A.S., Peer. (Map 1S-9/10) Round trip: 19 kms/12 miles. Approximate time: 30 minutes
Continue over the crossroads, direction Peer along Stationsstraat, which becomes Peerderbaan and then Steenweg Wijchmaal to the cemetery on the right.
In the cemetery is the grave of Lieutenant Freddy Limbosch of the Belgian S.A.S. who was killed in Peer on 8 September 1944. Limbosch and his men were dropped during the Liberation of Normandy for OPERATION SHAKESPEARE and again in September 1944 for OPERATION CALIBAN. Their mission was to gather intelligence about enemy movements and to attack wherever possible. They signalled that the enemy was in full retreat and then noticed a concentration of SS troops. Limbosch knew that the advancing Allies should be informed of this concentration as soon as possible. On his way to pass on his news Limbosch was killed.
Turn round, take the second left along Houtestraat, cross over the junction with Elsevaart and then fork right along Limboschstraat. The memorial is in the field on the corner.
The street is named after Lieutenant Limbosch and in it, at the site where he was killed, is his Monument in the form of a massive rock with his name and the SAS wings. In spring 2001 Freddy Limbosch’s widow still lived in Brussels.
Return to the Hechtel crossroads and rejoin the main itinerary.
Turn left direction Eksel and immediately park on the right. Walk across the road to the tank.
• Hechtel Memorial Sherman/10 kms/6.1 miles/10 minutes/Map 1S-6/7
Sherman No (G) E4186 IB1635 LO has been preserved as a memorial to all those who lost their lives during the Battle of Hechtel of 12 September 1944 - 35 citizens, 62 British soldiers and 124 German soldiers. The British soldiers are commemorated on plaques at the base of the tank under their units and formations: X Coy, Scots Guards, 1st and 2nd Battalions Welsh Guards, Irish Guards, Herefordshire Lt Inf, R Northumberland Fusiliers, 151 Field Regt RA TA, Inns of Court Regiment, 3rd Battalion Monmouths, 2nd Battalion Fife & Forfar Yeomanry and the Nederlandse Verkenningsafdeling. The citizens of Hechtel are all named on the other side. By the tank the flags of Belgium and the Union Jack (albeit upside-down) fly proudly.
Sherman Memorial Tank, Hechtel
Memorial to Frans Maes, Hechtel
The leading elements of the Guards Armoured Division had reached this junction on 7 September but were held up for three days by determined German opposition. After reorganising they launched an attack from the south at 1000 hours on 10 September on either side of this crossroads with the objective of taking the bridge over the Groote Barrier up ahead (later to be named Joe’s Bridge.). The road north was their main axis of advance (Club Route) and by 1925 hours 2nd HCR were able to see that the bridge was intact but strongly held. The Irish Guards decided to rush the bridge. (See entry for Joe’s Bridge below.) Waiting behind Hechtel was the divisional column of some 5,000 vehicles carrying four days’ rations and petrol for 250 miles.
Continue to the first turning to the right.
N.B. By turning right here along Ekselsebaan (the N747) and continuing just past house No 42 on the right, is a small black Plaque to Frans Maes, born in Overpelt on 5.9.1916, who was killed here on 31.12.1944. His girlfriend was also shot after they left a New Year’s Eve party by a German plane flown by a Belgian collaborator. (Map IS/8).
Continue through Eksel towards Lommel and turn left towards Kerkhoven on Kiefhoekstraat. At the T-junction with the N746 turn right towards Lommel. Continue to the sign to the right to the German Cemetery. N.B. It is easily missed.
• German Cemetery, Lommel/24 kms/14.9 miles/20 minutes/Map IS/11
This vast park-like cemetery, the largest German WW2 burial ground outside of Germany, contains the graves of 38,962 German soldiers of the ‘39-45 war and 541 of the ‘14-’18 war (see Belgian Cemetery above).
In 1945 the American Battle Monuments Commission transferred all German dead found in this area of Belgium and Germany into four provisional graveyards - at Henri-Chapelle, Fosse, Overrepen and Neuville-en-Condroz. At that time Lommel was a temporary American cemetery, but during 1946-7 the Americans ceded it to the Germans. The Belgian authorities then transferred all German soldiers killed in Belgium to Lommel, as well as the First World War burials originally buried in Leopoldsburg. One cross was erected for every two burials, so that nearly 20,000 crosses covered the 16-hectare site. Between 1978-80 the original enamel name-plates were changed to metal ones. They show, when known, the rank, dates of birth and death and grave number. Originally 13,000 of the fallen were unknown. After the German-Belgian War Graves Agreement the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (qv) succeeded in identifying 7,000 of them and research work into identifications continues to this day.
The endless graves, German Cemetery, Lommel
The two-winged entrance shelter contains the cemetery registers, postcards, literature and visitors’ book and toilets. Ahead of it is a crypt, surmounted by an enormous Calvary, weighing 39 tonnes. At each side of the cross are 3.30-metre-high, 7-tonne basalt sculptures of Mary and John. Inside the crypt is the prone figure of a German soldier, upon whose serene face the light shines through bronze grilles. Around the walls are mosaics. The landscaping was undertaken in the summer months of 1953-1955 by international youth camps from fifteen nations, led by experts from the Volksbund, when 5,000 trees and shrubs were planted - birch, maple, oak, pine and juniper. As the area was originally sandy heath with strong and high weeds and grasses, this was extremely hard work and 15,000 bales of peat and 2,000 cubic metres of forest soil had to be laid before planting could take place.
In front of the rows of 20,000 crosses, which seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, are beds of purple heather. In the centre a tree was planted on the 50th Anniversary of the end of the war in May 1995 as a sign of hope and peace.
Buried here are Wilhelm Schmidt, age 18, Gunther Billing, age 21, and Manfred Pernass, age 23, a team of Colonel Otto Skorzeny’s Commandos who had created chaos near Malmedy in the Ardennes by operating in American uniform and changing signposts etc. The three were captured in American uniform and therefore considered as spies. They were shot at 0930 on 23 December 1944 at Henri-Chapelle. They were afterwards buried in a temporary cemetery at Henri-Chapelle and transferred here after the war.
Lommel German Cemetery was the site where, in 1953, the practice of holding International Youth Camps where young people worked on the cemeteries in the spirit of Reconciliation through the Graves began. Now some 1,000 children each year, from all parts of Germany, come for a week of education, of visits to schools and to the Polish and British cemeteries in the locality. There are extensive hostel and recreational facilities for them over and adjoining the main entrance building. The current Superintendent of the Youth Programme is the Belgian Frau Lucia Christiaen, whose family home is in Ieper. Contact: [00 32] (0) 11 554370.
Return to the main road and turn right. At the traffic lights turn right on the N71 direction Hasselt/Neerpelt then left at the crossroads with the N715, signed Lommel. Continue some 200m to the Polish Cemetery on the left.
• Polish Cemetery, Lommel/32 kms/20.1 miles/15 minutes/Map 1S/12
This is the largest Polish Cemetery in Belgium, containing 256 white crosses and two Stars of David. It is maintained by the Polish Consulate in Brussels. On the last Sunday of each September a ceremony is held here, in which wreaths and candles are laid in the form of a cross. In the centre of the cemetery is a large Calvary and, behind it, a memorial to 302nd, 308th and 317th Polish AB units. Polish Battle Honours from both World Wars are listed. Behind the memorial, with doors at each end, is a small museum which contains a Visitors’ Book, photos of other Polish campaigns and Cemeteries, and personal memories. The history of the 1st Polish Division in WW2 is charted, including the Liberation of Ypres and its progression through Belgium into Holland.
The key to the museum may be obtained from the Shell/Citroen garage further up the road. THE KEY MUST BE RETURNED AFTER YOUR VISIT. Note that the garage is closed on Sundays.
Continue on the N715 north in the direction of Lommel Barrier to the Bocholt-Herentals Kenal (Schelde-Maas Canal).
To the left of the bridge approach was the café where Captain Hutton came for a quick drink - see below. In 2012 the memorial was moved. See Update Page xx.
Cross the bridge and park in a slip road to the left immediately after the bridge. Walk down the slip road (which was the original road and leads to the site of the original bridge) to the canal bank.
• Joe’s Bridge/Memorial/35 kms/22 miles/15 minutes/Map 1S/14
This is the spot where MARKET-GARDEN began. The Belgian Army destroyed the original bridge in 1940 and the Germans replaced it with a trestle construction of heavy timbers which in turn, after the operation, was later rebuilt. Here one can sense something of the excitement and anticipation of the men who waited on the afternoon of 17 September 1944 and watched the arrival of the airborne armada that signalled the beginning of one of the most audacious operations of the Second World War.
Under the arch of the bridge, whose Belgian name was De Groote Barrier Bridge, can be seen to the left (east) the factory from whose roof General Horrocks watched XXX Corps open OPERATION GARDEN on 17 September.
