April 25, 1945. In the Bommelerwaard above Den Bosch, the German army suddenly opposes the counterattack. In the dark around four o’clock in the morning their guns thump. Grenades explode everywhere in and around the Dutch positions in Hedel.
Machine guns rattles and mortars thumping. It must have been deterrent. Noise and flashes of light in the dark and an enemy that is almost invisible. Soon the Germans come from their trenches and racks, on the Dutch troops.
Soldier Cornelis Picokry From Tilburg, with his Bren-machineste, shoots at the enemy. The Tilburger is hit and died. He is only 20 years old. In the summer of ’45 he will be posthumously the Bronze lion For heroic performance at Hedel.
The Dutch can turn the attack. They fire back with cannons and mortars. The fight is heavy. There are dead and injured, on both sides.
There is a small command post at a farm in Hedel. There is also a soldier Pieter Kampa farmer’s son of the Boompjesdijk from Dinteloord. He brace himself when he is attacked. The enemy comes very close. Two from Pieters comrades die, he himself is seriously injured. They can still remove him, but later in the day he dies, only 24 years old.
Injury is transferred to the Maas as far as possible, to an emergency hospital in Sint-Michielsgestel. That also applies to soldier Romke Smit20 years old, from The Hague. They bring him in but he dies from his injuries. According to the history books, he was the last fallen of the Princess Irene Brigade in the Second World War. He is buried on the Military Honor Field De Grebbeberg.
The Dutch are not completely overrun. They can stand here and there and make another 45 prisoners of war. The German soldiers are taken and interrogated and say that they have been called everywhere for this attack: in Tiel, Ammerzoden. It is a jam, of soldiers of the Wehrmacht to sailors from the Kriegsmarine.
The commander of the British brigade that is in charge of the operation is tired of it. Further advance to the north has failed. And there are several reasons to stop the operation, including political, it turns out later. The commander gives an order to withdraw at twelve in the morning. The Princess Irene Brigade goes away from Hedel, back the Maas to Den Bosch.
Mines
The majority of Brabant has been off for more than half a year, but it is not safe. Accidents occur daily with remaining ammunition and weapons. Mine lying around in particular are a fatal danger that lurks everywhere.
On this day things go wrong in Woensdrecht. Johan Verbeek is working in the asparagus beds on the Rijzendeweg. He finds a grenade there. Johan throws him away, probably the projectile ends up on a land mine. Everything explodes. Johan dies because of the explosion, at the age of 41. He is one of the people who got a face long after the war in the book The grief of Woensdrecht, by Jan van Elzakker.
‘East meets West’
In Germany, Allies are now quickly advancing. The net closes around the Third Reich. Americans and Russians meet on the river Elbe, at the town of Torgau.
An iconic photo marks the approaching final piece of the war in Europe. Germany is cut in two parts and Berlin is surrounded. The end is near for the Third Reich.
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.