With a thunderous noise, a German armored train breaks through the Dutch lines near Mill. He stops right in the heart of the defense and sows death and destruction. But when he drives back towards Germany he encounters mines, derails and is immediately attacked. Hundreds of Germans died on that May day in 1940 at the Peel-Raamstelling.
That battle doesn’t last long. After a day of bloody battle, the two thousand Dutch soldiers have to lose out against the enormous German superiority that faces them. They are attacked by no fewer than twenty thousand troops, who also have much better weapons.
One of those attackers is a young Wehrmacht soldier. Together with his division they invade our country near Gennep in Limburg and move towards Antwerp via Mill, Den Bosch and Breda. Along the way, the machine gun operator also takes photos that he pastes in an album in which he talks about ‘the blessing of our division’. The title ‘war memories’ is printed on the front, next to a steel helmet with a swastika.
It is the start of a search for what appears to be the sad fate of this German soldier, who can be seen on Sunday, May 10 at 8:15 PM on MAX on NPO2 in the War Albums program.
Not only does Brabant play an important role in this episode, this is also the case a week later when ‘The Polish Heroes’ take center stage. That album contains many photos of Polish soldiers near a large building and a mill.
That mill turns out to be in Bavel. After the liberation of Breda and the surrounding area in 1944 and 1945, Poles remained present there for a long time and during that time many Polish-Bavelian loves blossomed.
The Maczek Memorial in Breda, which is dedicated to the Polish general Stanisław Maczek who liberated the city, also plays an important role in this episode. 160 soldiers from Poland who died during the liberation of the Netherlands are buried there.
The album takes us through other places in Brabant that were liberated by them. For example, an armored vehicle can be seen in a street in Terheijden. Taken on November 4, 1944, a resident of the village tells how she saw them rolling in with tanks as a boy.
Part of Maczek’s troops consisted of Poles who were first forced to fight with the Germans. But after being captured by the Allies, they joined the Polish division and then fought against the German forces.
This so-called First Polish Armored Division fought in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany from 1944 to May 1945, but ultimately wanted to liberate its own country. But before they got there, the Russians had already captured all of Poland. Russia did not like the soldiers from this division returning to their own country and were therefore forced to live elsewhere. This is what chairman Richard Tieskens of the Maczek Memorial tells presenter Philip Freriks.
After the war, many returned to the places where they were previously housed. They built a new life there, got married and had children. But who the soldiers in the album are can be seen on MAX on NPO2 on May 17 at 8:15 PM in the War Albums program.
Bygone Past
Vervlogen Verleden is a weekly column about fun, remarkable or funny facts from Brabant’s rich past. If you have a tip, please email: [email protected].
