April 19, 1945. “German fronts are staggering.” That is stated on the front page of the Helmondsch Dagblad of this 19th April 1945. ‘Germans evacuates Holland’, reports Brabants Nieuwsblad in Roosendaal. They are the last weeks of the Second World War in Europe. Peace in the newspapers seems like a matter of days. Yet the battle is not over yet.
From the 18th drip at the Allied headquarters, reports in small groups of German soldiers crossing the Maas to the south. That also happens with Keizersbr on. There are some dead and injuries and the Germans take British prisoners of war. Thirty Germans are moving in Brabant. Why is unclear.
Leak
More crossings are reported, at Bokhoven, Engelen and Maren-Kessel. Two boats are seen and leak. It is not a massive invasion but alarming. Here are sixty German soldiers who head for Oss. A knock hunt is created and there will be roadblocks.
The Allies make a prisoner of war and tells what the patrol will do. It is a ‘sonderkommando’ by Wehrmacht soldiers. The aim is to sabotage the railway junction and the communication lines in Oss. That failed.
Unrest
“The Wehrmacht soldiers were stopped at Geffen,” says military historian Johan van Doorn. He came across the bizarre action in allied documents. “The puncture actions were not successful but caused a lot of unrest.”
The majority of Brabant was liberated in September, October and November 1944. Only the Land van Heusden and Altena remained the only occupied piece Brabant. Frontlijn was the river (Bergsche) Maas all those months. Allied guns still regularly fire from the Langstraat on German positions in the Land van Heusden and Altena.
Den Bosch is Frontstad and is also sometimes under German fire, from Gelderland. There are still killing along the front line and wounded by shelling.
Victims
Danger is lurking everywhere. In this final phase of the war, German troops in the occupied Altena commit war crimes. That’s how they kill in Andel Notaris Hollestelle.
But it also remains dangerous in liberated area. Brabanders clean up minefields and ammunition. Children sometimes find something and play with it. There are still victims everywhere.
Freedom
The Allied liberators are fully present. They work together with the military authority. The ‘old order’ has not yet been recovered. No elections have been held yet. The lack of freedom can be felt by the curfew.
The mayors and commissioner of the queen have little to say. “Foreigners in military uniform are above the provincial and municipal authorities and even above the domestic armed forces with former members of the resistance,” says military historian Johan van Doorn. That military authority can intervene in all kinds of areas: socio-economic and political. “It was an exaggerated military bureaucracy. Gradually it also became a very unwanted layer of board because it was almost getting dictatorial traits.” Van Doorn speaks of ‘lack of freedom, after the liberation’.
‘Almighty’
The letter to send influential directors and factory directors from Bergen op Zoom to Prime Minister Gerbrandy in March 1945. They call the military authority ‘practically almighty’ and distrust the drivers. Moreover, they are bothered by the performance of the ‘amateurs’ of the political investigation. They would have picked up far too many people based on vague and even false charges. And they have been waiting for months in custody or house arrest for trial.
After years of dictatorship, we want the rule of law back as soon as possible, say the Bergse drivers. This reflects the anger well, thinks Johan van Doorn. “It is representative of the rest of Brabant”.
Control
The pre -war life has not yet returned. There is strict government control due to shortages. You can’t just buy onions, meat, fuel and coal and all kinds of other products. There is a distribution system with coupons. Brabant newspapers are supervised. They only publish official Allied messages and were in fact muiled.
The liberation of the Netherlands above the major rivers starts from Germany. The Allies free cities such as Arnhem, Groningen and Apeldoorn in April 1945. The Canadians reach the Afsluitdijk in Friesland. North and South Holland are almost completely surrounded. The occupation continues. But something of withdrawal is visible. Eyewitnesses report a stream of ships along the Wadden Islands, towards the East, reports Brabantsch Nieuwsblad.
But the Allied efforts are mainly focused on the Third Reich. The Allies invade Germany from all sides. British troops reach the Elbe on this day in 1945. The Americans conquer Leipzig. Soviet armies break through the last major line of defense towards Berlin. They advise against the capital of the Third Reich and from the north through the Seelower heights. The encirclement starts. According to Dutch newspapers, they are already 30 kilometers from Berlin, where Hitler is in his bunker.
The majority of Noord-Brabant was liberated in the fall of 1944. Except for the Land van Heusden and Altena. That only got the freedom back in May 1945. Every day you can read in this series about the events at the end of the Second World War in Europe.
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