On 10 September Allied forces, though advancing north, were still south of the canal. That evening, in fading light, a combined force of Irish Guards infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E. (Joe) Vandeleur (played by Michael Caine in the film A Bridge Too Far), and the Irish Guards armour, commanded by his cousin, Lieutenant-Colonel G.A.D. (Giles) Vandeleur, (they were known as ‘Colonels Joe and Giles’) rushed the bridge. Fire support was provided by tanks concealed in the factory area. After 20 minutes of shooting from the southern ramp of the bridge, Major David Peel led a troop of tanks at speed over it, passing a small lorry on fire halfway up the slope to the bridge and dispersing the remnants of German infantry, who had three 88mm guns on this side, a fourth gun having been destroyed on the southern side. The driver of the leading tank, Lance Corporal Claude Kettleborough, recalling the affair fifty years later, remembered that, ‘Fags were to the high port - the rate about four fags per mile.’ With the tanks came a troop of 615 Field Sqn, RE, known as ‘Joe’s Troop’ for reasons quite unconnected with Joe Vandeleur. Their job was to make the bridge safe for the tanks by clearing any demolitions. The troop leader, Captain R. D. Hutton, dropped his wire cutters into the canal and had to use his revolver to shoot through the wires of the firing circuit and, having removed the initiators from the charges, went back over the bridge to a café for a drink. Two of his sappers, who had cut the wires to the charges at the ends of the bridge, were awarded the MM. Retaining ownership of Joe’s Bridge was not easy in the days leading up to 17 September and, during one German counterattack, Major Peel was killed. [He is buried in Leopoldsburg CWGC (qv).]
On 17 September a preliminary barrage from six field and three medium artillery regiments, supported by Belgian and Dutch units, was bolstered by a continuous stream of low-flying rocket-firing Typhoons from 83rd Group. The target area of all this firepower was a rectangle stretching from the Dutch border 8kms up The Corridor and 1km either side of it. Everyone was full of confidence. General Horrocks had only one worry, ‘The operation was starting on a Sunday… No operation that I launched on a Sunday in the whole war was completely successful. ‘It was the same concern that General Sir Ian Hamilton had had about the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition, a campaign that General Urquhart would later call to mind in the evacuation of The Perimeter at Oosterbeek.
Polish Cemetery Lommel: Memorials and Headstones
Joe’s Bridge, the factory and north bank Memorial
As Lieutenant Keith Heathcote in the first tank led off No.3 Squadron of 2nd Irish Guards, they were followed first by No.1 Company of Irish Guards Infantry carried on the tanks of No.1 Squadron and then a squadron of 2nd HCR scout cars, with the barrage rectangle rolling ahead of them. This was the beginning of the ‘advance at maximum speed’ that General Horrocks had ordered, but later, however, Dutch reports, (documentation issued at the 40th Anniversary of MARKET-GARDEN) say that great delay was caused by Typhoons mistaking the British armour for German and that eight tanks were destroyed by ‘shelling by their own Typhoons’. The story that some of the tanks were hit by Typhooons is supported by an account of the 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment (The Household Cavalry at War by Roden Orde who commanded the Recce Troop of HCR during the battle) which says that two tanks were hit by Typhoons at around 1530 hours. There is no mention of this in the HCR War Diary, although two armoured cars were reported as being blown up on mines.
There is something of a mystery here since there is general agreement that eight or nine tanks were lost at the beginning of the operation (just over the Dutch border). So who did it? There was certainly German opposition which, as described in the Historical Summary, included Parachute and SS Battalions. These had been organised into an ad hoc formation known as ‘Division Walther’ which was equipped with panzerfaust and 88mm weapons. An Irish Guards’ account (History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War by Major D. J. L. Fitzgerald) says, ‘Nine tanks were knocked out in two minutes’, and says that it was due to anti-tank guns concealed in trees at the side of the road (see below). The adjutant of the Irish Guards, Captain Vivian Taylor, travelled in a Humber scout car with the Battalion Tactical HQ which accompanied No. 1 Squadron. One of his tasks was that of liaising with Squadron Leader Max Sutherland and Flight Lieutenant Donald Love, who were the RAF ground-to-air controllers for the Typhoons and who were in a vehicle in the same group (there was also an American sergeant of the 101st with a radio). Taylor is certain that the tanks were hit by German fire. He remembers, ‘Two of the things that have remained clearly in my mind were the speed at which the commanding officers (Colonels Joe and Giles) decided what should be done to ensure that our advance should not falter and then how quickly the air controllers brought in the rocket-firing Typhoons.’
Liberation Gate Memorial Dutch-Belgian Border
Nevertheless, Ian Grant in his Cameramen at War casts doubt on the presence of 88mm guns. Film unit jeeps accompanied the leading troops and ‘managed to record the “brewed-up” tanks, but were mystified as to the siting of the concealed 88s.’ According to their maps they must have been resting on ground that would ‘scarcely take the weight of a man.’ Inevitably Regimental accounts of actions are often rose-tinted and Fitzgerald’s history says, ‘The pilots’ aim was sure and there were no mistakes’. Whoever shot up the leading tanks - and would it not be dreadful if it had been the Typhoons - caused a significant delay right at the beginning of the ground advance and probably influenced the way that the armour advanced over the coming days, i.e. with natural caution.
On 18 September over 2,000 lbs of explosives were removed from the bridge and the RE signwriter painted the name ‘Joe’s Bridge’ on it, in honour of both the REs and the Irish. General Horrocks later ordered that the name should stand as recognition of Lieutenant-Colonel Joe Vandeleur’s leadership. Not to be outdone, once the Nijmegen Bridge had been captured following Sergeant Peter Robinson’s brave dash across it (qv), the Grenadiers put up a sign at its northern end saying, ‘Grenadier Bridge’ and today there is a memorial plaque at the southern end (qv).
On the eastern side of the bridge is a brick Memorial with a Plaque commemorating the start of GARDEN in honour of the Irish Guards commanded by Lieutenant J.O.E. Vandeleur ‘who captured and held this bridge on 10 September 1944’ and their motto Quis Separabit - though according to one Irish Guards sergeant the motto is ‘When in doubt, lash out’.
Continue to the T-junction with the N174 (38 kms/23.8 miles) and turn left.
Continue to the Dutch-Belgian border. On the right is
• Liberation Gate Memorial Dutch-Belgian Border/39 kms/24.1 miles/5 minutes/Map IS/15
On 11 September 1944 in the struggles before Operation MARKET-GARDEN the leading tank squadron of the Irish Guards took 25 minutes from Joe’s Bridge to reach this border, 3kms distant. Readers may be confused by the assertion that the advance on 17 September began at Joe’s Bridge, yet here we have Irish Guards well beyond that point six days earlier. Having secured the ground beyond the bridge the armour withdrew south of it before the 17th, leaving it to the infantry to hold, a process known as ‘Consolidation’. The first Allied unit to set foot on Dutch soil comprised two armoured cars of the 2nd Household Cavalry (a reconnoissance regiment part of the Guards Armoured Division and known by the Foot Guards as the ‘Stable Boys’) under Lieutenant Rupert Buchanan-Jardine. Local inhabitants had given him the location of German positions in the area. On 20/21 September the Princess Irene Royal Netherlands Brigade drove through here.
On 11 September 1994 Buchanan-Jardine was again present here at the unveiling of this handsome memorial - but this time as Sir Rupert.
In 1944 at about this point there was a Dutch customs house on the left-hand side of the road and hiding in the roof was a Royal Artillery officer named Captain J. F. Cory Dixon of 25/26 Battery 7th Medium Regiment. He was probably the most forward officer in the whole of XXX Corps and his job was to spot the accuracy of the barrage and, if necessary, to adjust it. He had a signaller with him. The opening line of the barrage was about 150 metres north of the memorial. We have earlier proposed a number of reasons for the apparent slowness of the advance of XXX Corps and Cory Dixon suggests another, though at the same time adding to the mystery of the loss of the Irish Guards tanks. He wrote the following to the authors:-
A PERSONAL ACCOUNT
By Captain J. F. Cory Dixon
The barrage was perfect; the RAF with Typhoons arrived dead on time (the only time in all my experience that they ever did) BUT the Guards were TWENTY (20) minutes late over the start line which was virtually level with my OP.
The result was that THREE (3) tanks were brewed up on the left of the road and TWO (2) on the right. As this was from an 88 on the right it sounds wrong, but that is what happened. This stopped the advance, and I had wandered forward to see what happened. A short conversation with O/C Vanguard and it was I who ordered the barrage to stop… . It took over FOUR (4) hours to get the barrage restarted on the appropriate start line.
The regimental history of the Irish Guards does not mention any delay in fire support, though it does say that it was at this point that the tanks were hit - ‘Infantry in the ditches and antitank guns from the wood had struck down the rear of No. 3 and the head of No. 1 Squadron.’ It continues that the Typhoons were called in to help and ‘in the next hour flew two hundred and thirty sorties - a record in ground support. The tanks, as arranged, fired red smoke at the enemy positions to give the pilots an aiming mark and burnt yellow smoke abundantly and eagerly to mark themselves.’
What is rarely considered is the difficulty that, despite the use of coloured markers, (the tanks had orange panels) pilots have in correctly identifying targets. An examination of the flight logs of the squadrons that took part in the Typhoon support on 17 September produced the following: -
First from 182 Squadron who had attacked gun positions at Arnhem that morning. At 1435 hours a second sortie was flown, led by Wing Commander North-Lewis DFC, ‘to attack woods on either side of a road up which our armoured forces were advancing. The area was attacked with H.E.R.P. (High explosive rocket projectiles) with unobserved results.’ Thus they might have hit the Irish Guards tanks.
