It was hard today for three re-enactment groups who depicted an attack in the Second World War in the Spaarbankbos in Hoogeveen. They were not allowed to use blanks because of the breeding season and nitrogen rules.
“We didn’t get a permit to shoot blanks because of nitrogen and nature regulations. So we had to portray it more static. We spent days calculating how much nitrogen we would emit with two of those fights and that’s just as much like a Volvo V50 Diesel driving a kilometer. We are close to the highway and this is not a nature reserve. So we are very sorry that this has been decided,” says re-enactor John Danker.
The organization was in the hands of the re-enactment association Military Display, which is a member of the recognized National Platform Living History. The group was just so looking forward to it, because the last time this attack was reenacted in Hoogeveen was in 2016. “And of course we also had to deal with corona, which meant that nothing was possible for a few years,” says Danker.
Seventeen re-enactors from France, Germany and the Netherlands had come to the Spaarbankbos in Hoogeveen to portray Operation Amherst, which took place between 7 and 12 April 1945.
In the night of 7 to 8 April 1945, more than 700 French paratroopers of the Special Air Service (SAS) landed in Drenthe. Operation Amherst was in preparation for the liberation of the Northern Netherlands by the Canadian 1st Army. That night, Frenchmen also landed near the Spaarbankbos. Local civilians and the resistance pointed out a German ammunition truck to the liberators. The French attacked the Germans and blew up the German truck.
“We reenact this because it should not be forgotten that those people came all the way from France and fought for our freedom,” Danker motivates the reenactment of the attack.
Not being able to shoot blanks took some adjustment. “Because we couldn’t shoot, it was a short attack, in which the Germans quickly surrendered. That was also the case at the time, because there were a lot of old men who were actually done with the war. So we came very close reality nearby,” explains Danker.
In the end it was a successful event. But the re-enactment group hopes that next time it will be allowed to shoot with blanks again.