Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation Market Garden by Tonie Holt

Author:Tonie Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781473826816
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

The building on the left at the bottom of the hill is the old customs house. Beek was formerly a border town between Holland and Germany. The hill you are ascending is the Duivelsberg (Devil’s Hill). There are still the remains of 1944/45 trenches in the woods here.

At the top turn left signed Groesbeck and Kleef Turn right at the green CWGC Groesbeek Cemetery sign and continue 50m to the column on the right.

• Memorial Column to Berg en Dal’s Liberation and Civilian Casualties/11.8 kms/7.4 miles/5 minutes/Map 6/31

Erected on 5 May 1955, this memorial on the summit of the Duivelsberg is in gratitude to its liberation and to commemorate the fallen of Berg en Dal, 1940-1945. By a curious coincidence, bearing in mind the possible connection between the launch of the V2 rockets on London and the inception of MARKET-GARDEN, SS General Hans Kammler, who was in charge of the V2 programme, had his HQ in the town. Following the 17 September landings he immediately moved out of Holland both his HQ and the 485th Battalion of Group North (near the Hague) which had done the firing. This might therefore be accorded as a partial success for MARKET-GARDEN - though the rockets were back in under two weeks. Heavy fighting took place here and not only were there many casualties but enormous damage to buildings and land. In November 1944 the inhabitants were evacuated and when they returned not one house appeared to be undamaged.

Continue down Clarenbeeksweg, following the road round to the right signed Heiligland Stichting (Holy Land Foundation) and Afrika Museum. Continue past the Afrika Museum on the left then the Holy Land Open Air Museum on the right.

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