Second is an extract from 247 Squadron’s 17 September log that gives an essence of the excitement and difficulty of the pilot’s task.
A big day was today. A very big day indeed. At about 1030 the whole Wing was called to Intelligence for a super briefing for a super show… the Winco stressed the importance of ignoring all opposition and pressing home the attack no matter what came up at us… the role of the Tiffies’ is as airborne armour [an interesting early use of a phrase which is now applied to ‘attack’ helicopters], to keep the main road open and smash any tanks and guns that can be seen or upon which we can be directed. The whole affair to be carried out at low level regardless of flak. Once again the Wing was told, ‘We are prepared to suffer casualties, all attacks must be pressed home regardless of anything… .’ Woods and roads were pranged with great gusto and the whole effort was applauded each time by the brown job in the Contact Car… . Little did he know of the narrow escapes our chaps were having, trying to fly in an atmosphere positively charged with mad careering aircraft of all shapes and sizes.
It would appear that hitting the wrong target was a possible and understandable error.
Continue on the N69.
Note that the road along this stretch, with its deep ditches to each side, gives one a realistic impression of the 1944 road. Although Horrocks had ordered that the road should be used for one-way traffic and, therefore, that overtaking was possible with care, the verges would have been important for manoeuvring. A contemporary account tells of a sapper soldier who on seeing a damaged vehicle beside the road put up a sign on the verge saying, ‘Danger Mines’. If this is true, that one sign could have slowed the movement of the whole Corps. Part of the ground forces was 130 Brigade of 43rd Division and the Royal Engineers of that Division were so sensitive to the danger of mines that they had produced their own ‘Mine Book’. In the front of the book was a quotation from Proverbs 4, verses 26 and 27, ‘Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand or to the left: remove thy foot from evil’. Thus, although the Division did not leave the area of Hechtel until 20 September, the ‘Mine Book’ may well indicate the XXX Corps attitude to the threat of mines and it could be that the story of the sign is true and its placing could have followed an incident related by Roden Orde (qv) that took place in this area on 17 September,
The road was being heavily mortared by the Germans after the Squadron (2nd HCR) had passed the Dutch frontier and there was a jam of tanks, armoured cars, lorries and half-tracks waiting to move forward. Suddenly Corporal-of-Horse Johnson saw a half-track trying to pull across the road onto the grass verge, which was mined. ‘Get off that verge!’ shouted Johnson in warning, but he was too late. The half-track disintegrated in a violent explosion which must have been caused by a land mine. All the crew except the officer in command, who died of wounds some hours later, were killed instantly
In fact it was later discovered by the Engineers that the Germans had filled weapon pits with explosive and connected them to pressure pads, a tactic that was unlikely to be used often, but as the Commander Royal Engineers of the Guards Armoured Division, Brigadier C. P. Jones, put it, ‘Forward units needed some persuading that the whole of the route would not be mined on this scale.’
Continue towards Valkenswaard to just past the crossing with the road to Bergeijk to the left and Boxtel to the right. Stop at the memorial on the right beside the Café Heertje by the Oude Dorpstraat signed to the right.
• Café‘t Heertje’ Memorial/44 kms/27.2miles/5 minutes/Map 1S/16
Following the capture of Joe’s Bridge on 10 September the next waterway to be crossed was that of the River Dommel, some 3kms ahead of here, which you will cross later. Orders were passed down (it is said they originated with Montgomery himself) for the bridge over the river to be looked at. The job was given the next day to D Squadron of 2nd HCR led by Lieutenant Buchanan-Jardine (qv). While one car went forward he stopped here, then called the Café Rustoord, at about 1400 hours. Several locals, knowing that the British had taken Joe’s Bridge, anticipated their arrival here and celebrated by putting out the Dutch flag, playing patriotic songs and offering the soldiers drinks. Buchanan-Jardine warned them that he was only making a recce and that Liberation had not yet arrived, advising them to take down the flag. Hardly had the scout cars gone back when the Germans arrived and searched the building for evidence of a British presence. Luckily the locals had hidden all the cigarettes and chocolate the soldiers had given to them in their bicycles’ panniers, which the Germans forgot to search. However, the owner, Mr van Steenbergen, and his family were turned out of the café which was then vandalized.
The distinctive memorial was designed by Ramaz Gozatie and unveiled in 1994. Plaques on the ground recount how ‘On this very spot the British Liberators set foot on Dutch soil for the first time’ and in 1947 Buchanan-Jardine was awarded the Dutch Bronze Lion.
The plaques are sponsored by the Rabobank of Valkenswaard and Borkel & Schaft. Continue toivards the cemetery on the left surrounded by pine woods. Park in the slip road just before it, keeping well into the side of the road as you walk to the entrance as speeding lorries to the right and massed bicycles to the left can make walking very dangerous.
Café t’Heertje Memorial
Valkenswaard CWGC Cemetery in April 1946, daffodils on every grave, and the entrance today
• Valkenswaard CWGC Cemetery/44 kms/27.5 miles/15 Minutes/Map IS/17
The cemetery, whose capacity was listed as ‘200 graves’ when it was handed over to the Imperial War Graves Commission on 15 June 1946, actually contains 222 graves, almost all of whom fell in the fighting in the woods around Valkenswaard. They are of 214 UK named soldiers and 6 Unknown, plus two RAF. Originally the cemetery was enclosed by a wire fence and each grave was individually shaped and planted with daffodil bulbs. They include several Irish Guards, buried in a row [II.B.], who died on 17 September 1944: Guardsmen Walter Ackers (2nd Bn), Michael Dee (3rd Bn), Lance Corporal Michael Delaney (3rd Bn), James Johnson (2nd Bn), Norman Mallon (3rd Bn) and William Moore (2nd Bn), Squadron Serjeant Major William Parkes (2nd Bn), Guardsmen George Walker (3rd Bn) and Thomas Watson (3rd Bn) and Lance Sergeant John Watters (3rd Bn). Also buried here is Private Herbert Eric Gunther Selig who, because of his German-sounding name, reversed it. He served, and was buried, under the name of Giles [II.C.15.]. Major David Davies, RWF, age 29, 25 September 1944, was the 2nd Baron of Llandinam [I.D.7.].
Continue to the bridge over the Dommel.
The bridge is small and easily missed. It will not be possible to stop on it.
• Dommel Victory Bridge 147 kms/29.5 miles/Map IS/18
Of the twenty Dutch bridges that had to be taken along the MARKET-GARDEN Corridor, this was the first. On 11 September Buchanan-Jardine’s leading scout car came within sight of the bridge, which was clearly unharmed, and seeing a German Mark IV tank standing on it returned to the Café Rustoord. On 17 September it was crossed by the Guards Armoured Division, a feat commemorated by a bronze plaque on the wall to the left which read, ‘Victory Bridge Corridor’ with the date. In mid-2000 the plaque was, sadly, missing, but its rectangular shape can be discerned on the stonework on the left as one drives over the bridge. It was somewhere in this area that the Irish Guards, having captured a number of 88mm guns, tried to destroy them, but, as their history says, ‘only succeeded in firing one into the middle of Group HQ’.
Continue into Valkenswaard and turn right on Europalaan at the traffic lights, direction Leende, to the statue on Verzetsplein on the right.
The missing plaque on the Dommel Victory Bridge
• Valkenswaard Liberation Memorial/50 kms/30.7 miles/5 minutes/RWC/Map IS/19
The Guards did not reach Valkenswaard, some 13kms from the start line, until the end of the first day. Some authorities claim that it was, in fact, the objective of 17 September. If so, it was hardly compatible with the need to reach Arnhem, lOOkms away, in less than 3 days, a task that demanded an average minimum daily progress of 33kms. Another contentious issue is the start time of 1435 hours for the XXX Corps assault, which left only about 4 M hours of daylight in which to advance.
Had the MARKET-GARDEN ground-force assault begun at 0600 hours on 17 September there would have been another 8 hours of daylight and the bridge at Son, only 30kms distant, might have been reached that evening, repaired overnight and the subsequent advance made one day earlier. 1 AB Division at Arnhem could have been reached on time and the whole operation might then have succeeded.
The ground force assault was delayed until the airborne force could be seen over Holland-a reasonable precaution since so many earlier operations had been cancelled. It was also considered that a morning assault on the ground might prejudice the secrecy of the airborne offensive.
Nevertheless, Valkenswaard was the first Dutch town to be liberated on the main line of the British advance. Opposition from the beginning of The Corridor had been heavier than expected - particularly from two battalions of 9th SS Division. When, as dusk fell on the 17th, the tanks reached here, they refuelled and stopped overnight, an action that later brought much criticism from the Americans and from the AFPU (Army Film and Photo Unit) men with the force. Ian Grant (qv) says,
It was dusk before they reached Valkenswaard and the Film Unit prepared themselves for another night run (like those before Brussels and Antwerp) up to Eindhoven and beyond… . From the number of Germans who were now coming in to surrender… there didn’t appear to be fearsome opposition. It was, therefore, with great surprise that AFPU were told the armour was going into laager for the night and would proceed again at dawn…. This overnight stop has never been fully accounted for.
