The last year of the war
Sunday, Sept. 17, 1944, tens of thousands of paratroopers landed at the bridges over the rivers and canals between the Belgian border and Arnhem. At the same time, ground troops advance from the Belgian border. That is the start of Operation Market Garden. The Rijk van Nijmegen is liberated, but remains frontline territory for many months to come. The consequences are huge: thousands dead, tens of thousands of civilians on the run, enormous destruction. The last year of the war in maps, photographs and diary excerpts.
September 5, 1944
Dolle Tuesday
Marie van Kessel (52) has a grocery store near the Molenberg in Wijchen and writes about Dolle Dinsdag:
"The whole week has been restless. Many trains have passed through here. The whole weather force is moving toward Nijmegen. It has also passed over Alverna day and night. (...) Here in Wijchen it has also been very restless. The Germans moving toward the border took everything that seemed useful to them and the people along the major roads had but to give it up. Many bicycles were also taken away. Many goods were stored at and in the Mes factory. They demanded that the people here drive those goods by horse and cart to the train. They refused and the Germans threatened to send the whole factory flying. Then it was decided to load up the goods and that calamity passed.'
Column of German wagons with horses, on or about September 5, 1944. In the foreground, Nijmegen citizens look on. Photo: Gelderland Collection.
Sept. 20, 1944
Market Garden
District nurse Josepha Geeve (39) sets out on September 20 to care for injured people a few hundred meters from the Waal Bridge in Nijmegen:
'In the city it is getting grimier by the hour. It is almost unbearable. Everywhere around us there is shooting. The Germans are standing like starving animals, eating whatever they can get their hands on; leaning on their rifles with one hand, holding an apple or a pear with the other, gasping from time to time and watching for anything suspicious. When we are on the road it starts raining grenades. Back and forth, it yawns around us and strikes left and right. Yet I do not realize the great danger we are in.
Street scene showing the destruction of the liberation, as seen from Lange Burchtstraat. Left of center Wintersoord, right the destroyed building of the deaconess of the NH congregation. In the middle a British anti-tank gun. Photo: Gelderland Collection.
October 10, 1944
Nijmegen front city
Fine Oostendorp-Eppink (38) has been with her family in a shelter in Bottendaal for three weeks on October 10:
"For a moment I have to describe to you closely what that shelter looks like and where it is located. Diagonally across from butcher's shop Van Kempen in Stephanusstraat is a large gate, entering that gate one sees a very large garden. In the middle of that garden is a shelter and it is 2 meters wide and 6 meters long, everything inside is straw, a big entrance and an emergency exit. This is the whole shelter, so you see very primitive, but we felt safe in it, and that was worth a lot in these weeks (...) when it is a little quiet we go into the garden with our children, but then all of a sudden one hears air fights or projectiles again and flies into the basement. Ge understand that it has been very cumbersome, but we are still alive.'
People in the shelter, located under the power plant. Photo: Gelderland Collection.
October 18, 1944
Evacuation
Jan Rosendaal (20), a farmer's son from Millingen aan de Rijn, had to evacuate on October 18 by order of the Germans:
"At about eight o'clock we left after saying goodbye to the quartered Germans. Paul, the otherwise thieving gentleman, cried like a child. Then we hit the road. I was the last to say goodbye to our house. From Fritz Lange I still received the canteen. On the way we said goodbye to the people of Millingen, who all left for the ferry ready to travel. In the center of the village we waited for some other carts that would go with us via Emmerik to Zevenaar. About half past nine we passed the border with five carts and our journey to the strangers had begun.
The Breukers family from Millingen on the road during the 1944 evacuation. Photo: Millings Yearbook Collection / Breukers family.
February 7, 1945
Inundation environment
Contractor Theo Thunissen (42) looks at the Ooijpolder from the lateral moraine on February 7:
"During the day we had already observed on the Batavierenweg that the Germans had breached the Waaldijk near Leuth, which caused the entire Ooij to be flooded as far as one could see. According to the Canadian captain this was inconvenient for them in case of a possible offensive, but on the other hand it also had its advantages that where the water is the Germans cannot be and the flanks on the side of the water are of course secured. With all this, the longer, the greater the devastation in our area. How many farms and brick factories would be irreparably destroyed again, what will become of the land and all that is on it in the first few years? It may be childish but I want to confess that as I stood on the Batavia road and contemplated all this, tears ran down my cheeks.
Feb. 8, 1945
Rhineland Offensive
Dr. Adrianus Henneman (51), director of Dekkerswald sanatorium, experiences the beginning of Operation Veritable on February 8:
'Exactly five o'clock in the morning a light shot sounded, which did turn out to be the signal for the cannonade announced to us: this was going to be Monty's great offensive! It must have been 1250 cannons that started the cacophony. Now this was truly deafening. One could understand each other outside only by shouting loudly. (...) A fog of gunpowder vapor hangs around Dekkerswald, and amidst this fog one sees the piercing flames of the hundreds of cannons. The windows are constantly shaking, one really sees the house moving and "trembling on its foundations. (...) The mood of the patients is that of grateful relief and of enthusiasm for the unparalleled sensation.
Two tanks in front of hotel The Old Mill on Molenweg in Groesbeek during Operation Veritable. Photo: Gelderland Collection
RHINE OFFENSIVE
The goal of Operation Market Garden, a rapid advance into Nazi Germany, remained out of reach in September 1944. The Rijk van Nijmegen, however, is liberated. Some 500,000 Allied soldiers gather here in early 1945, along with 1,000 guns and 34,000 vehicles. On February 7, 1945, the Rhineland Offensive begins; on March 24, the Allies cross the Rhine at Wesel. With that, the last German defense line is down and the road to Berlin is open.
Infographic: Louman & Friso design firm
April 23, 1945
Return
Pastor Hendricus Hoek from Breedeweg returns to Groesbeek April 23:
'Go up the Grave Roads at night on a borrowed bicycle. It looks hideous. A single inhabitable house. Yet several families already live there.'
Four days later: 'Find among the rubble of the presbytery the battered cash book of the church. Some people arrive from Belgium: mine not. Go to the Kiekberg: count a twenty dead, half-dead soldiers. Sad scene. The baron's forest is in tatters. Trenches everywhere, mines and ammunition: return under the pouring rain.
The remains of rectory and parish church in Groesbeek-De Horst. Photo: Gelderland Collection.
May 5, 1945
Liberation
Student Bert Schretlen (25) heads into town at noon May 5:
"Never before have I seen so many flags. Every house is cheering and flying the Dutch colors. On the Keizer Karelplein it is black with people watching the traffic. The Graafseweg is decorated with pennants across the street. A band of Canadians (...) marches past us. The people stretch themselves out and in Molenstraat there is a hedge of people 8-10 men thick, lined up in a very long oval, between which the band stately marches back and forth. After each march the crowd cheers, hands go up. Finally comes the "God save the King. And then the thousands of people go in droves to the Grand Place, where already other thousands are standing on the skeleton of V. and D. There are rumors that the Queen is coming, but unfortunately they are idle rumors.
A huge crowd on the Grote Markt in Nijmegen during the liberation celebrations. In the background the 'skeleton' of the Vroom & Dreesmann department store. Photo: Gelderland Collection.
Liberation Route
On May 5, 1945, the German army capitulates in the Netherlands. On May 8, Nazi Germany finally surrenders to the Allied forces and World War II is over in Europe. The liberation is celebrated in the Netherlands, but also
elsewhere, celebrated lavishly. In the months that followed, the many evacuees returned home. The Liberation Route Europe commemorates the Allied liberation of Europe in 1944/1945.
Infographic: Louman & Friso design firm