In the day’s actions the 2nd Battalion had lost nine tanks, eight men killed and several wounded, the 3rd Battalion seven men killed and nineteen wounded. It is interesting to note that the only tank losses were those sustained right at the start of the operation.
At 0600 hours on 18 September the tanks of Major Wignall’s C Squadron of the Irish Guards led off along the road towards Eindhoven with armoured cars of 2nd HCR under Lieutenant Tabor 30 minutes ahead of them. Germans with anti-tank guns in concealed positions in the woods delayed the advance and set-piece infantry attacks had to be mounted, introducing more delay. On the flanks armoured cars of 2nd HCR under Lieutenant Palmer scouted ahead on side roads impassable to tanks, circled west around Eindhoven and met 506th PIR north of the city near Woensel (qv) at about 1200 hours, having picked up a few American paratroopers en route. They were welcomed by Brigadier Higgins, the second-incommand of 101st Airborne Division. (See Update Page xxvii.) The main body of XXX Corps, however, would not arrive for another six hours. General Taylor himself told them about the damage to the bridge at Son and asked that the REs be sent up as quickly as possible. ‘Phone us’, he said, ‘the number is Son 224.’ Captain Balding of the Household Cavalry passed the message back to the engineers over the wireless giving details of the gap to be bridged.
The Liberation Memorial, designed by Theo Nahmer, was unveiled in 1953. It illustrates the mixed feelings of many Dutch citizens during the occupation - powerless and resigned but nevertheless determined that a better future would come. Liberation was, of course, to come earlier to the people of Brabant in the path of The Corridor.
The VVV office is at the Town Hall, Markt 23, Tel: + (0) 49 0292525.
Open: Monday-Friday 0830-1730 hours.
Continue, direction Eindhoven, on the N69 to Aalst/Waalre.
It was here that, later in the day of 18 September, Major Thomas, commanding 14th Field Squadron RE, phoned from a public call box via a German-controlled telephone exchange and got through to the Americans at Son in answer to General Taylor’s message.
There was considerable delay to the advance as the Guards approached Aalst, caused both by the presence of a German self-propelled gun and the attempt by the Irish Guards to pass their tanks through the Cavalry armoured cars in order to take on the opposition. The gun turned out to be unmanned.
By the church to the left at the traffic lights turn right (55 kms/34.1 miles) on Brabantialaan, which becomes Sophiastraat, continue over the Dommel and then turn left on Prince Mauritzweg just past the bus stop and second right on Iman van den Boschlaan. The statue is on the left in the small park.
• Aalst Liberation Memorial/56 kms/34.7 miles/5 minutes/RWC/Map 1S/20
The dramatic memorial, which depicts three human figures freeing themselves from the straightjacket of German occupation, was designed by Karel Zilstra and was unveiled in September 1994. In this area of Aalst streets are named after Resistance Workers.
Return to the N69 and turn right direction Eindhoven.
About 600m later (200m before the next traffic lights) the road crosses a small stream known as the Tongelreep. As the Guards’ leading Shermans and armoured cars reached it, at about 1000 hours on 18 September, they met opposition. There were four 88mm guns, a number of Spandau machine guns and German infantry covering the stream crossing. Immediately a mixed tank and infantry force set out to find a way around to the west (without success) while the main body kept the Germans at the bridge occupied. At midday, Lieutenant Tabor returned to Aalst to report the situation to squadron HQ who ‘were found comfortably ensconced with some of them having a haircut in a nearby shop’. Meanwhile a Dutch civilian on a bicycle, who said that he came from ‘Philips of Eindhoven’, had been stopped just short of the bridge by Major Eddie Tyler of the Irish Guards, searched and sent back to Battalion HQ. Sixteen years later at a lunch in London for the finance director of Philips, Major Tyler met that civilian again - he was the finance director. The stalemate at the Tongelreep continued until the late afternoon when the Germans, hearing that Eindhoven had fallen, abandoned their weapons and the Guards advance, led initially by Tabor on foot, continued. Once under way 2nd HCR motored at top speed up the main road, through Eindhoven and out to the blown bridge at Son where they arrived barely an hour later. Roden Orde (qv) wrote, ‘It will be seen that the main burden of the advance along the road to Eindhoven, as far as it concerned the Regiment (2HCR) had been undertaken by four men in two scout cars’.
Detail Aalst Liberation Memorial
N.B. At this point by taking the A2/A67/E34 Motorway, direction Eersel, exiting there (Exit 32) and:
(a) following signs to Knegsel and then continuing on Zandoerleseweg to Zandoerle a German 75mm Anti-tank Gun (Map IS/27) may be seen on the village green. It was abandoned by the Germans who were surprised by the rapid advance of the 53rd (Welsh) Division.
(b) taking the N284 to Bladel, on Kroonvensedijk near the Camping Site Tipmast, is a Memorial Stone to Willem Flipse and Hans Freericks (Map IS/22) designed by Fons Roymans. They were shot by the Germans, suspected of being members of the Brabant Resistance Group, PAN - Partizan Action Netherlands - that was actively engaged in sabotage during MARKET-GARDEN and in helping isolated airborne troops at the beginning of the operation. It is thought that they were searching a British troop carrier wearing the blue dungarees and PAN armlet favoured by saboteurs when they were arrested on 20 September. The translated inscription reads, ‘Traveller, stay awhile and put your hands together. Remember these [men] with a short prayer. They died for our country.’
(c) by returning to Bladel and continuing through it on the Neterselseweg and shortly after the turning to Het Bosch on the right a Memorial to the Crews of two C-47 Dakota Glidertugs (Map IS/23) may be visited. The low-flying, slow Dakotas, named ‘Piccadilly Filly’ and ‘Clay Pigeon’, crashed near the Spiethof Farm on 17 September 1944, brought down by one of the many anti-aircraft guns in the area. Many of the American crews, and several civilians, including three members of the Spiethof family, were killed and are commemorated - civilians on the left and crew members on the right.
(d) by continuing into Netersel centre into Alphons van der Heydenstraat the Memorial Chapel to the Virgin Mary (Map IS/24) may be visited. It commemorates Fons van der Heyden, who saved the life of Moses de Lopez, the only surviving crew member of a C-47 shot down near the Bladel Forest. Van der Heyden sheltered de Lopez on his farm which already contained seven other people in hiding. During a German search thev were all discovered. Van der Heyden took all the responsibility for the fugitives and was shot on 20 September 1944. In 1947 the survivors erected this chapel in his memory and a street was named after him.
(e) by continuing on De Hoeve, over Westelbeersedijk (the road becomes Kranenberg and then Hoogeind) and then turning left at the T-junction into Hei-eind (Hoogeloon) then roughly half a mile later turning right on Groenstraat, there is a new ‘Hiding Place’ Memorial off the road to the left in the shape of a large stone with a plaque beside it (Map IS/25). It was erected on 21 September 1999 by the Mayor of Hoogeloon, Mr S. P. Grem, and it marks the hiding place of the four survivors of the crew and two of the eighteen paratroopers of the 506th PIR, 101st AB Division when their C47 42-100672, nicknamed ‘Clay Pigeon’ was shot down on 17 September 1944 (see above). Three tugs also crashed in meadows near Hoogeloon and their gliders had to be cut loose. The survivors of these and some of the other crashes in the area (said to total thirteen) were taken in by the Dutch Resistance, notably by Miss Mary van Hoof and Mr Adriaan Goossens, and the wounded were given medical care by a local doctor and nun. This care was undertaken at the greatest risk as the area was seething with German soldiers. The men, thought to number about sixteen, were then taken to the farms of Karel Smulders, Kees Koolen and Harry Goodkens in Hei-eind and hidden in the woods (together with a German prisoner the group had taken) and supplied with food and drink by over twenty Resistance Workers until liberated on 21 September. Mary van Hoof (who died in 1997 age 88) and Adriaan Goossens were both awarded the Medal of Freedom.
Hei-eind ‘Hiding Place’ Memorial
(f) by turning round and continuing into Hoogeloon on Hoofdstraat to Valenslein 1985, a Memorial Tree with Plaque to RWF Fusilier Eddy [spelled Eddie on the plaque] Jones (Map 1S/26) may be seen. He was killed here on 21 September (his entry in the CWGC records gives his date of death as the 22nd) 1944 during the British advance to widen The Corridor. As his unit was not involved in the Liberation of Hoogeloon, it is a mystery as to how the 19-year-old Fusilier of the 7th Battalion came to be here. He is buried in the CWGC Cemetery at Bergen op Zoom [l.B.8.]. On 5 May 1985, this plaque was unveiled by Eddy Jones’s sister.]
Continue along the N69 which becomes Aalsterweg, following the VVV symbols to the junction with Sint Jorislaan to the right and Dr. Schaepmanlaan to the left, signed Stadion.
• Extra Visit to Philips War Memorial (Map lS/45a) and Stained Glass Windows (Map 10/1) Round trip approximately 5.9 kms/3.7 miles. Approximate time: 25 minutes
N.B. There is a ‘strictly no photographs’ policy in the Philips Strijp complex where the memorial is sited. However, if you approach the security guard at the barrier and explain the reason for your interest, he may well obtain permission for you to enter and photograph the memorial.
Turn left and continue following signs to Stadion.
N.B. As the road crosses the River Dommel, to the right is the beautiful and peaceful Gebr. Hornemann Plantsoen Park in which there is a red stone Memorial to all the Jewish children of Eindhoven who died 1940-1945. The park is named after two Jewish brothers who were shot by the Germans.
Continue as the road becomes Eden Straat, Mauritsstraat and Vonder Weg to the junction with Mathildelaan. Turn left along Mathildelaan, round the spectacular Philips Stadium, parallel to the railway line on the right, to the Philips Strijp complex at the end of the road.
The memorial, which stands in its own ornamental garden, can be seen straight ahead from the entrance. Note that special permission to visit it must be requested at the Guard Room.
Philips War memorial, Strijp
Memorial to Philips Workers Who Died in the War. The dramatic memorial by architect Carasso of a prone human figure on a sarcophagus, whose draped shroud falls over the front, was unveiled on 5 May 1950 by Frits Philips in the presence of the families of those commemorated on it. Their names are inscribed on the memorial and they comprise those who died in the strike of May 1943, when the workers protested at Jewish colleagues being co-opted for slave labour and seven of them were killed by the Germans, plus those who died in concentration camps. An annual commemoration, attended by Frits Philips, is still held here on 5 May.
THE PHILIPS FACTORY DURING THE OCCUPATION
In 1939, in anticipation of the outbreak of war, Philips Trusts were set up in the UK and in the USA to safeguard their assets. A complicated plan was formulated to evacuate key personnel and valuable equipment to The Hague. On 9 May a huge convoy and special train were loaded and set off but they ran into the invading Germans and had to make their way back to Eindhoven. The directors, however, arrived at The Hague and all but Frits Philips then sailed from the Hook of Holland to the UK. He remained to negotiate with the Germans who wanted the factory to continue for their war effort - especially for the Luftwaffe. He had to tread the delicate knife-edge between protecting one’s own interests and employees (many of them Jewish) and being accused of collaboration, which made for a difficult war for Frits Philips. His story is told in 45 Years with Philips The History of Philips. Volume 4 Under German Rule. See also the entry under the Concentration Camp at Vught.
N.B. By continuing along Mathildelaan and turning right under the railway bridge onto Marconi Laan and then left along Groenewoudseweg Eindhoven Jewish Cemetery (Map 1S/45) may be visited. The British graves are in the south-eastern part of the cemetery. They are of Private Z. H. Fischer of the Palestine Regiment, 15 October 1945; Gunner Mark Isaaman of 190 Field Regt, RA, age 31,17 December 1944 and Gunner Hyman Shriebman, Lt AA Regt, RA, age 37, 29 December 1944.
Return along Mathildelaan and continue to the Philips Tower. Turn right along Emmasingel.
On the left, opposite the Philips Tower, is another, newly restored, Philips building in which there are two very large multi-panelled stained glass windows commemorating the Philips Employees sent to the Vught Concentration Camp (qv) and to those who were killed in the Allied Bombing raids.
The Philips Archives are on the left at the end of the road. (Map 10/2)
Continue down Keizersgracht Wal (passing Stadhuis Plein and the Liberation Monument on the left) into PC. ZN. Hooftlaan and pick up the main itinerary as Stratumse Dijk joins Hertogstraat by turning left.
Continue straight over as the road becomes Stratumse Dijk. Follow the one-way system signed to Centrum, crossing the Dommel (61 kms/38.2 miles) and continue on Vestdijk to the large roundabout before the station. Turn right along Stationsweg and immediately stop in the parking on the left. Walk to the tourist office, signed VVV, to the left of the station.
• Eindhoven VVV/62 kms/38.8 miles/10 minutes/RWC
The VVV is at Stationsplein 17, 5611 AC Eindhoven.
Tel: + (0) 40 2979115. www.vvveindhoven.nl
E-mail: info@vvveindhoven.nl
Open: Monday 1000-1730; Tuesday-Thursday 0900-1730; Friday 0900-2030 hours. Saturday 1000-1700. Helpful English-speaking staff. Maps/booklets/souvenirs/postcards and tourist literature and information/full reservation service. Information on annual 18 September Liberation commemorations/Circuit of Lights. See Tourist Information below for more information.
N.B. It is highly recommended to pick up a detailed town plan of Eindhoven here.
• Walking Tour to Eindhoven Memorials from the VVV (approximate time: 30-45 minutes).
Cross the road and walk back towards the roundabout. Walk back up Vestdijk, the road up which you drove and cross it as soon as possible, turning right up Nieuwstraat. This leads into Marktstraat Square and on the building on the facing corner across the square is a memorial.
• Liberation Bas Relief/Map 10/3
Two bronze panels show hands joined by the flames of the torches they hold. They represent the meeting of American and British troops and the inscription reads,
Liberation of Eindhoven 1944-1994. US 101st Airborne Division General Maxwell D. Taylor. British 30th Corps General Brian Horrocks. Whoever asks for freedom must offer others freedom.
Liberation bas relief
Bombardment bas relief
Liberation Monument with flame
The memorial, designed by Jos Reniers, was unveiled by His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard with an American and a British veteran in September 1994.
Walk to the bottom of the square and turn right to the T-junction with Rechte Straat. Turn left and walk down the street to the junction with Kerkstraat. Turn right and immediately to the right on the wall is the memorial.
• Bombardment Bas Relief/Map 10/4
This striking bronze tablet records the German bombardment of 19 September 1944. First the Germans fired bright yellow markers over the newly liberated town and then, with as yet no Allied anti-aircraft guns in the city, about seventy aircraft flew over dropping their bombs. Over 220 inhabitants were killed.
Continue down Kerkstraat to the junction with the main road Keizersgracht. Turn left and walk to the next opening on the left which is Stadhuis Plein.
• Liberation Monument, Stadhuisplein/Map 10/5
Eindhoven is linked with Bayeux in Normandy as the first major cities to be liberated in their respective countries and each year on 28 September the ‘Freedom Flame’ is carried from Bayeux [see Major & Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches] and rekindled in the special torch holder near the Liberation Monument. The holder bears the legend Unis par I’Amitie [United by Friendship] and the coats of arms of Bayeux and Eindhoven. The procession from Bayeux is greeted in Stadhuisplein by local Eindhoven dignitaries and servicemen’s associations (including the local Royal British Legion branch) and is organised by the Dutch Society of Friends. A dwindling band of veterans of September 1944 attend each year and take part in other celebratory events organised by the 18 September Festival Foundation (qv), such as the Parade, Cultural Events and the Circuit of Lights (qv).
The handsome Liberation Monument was sculpted by Paul Gregoire. The three figures represent the Soldier, the Resistance Worker and the Civilian. The bird is the Dove of Peace. Around the base in bas relief are friezes showing the progression from occupation through oppression to liberation with the words, ‘You who stand here remember their death, their great sacrifice, before you go.’
Dutch welcome to the Liberators, September 1944
‘Mad Tuesday’
In September 1944 the 101st AB Division plan had called for Colonel Sink’s 506th PIR to cross the Son Bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal and to take Eindhoven by 2000 hours on 17 September. It seems odd that the 506th did not drop at both ends of the Son Bridge in the way that 504th PIR did at Grave (qv). As a result the bridge was blown before they could reach it. Although the 506th PIR eventually got themselves over the canal it was dark before they all crossed and so Colonel Sink, with General Taylor’s agreement, decided to wait until morning before going further. At daylight 3rd Para Battalion led the way to Eindhoven with two companies astride The Corridor road accompanied by Dutch civilians wearing white handkerchief armbands and carrying captured German weapons. En route, with help from local civilians and Lieutenant-Colonel Robert L. Strayer’s 2nd Battalion, they overcame small pockets of German small arms fire and stiffer resistance from two 88mm guns and mortars in the area of Woensel church, the Germans losing thirteen dead and forty-one as prisoners. Behind the leading companies came General Taylor, who climbed to the top of Vlokhoven Church tower to look over the city. German opposition had ceased. Eindhoven was the first Dutch city to be liberated and civilians appeared with orange armbands and streamers, crowding the streets to welcome the Americans. Even more acceptable were the gifts of schnapps and beer which were thrust upon them. They were in the city centre shortly after midday. Then, as the tanks of the Irish Guards rolled in later in the day, their welcome was just as enthusiastic, but amongst the liberators were Dutch members of the Netherlands Brigade and they had the most riotous welcome of all as described by Ronald Gill and John Groves in their Club Route in Europe:-
Suddenly, riding slowly past the column came a despatch rider. He attracted little attention at first until some Dutch women spotted his shoulder flash - the Netherlands flash! A real Dutch soldier! The British column and the British soldiers were immediately forgotten. The Netherlands representative disappeared from sight under a pile of raving women and the crowd moved off up the street with their soldier still submerged. Dutch men fought for the privilege of wheeling his motor-cycle… . Half an hour later he rolled into view again, full of Bols gin and kissed into a state of blissful coma. With difficulty he mounted his motor-cycle, received a last kiss for luck from everybody and wobbled off up the road. He fell off after ten yards but willing hands helped him on again and finally with three children on his pillion, and bunches of orange flowers tied all over him and his machine, he zig-zagged out of sight.
But it wasn’t quite the end of the war for the citizens of Eindhoven. During the night of 19 September some seventy German bombers raided the town, causing 1,000 casualties, killed, wounded or missing.
In the months between the Normandy landings in June and the beginning of September 1944 Allied air attacks on Nazi-occupied Europe had increased. Eindhoven, with its Philips factories and nearby airfield, was often a target. Factory roofs, and even trains, were equipped with AA guns. As the armies of liberation came closer, the Germans and their sympathizers (including the city mayor) began to leave. On 3 September the AA guns were removed and on the following night the Germans blew up their installations at the airfield. There was a curfew from 2000 to 0600 hours and the punishment for violation was death.
Something akin to panic affected the Germans. Using carts, horses, prams, bicycles - any form of transport they could find - they and their collaborators jammed the roads leading east, a flood that reached its peak on 5 September, known as ‘Mad Tuesday’ (Dolle Dinsdag). The last issue of the German-controlled Eindhoven daily paper, Dagblad van het Zuider, was published on 7 September, but then the Germans seemed to recover their balance and the headlong rush to leave stopped.
On Sunday 17 September the roar of aircraft brought out the people of Eindhoven. In the morning they watched the bombers and, in the afternoon, the transports and gliders flying north. At 1700 hours Radio Orange (the Underground radio) gave them the news of the landings and instructions to the PAN (Partisan Action Netherlands) resistance. Hurriedly the Germans blew up the railway installations around the station - then approximately where the VVV is now. It is said that the sound of the Allied assault to the south beyond Valkenswaard prompted a senior German officer to ring his subordinate HQ there during the evening. ‘Hold to the last man,’ he said, and was greatly encouraged by the positive reply that Valkenswaard would never be surrendered. He did not know that he had been talking to a Germanspeaking English officer from XXX Corps, who had already taken the town. But on the morning of 18 September the Guards were still stuck in a fight 8kms south of the city and it was 1830 hours before their tanks clattered into Eindhoven.
Inevitably, since the whole operation was eventually deemed to be a failure, there were recriminations and accusations between the British and Americans as to whose fault it was that the men at Arnhem were not reached in time. Indicative of this is the American report that Colonel Strayer radioed to General Taylor shortly after midday from the centre of the city that ‘We are in the centre, have occupied the four bridges and there is no resistance’, while the history of the 43rd Wessex Division, part of XXX Corps, records that ‘the large Dutch town of Eindhoven was found to be strongly held’ and ‘by early evening the Grenadier Guards group… finally overwhelmed the enemy and gained contact with U.S. troops.’
Return to your car.
• End of Itinerary One
OR
Extra Visits to the Mierlo CWGC Cemetery (Map 1S/28); Lierop Frank Doucette Monument; Stiphout 11th Armoured Division Memorial (Map 1S/33); Helmond - Liberation and Royal Norfolk Memorials (Map 1S-34/35); Ysselsteyn German Cemetery (Map 1S/37); Venray CWGC Cemetery (Map 1S/38); Lobeek Norfolk Regiment Memorial (Map 1S/39); Overloon Chapel of the Safe Hide-away (Map IS/40), Overloon National War & Resistance Museum (Map 1S-41/42) and CWGC Cemetery (Map 1S/43). Round trip: 122 kms/76 miles. Approximate time: 4 hours. Suggested Additional Visits to Nederweert CWGC Cemetery (Map IS/30) and Weert RC Cemetery (Map 1S/32).
Approximate extra 45 kms 28miles. Approximate extra time: 100 minutes
The somewhat convoluted route out of Eindhoven below is necessary because of the one-way system in the Centre.
From the Stationsplein car park near the VVV turn right towards the Philips Tower, past the VVV and right at the traffic lights. Follow signs to Antwerp/Venlo under the tunnel. At the traffic lights turn left past the Holiday Inn and left signed Centrum, again towards the Philips Tower. Pass it on the right on Emmasingel (signed Alle Richtingen) and bear left at the traffic lights and junction on Keizersgracht, continue past the Liberty Monument on the left and turn left on Bilderdijklaan, signed Geldrop.
Continue through Geldrop, direction Helmond. Continue to the green CWGC sign and park after it on the right opposite the cemetery.
Mierlo CWGC Cemetery (10 kms/6.5 miles)
The cemetery was started in the spring of 1945 and burials were concentrated in it from the fighting of September-November 1944 in the surrounding district, mainly to clear the region south and west of the River Maas and, further west, to open up the Scheldt estuary.
It contains 657 named and 7 Unknown burials - 634 UK Army, with 7 Unknown and 13 Air Force, 5 Australian Air Force, 4 Canadian Army and 1 Canadian Air Force.
MiD were Wing Commander Pilot Maurice Baker, of 196 Squadron RAF, age 33, 21st February 1945, [VIII.D.13]; Serjeant Alan Barnes, 2nd County of London Yeomanry, age 25,17 November 1944, [V.D.5.]; Major Frederick Connell, RASC, age 37,27 July 1945, [V.D.13.]. Corporal Albert Davidson of the 6th Seaforth Highlanders, age 22, 5 November 1944, was awarded the MM [V.E.5.]. Lance Corporal John Jeffreys, 1st Welsh Guards, age 23, 8 November 1944, captained the Welsh Guards Rugby Football team [VIII.F.3.]. The Rev Henry Taylor, Chaplain 4th Class attached 29th Armoured Brigade, age 31,23 September 1944, was awarded the MC [V.B.7.].
Commemorated on a Plaque in Neunen (qv) are Corporal Ralph Stothard, age 28, and Trooper Basil Nicholls, age 21, both of 44th Royal Tanks and killed on 20 September 1944[II.B.l/2.].
All killed on 3 February 1945 [in VII.A.] and in the RAAF were Pilot Officer I.C. Osborne, age 20, ‘S.C.E.G.S. Vitae lampada tradunt’, Flight Lieutenant R.Ordell, DFC, age 24, ‘Sydney Grammar School’, P.O. J.G. Killen, age 24, Flight Sergeant R. K. Mckaskill, age 19. On the same date, in the RAF, are Sergeant C. Scurr, age 24 and Flight Sergeant K. K. Reynolds, age 21.
The father of Captain Geoffrey Shaw, R Fus (City of London Regt), attd. 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, age 31, 26 September 1944 [IV.A.7.], Lieutenant Max Shaw, also of the City of London Regt, was killed on the Somme on 15 September 1916 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
Mierlo CWGC Cemetery
Continue over two sets of traffic lights and turn right just before the mill, signed Lierop. Turn right again at the roundabout, signed Centrum, and left at the next roundabout, signed Lierop. Continue to the T-junction and turn right on Herselseweg (17.1kms/10.7 miles) and continue under the A67/E34 motorway into Lierop. Turn first on Hogeweg and then first left to Frank Doucettestraat.
The street is named after the ‘Amerikaans Vlieger’ (American Flyer) 19 September 44. In a small park in the centre of the street is the Frank Doucette Memorial (19.2kms/12 miles).
From 1 August-21 September 1944 a camp in the nearby Forest of Lierop at Moorsel was used as a hiding place - often for as many as thirty men at a time. Among them was Frank Doucette, the gunner of an American B-17 bomber which was shot down over Eindhoven on 19 August 1944. Frank joined the Resistance and helped in the acts of sabotage designed to create confusion in the German rearguard. During a battle with the Germans Doucette was killed and a monument was placed on his grave. In 1974 the inhabitants of the street named after him relocated the monument, which tells his story, to this small park in the street. Plaques below the main monument date from 1974 and September 1999.
Frank Doucette Memorial, Lierop
N.B. The Suggested Additional Visits to Nederweert and Weert CWGC Graves may be made from this point.
Leave Leirop on Ten Boomen Laan and join the N266 direction Someren, Nederweert. Continue, with the Zuid-Willemsvaart Canal to the left, into Nederweert to the cemetery on the left.
Nederweert CWGC Cemetery
Nederweert was liberated on 21 September 1944 and the front line remained close by, following the courses of the Zuid-Willemsvaart and Wessem-Nederweert Canals, until 14 November. During that period there were casualties from patrol activity and from daily German shelling of Nederweert as well as from German minefields. After the British crossed the canals and continued towards the Maas, burials continued in this cemetery from the surrounding area.
Of the total of 363 burials there are 13 UK Navy, 290 UK Army, 13 RAF and 1 Unknown; 6 Canadian Army and 31 RCAF, 1 Australian Army and 2 RAAF; 1 New Zealand Army and 3 RNZAF, 1 South African Army and 1 Indian Army.
Buried here is Private William Foster, 5th Australian General Hospital, AAMC, age 26,14 April 1945, [IV.D.4]. He was MiD, as was Lieutenant James Pratt of 757 Field Coy, RE, age 22, 28 November 1944 [I.B.5.] and Major Richard Whelan, RNF, age 38, 31 October 1944 [I.G.9.].
Lance Corporal Henry Harden, RAMC attd No 45 RM Commando, age 32, 23 January 1945, was awarded the Victoria Cross [IV.E.13]. When four Royal Marines of the troop to which Harden was attached at Brachterbeek were wounded by heavy machine-gun fire whilst attempting to reach some nearby houses, he immediately ran 100 yards over open ground to give them first aid, then carried one on his back to safety. Harden was ordered not to go forward again, and an attempt was made to reach the remaining casualties with the use of tanks. This, and a subsequent attempt under a smoke screen, was unsuccessful and Harden insisted on going out with a volunteer stretcher party and brought one man back. Returning from his third foray with another wounded Marine, Harden was himself killed. Harden’s contempt for his personal danger and his cool courage and determination to finish the task ‘was an inspiration to his comrades and will never be forgotten by those who saw it’ [London Gazette].
Corporal Holden is also commemorated by a plaque on the bridge over the Montforterbeek at Brachterbeek.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Holliman, Commanding the 5th RoyalTanks, age 27, 21st January 1945, held the DSO, the MC and Bar [III.A.6]. Trooper Meinhard Ronald Weil of 23rd Hussars, RAC, age 26,4 November 1944, served as Winster [I.D.2.].
Continue to the Zuidwillemsvart Canal. Cross it and follow signs to Weert. 250m to the south is
Weert (Molenpoort) RC Cemetery
In it are 3 RAF graves of 78 Sqn from 23 September 1944.
Return towards Helmond on the N266.just before the railway on the outskirts of Helmond, turn left, parallel with the railway, and then right on Mierloseweg. Pick up the main Extra Visit itinerary.]
Return to the junction by the windmill with the N614 and turn right direction Helmond. Continue along Geldropseweg, over the Eindhovens Canal, which becomes Hoofdstraat and then Mierloseweg over the railway and over the N270 motorway (29kms/18.1 miles) along Hortsedijk into Stiphout. Turn left at the T-junction and traffic lights signed Gerwen on President Rooseveltlaan which becomes Dorpsstraat. Continue 100m past the church on the left and stop by the Obelisk.
11th Armoured Division Obelisk, Stiphout (31 kms/19.3 miles). Designed by Jef Verhoeven and inaugurated on 20 September 1986 on the occasion of the first reunion of the Normandy Veterans’ Association in Holland, the obelisk bears the divisional insignia of a charging bull. It has the legend ‘We will remember them. September 1944’ and the badges of the 2nd Battalion, Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and the 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade. The Division’s task was to widen The Corridor and make it less vulnerable to German attempts to cut it off.
Turn round and continue straight over the traffic lights, signed ‘s-Hertogenbosch, to the crossroads with Boerhaavelaan to the right and Jan van Brabantlaan to the left. Turn left and continue as the road becomes Julianalaan, over the N266 and the Zuid Willemsvaart Canal, signed Deurne, onto Oostende to the third set of traffic lights with a small garden beyond and to the right with a small parking area in front of it. This is September 44 Plantsoen. In it is
Helmond Liberation Memorial (34 kms/21.5 miles).
This splendid statue of St George and the Dragon, designed by Niel Steenbergen, was inaugurated on the 15th Anniversary of the Liberation of Helmond on 25 September 1944 by 11th Armoured and 3rd Infantry Division of VIII (BR) Corps. It symbolises the triumph of good over evil.
Turn round and return along Oostende and turn left at the first traffic lights, signed Centrum, along Noordende. Continue along the winding road until it becomes Zuidende. After passing Hemelrukse Straat to the left, stop in the parking zone on the right. To the left is Royal Norfolkplein with a small flower garden and in it is
Royal Norfolk Memorial, Helmond (36 kms/22.3 miles).
This brick memorial, designed by Jan van Erp with a raised ‘N’ and ‘R’ and a plaque bearing the regimental badge, was donated by the Friends of the Regiment. The figure of Britannia badge was given to the regiment by Queen Anne for its gallantry at the Battle of Almanza in 1707 and the nickname,’the Holy Boys’, is said either to have come from the selling of Bibles for drink in the Peninsula or because the Spaniards mistook Britannia for the Virgin Mary. The memorial was erected in 1984 and commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Liberation of Helmond by the 1st Battalion on 25 September.
Part of VIII (BR) Corps, the Norfolks were to provide flank cover for Guards Armoured Division in The Corridor. Their progress was slowed by heavy German opposition, especially along the Zuid Willemsvaart by the German 107th Panzer Brigade.
Continue along Zuidende to the junction with the N270 and turn left on Kasteeltraverse, direction Deurne.
[N.B. By turning left on Burgemeester Van Houtlaan and immediately left on Molenstraat, one reaches Helmond Protestant Cemetery. There are 3 British graves here: Guardsman Stanley French, 3rd Scots Guards, age 23, 19 November 1944; Craftsman Thomas Hart, REME, age 34, 27 December 1944 and Serjeant Alexander Malcolm, 3rd Scots Guards, age 30,14 December 1944. (Map 1S/36).]
Continue on the N270 around Deurne to the roundabout and turn right on the N277 signed to Ysselsteyn and right again in the village signed to the German Cemetery [Duitse Militaire Begraafsplaats]. Continue to the cemetery on the left.
German Cemetery, Ysselsteyn (57 kms/35.4 miles).
There is a sign on the entrance for the adjoining Jeugdont Moetingscentrum (Youth Meeting Centre). The cemetery is approached by a rhododendron-lined path, at the end of which is the Visitors’ Centre. In it can be found details of the men buried here and there are toilets, open during visiting hours. There is also a multi-lingual video presentation about the Kriegsgraberfürsorge and the history of the cemetery. Because of its nearness to Germany, the cemetery receives many thousands of visits from relatives each year. On entering this vast cemetery, the mournful field of over 31,000 granite crosses seems to stretch into infinity. Beneath them, in its 30 hectares, lie 31,502 soldiers of the 1939-45 War and 74 of the 1914-18 War (in a plot immediately to the left as one enters). This huge cultivated plain had to be created from the De Peel moorland. It was reclaimed with very hard work before the 68,000 trees and shrubs could be planted and the 116 plots laid out, mostly with twelve rows of twenty-five graves. The bodies concentrated here were brought in from local civilian burial grounds and from as far afield as Maastricht (including the ‘14-’18 burials) and the Isle of Ameland. 3,000 soldiers came from Margraten - the fallen of the last month of the war. 1,700 came from the Arnhem battlefield. The first man to be reburied here was Under-Officer Johann Siegel. In the early 1990s the German Focke-Wulf 190 of Edmund Unger was discovered in a forest to the north-east of Eindhoven airport. He was shot down on 5 November 1943 in combat with American Flying Fortresses. He is buried in CA.014.348.
11th Armoured Div Obelisk, Stiphout
Helmond: St George and Dragon Liberation Memorial Royal Norfolk Memorial
Ginko Biloba Tree, Ysselsteyn German Cemetery
From 1950 the Dutch Graves Organisation started opening the graves of the Unknown and by modern methods was able to identify 7,330 bodies. From 1963 international youth camps, whose motto was Reconciliation through the Graves, worked on the landscaping and maintenance of the cemetery. Beginning in May 1976 the original concrete crosses were gradually replaced with natural stone. The work was completed in 1980/1.
Unusually for a German war cemetery in a victorious host country, the generous allocation of land permitted an individual grave for nearly every man buried here. The crosses bear a plastic plaque with a grave allocation number, the soldier’s surname, forename and, for the majority, date of death and rank. Through the serried rows leads an 800-metre-long path and in the middle of the cemetery is a circle in the centre of which is a great cross. This is the area where commemorative ceremonies take place. Nearby is a large carillon. On the right of the path is a Gingko Biloba tree, planted as a symbol of hope and freedom (the only type of tree to survive the bombing at Hiroshima) on the 50th Anniversary of the end of the war in May 1995.
Return to the N270 and turn right, direction Venray. Continue to the roundabout, signed to Venray and the CWGC Cemetery, and turn left (65 kms/40.8 miles). Continue to the next roundabout and turn left along Langstraat and at the next crossroads turn left signed Merselo and Uden on Westsingel. Go over the next crossroads and traffic lights, signed Uden and Overloon, continue past a large metal sculpture on the right on the green and turn left on Hoenderstraat, following the green CWGC sign to the cemetery on the left.
Venray CWGC Cemetery (68 kms/42.5 miles).
The 692 burials here date from October 1944 to March 1945. They include 2 RN, 535 UK Army, with 18 Unknown, 2 Canadian and 1 New Zealand. There are 92 RAF with 12 Unknown, 20 RCAF, 4 RAAF, 4 RNZAF, 1 Polish RAF and 1 War Correspondent, William Rippon, of the Peterborough Citizen and Adviser, died on 16 March 1945 [VIII.E.6.].
The MC was awarded to Captain Paul Peppiette, B.Sc., A.M.I.C.E, A.M.I.Struct.E., RE, age 32, died on 6 March 1945 [I.D.8.].
MiD were Flight-Lieutenant Bernard Aldhous, RAF, age 30,9 March 1945 [VII.C.3.]; Private Ronald Burgess, 1st R Norfolks, age 19, 3 February 1945 [II.C.8.]; Lieutenant William Cairns, 7th/9th R Scots, age 25, 8 January 1945 [VIII.G.9.] Lance-Corporal Albert Eatough, 1st Lothian & Border Horse, age 30, 27 February 1945 [V.G.12.]; Major Samuel Ginn, 190 Field Regt, RA, age 32,3 December 1944 [III.E.10.]; Captain Oswald Gray, RF, age 26, 24 March 1945 [V.F.5.]; Major John Kinkaid, RA Attd HQ 6th AB, age 31, 25 March 1945 [VIII.E.3.].
The MM was awarded to Private Albert Harries, 2nd KSLI, 17 October 1944 [II.F.6.]; Serjeant Donald McLeod, 5th Seaforth Highlanders, age 24, 30 March 1945 [IV.B.10.] and Serjeant Joseph Meilleur, 8th Rifle Bde, age 29,19 October 1944 [III.D.4.].
Lieutenant Michael Becke, 8th KRRC, age 21,30 November 1944 [V.E.5.] was the son of Major Sir Jack Becke, Kt, CBE. He was a ‘Scholar of Oriel College, Oxford; 2nd Class Honours in History’ and his brother, Lieutenant John Becke, 12th KRRC, 26 June 1944, is buried in St Manvieu CWGC Cemetery in Normandy.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Millett, OBE, DCLI, age 41, 20 December 1944 [II.B.8.], was Commanding the 2nd KSLI.
Return to Westsingel, turn left and continue following signs to Overloon (turning right at the roundabout and then left) on Overloonseweg. At the bridge over the Loobeek stop on the left, opposite house No. 30.
Royal Norfolk Regiment Memorial (72 kms/44.9 miles).
A small figure of a member of the Regiment surmounts a brick pyramid. Plaques around it are dedicated ‘to the men of the 1st Battalion the Royal Norfolk Regiment who suffered and died in the fields around this very place in October 1944. May peace and freedom be their living memorial. This monument was raised by their comrades and friends from Britain and the Netherlands.’ It is also dedicated ‘to all British, Allied and Dutch soldiers who died to bring liberty to this land to all the innocent victims of war, especially the 300 civilians who were killed in and around Overloon and Venray in 1944. We shall remember them.’ The regimental and divisional badges are also on the memorial.
Continue into Overloon. just before the right turn signed to the museum is a small garden on the left.
Chapel of the Safe Hide-away (74 kms/46.5 miles).
This small chapel, in which is a statue of the Virgin Mary protecting some people, is dedicated to the approximate 2,500 refugees, Jews, Resistance Workers, Allied forces etc, hidden from the Germans, at great personal risk, by the local population of just over 2,000. The flower garden was planted on 15 October 1994.
Immediately after turn right, following signs to the Oorlogs Museum and drive into the large car park.
There are several cafés, souvenir shops and WCs around the park.
Overloon National War & Resistance Museum (75 kms/46.8 miles).
Open daily: June-August 0930-1800; September-May 1000-1700.
Closed December 24, 25, 26 and 31 and 1 January. Facilities for the disabled.
Tel: + (0) 478 641820. E-mail: overloon@oorlogsmuseum.nl. www.libertypark.nl
There is a well-stocked book/souvenir stall and refreshment facilities in the Museum.
Entrance fee payable. (See Update Page xxxii.)
Set in 35 acres of landscaped park, in which there is a variety of interesting exhibits - from a miniature German ‘Biber’ submarine (of the type used in the Waal at Nijmegen (qv)), to a flail tank, to a German Panther, to a Russian T34, to Sherman, Churchill, Cromwell and Crusader tanks, to statues of Queen Wilhelmina and prisoners in a concentration camp - this important museum contains superb photographs, contemporary ephemera, propaganda, artefacts and materiel of warfare, including a Bailey Bridge and a Wurzburg radar installation like those linked to the Diogenes command Bunker at Arnhem (qv). It charts the September 1944 tank battle at Overloon, describes the hardships of life under the Occupation in Holland and in concentration camps in Holland, Germany and in the Dutch East Indies and the work of the Dutch Resistance. A section is devoted to the Dutch SS under the traitor Seyss Inquart. The original museum was opened on 25 May 1946 by Major-General L.G. Whistler, Commander of 3rd (BR) Infantry Division and a plaque just inside the entrance on the right records the event, after which Princess Juliana was the first official visitor. In this building is a fine bronze bas relief by Elizabeth Lucas Harrison, a miniature of the original of which is in the crypt of the RAF Church, St Clement Danes, London, where it was unveiled on 21 June 1981. It is from the Air Forces Escaping Society and depicts an RAF pilot being supported by a Dutch man and girl and is dedicated to ‘the countless brave men and women of occupied countries who during WW2 without thought of danger to themselves helped 2,803 air crew of the RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces to escape and return to this country and so continue the struggle for freedom. Many paid with their lives. Many more endured the degradation of concentration camps. Their names are remembered in equal honour with those who were spared lasting tribute and also to serve as an inspiration to future generations.’ This bronze was unveiled on 27 September 1989 by Prince Bernhard.
The way out of the main building is through a peaceful chapel. A large new hall houses the larger exhibits such as a Spitfire, a B25 Mitchell III bomber, A V-I flying bomb, a T-34 and a Sexton tank. Adjoining it is a large cafeteria area with terrace.
A separate ‘Cloister’ tells the story of the concentration camps and includes many photographs, personal objects and drawings made in captivity. Stark, emaciated, bronze figures stand throughout the exhibit imparting a vivid feeling of the horror of life in the camps.
There is a documentation centre and special educational tours for schoolchildren.
The motto of the museum, whose primary objects are to educate on the obscenity of war and to appeal to one’s conscience, is ‘War belongs in a museum.’
Drive out of the car park and turn right and right again following green CWGC signs to
Overloon CWGC Cemetery (76 kms/47.2 miles).
Most of the burials here are from the fighting in the area of October-November 1944 in the operation to clear the Germans from the region south and west of the Maas in preparation for the final attack on the Rhineland. So fierce was this battle that the British dubbed it ‘A Second Caen’ [see Major & Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guide to Normandy]. When the British attempt to penetrate to Venlo and Roermond from the north failed due to heavy German resistance on the Vortum-Mullem-Lactaria defensive line, Field-Marshal Montgomery asked Eisenhower for more reinforcements and was given the 7th US Tank Division. They arrived from the Metz area, confident that they could quickly finish the task, but fell into the often-made mistake of under-estimating the enemy and made few preparations. On 30 September they attacked in five places, thus diluting their strength. The Germans were thrown back a few miles to their defensive line, but the Americans, who suffered heavy losses, did not achieve a breakthrough and were withdrawn from the area on 8 October.
Royal Norfolk Memorial and detail, Lobeek
National War and Resistance Museum, Overloon: Exterior, Spitfire, Air Escaping Society Bas Relief and Sherman V Crab Mk 1 Tank
The British then had to pick up the attack again which was assigned to a reinforced 3rd (BR) Division. The divisional commander, General Whistler, concentrated on the road junction in Overloon, as, once the village was captured, it would be possible to advance against Venlo by way of Venray. The Germans, however, had made of Overloon a heavily reinforced stronghold and the General therefore abandoned the idea of a direct assault upon it in favour of a pincer movement. He formed three attack formations, two of which were to carry out the encircling operation to the east and west of the town, and one, called the ‘holding group’, which was to launch a frontal attack on the Germans to divert their attention. It started on 12 October 1944 with a 75-minute artillery bombardment reinforced by air strikes. At 1215 hours British troops attacked the village and by nightfall the ruins were in their hands.
Of the 279 burials in the cemetery there are 261 UK Army, with 4 Unknown, and 11 RAF with 3 Unknown.
They include Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert Orr, DLI, age 34, 25 September 1944, Commanding the 3rd Monmouths, who was awarded the DSO [III.E.14.]. Lieutenant Reginald Longueville, Coldstream Guards, age 21, 12 October 1944 [III.E.8.] and Serjeant Edward Rees, 246 Field Coy, RE, age 24,14 October 1944 [III.C.14.] were MiD.
The entries in the MARKET-GARDEN Cemetery Registers usually contain the bare facts of Surname, Forename(s), Number, Regiment or Unit, Date of Death, Age, Names of Parents/Wife and Grave Location Numbers. The family of Private Erwin Max Rivers, 1st Suffolks, age 30, 25 November 1944, included the facts that Rivers was ‘B.Sc., Econ (Hons.); Leverhulme Research Fellowship, London School of Economics. Lecturer on Statistics, Cambridge University’ [III.C.7.]. The brother of Private John Walker, 1st Bn S Lanes, age 22,12 October 1944 [IV.B.5.], Trooper Joseph Walker of the 3rd Carabiniers, POW Dragoon Guards, 26 December 1945, is buried in the cemetery at Stockton-on-Tees, the brothers’ home town.
Return to Venray and thence via Helmond to Eindhoven on the N270, following Centrum signs to the Station.
Overloon CWGC Cemetery