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The Netherlands

Routebureau Noord- en Midden-Limburg

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Liberation Cycling Route Roermond-Roerdalen-Maasgouw

From the beginning of October 1944, the frontline just north of Sittard ran straight through Limburg. As the battle was concentrated elsewhere, the Germans used the relative calm to fortify the area between Susteren and Roermond. The heart of the defence was located around Montfort and Sint-Joost.Montfort in particular was packed with refugees and thousands of evacuees from far and wide. Due to a lack of living quarters, many refugees lived in stables, chicken coops and silos. On 16 January 1945, violence also erupted in Montfort. Operation Blackcock, the British offensive to clear the area between Sittard and Roermond, had begun.Hardly any ground was gained because the Germans could always hide behind a new line of defence. The British decided on artillery shelling and bombing raids to limit their own losses. They produced the intended result. The Germans evacuated Montfort on 23 January, but almost two hundred people, including many refugees, died in cellars.Sjeng Smeets described the bombing raid of 20 January 1945 as follows: 'Suddenly, at about ten o'clock, it was as if the world had ended. One shell after another struck. We dove headlong into the cellar. Once it became silent again, Father went to have a look what had happened. He came back soon again and said: Quickly, come with me. It appeared that our neighbours had been hit while they were in the stables tending to the cattle. They were bleeding heavily from leg wounds. We put bandages over their wounds to stop the bleeding. We carried them away on two doors.On the way to the nurses, we had to take shelter from shelling and then continued at a run. Once we arrived at the nurses' house, we beheld a terrible sight. Dead people were lying in the corridor. Blood was flowing on the floor. Nurse Sentia walked from one wounded person to another. They groaned in pain. The nurse used strips of torn sheets to apply bandages. I stayed with our neighbour because she felt alone and scared. It was no longer possible to offer any help and even if you tried, German soldiers would chase you away. By three o'clock in the afternoon, the neighbour aunt died. I was constantly thinking about home, and at four o'clock I quietly left. In the Kerkstraat, I passed between houses and gardens to reach the barn and the stable. Everything was destroyed.’&nbsp;

Mass grave for bombing victims 

Kapel in 't Zand Cemetery 

The fourteen men were shot because hardly anyone had obeyed the order given by battalion commander Ulrich Matthaeas that all men aged between 16 and 60 had to report for forced labour in Germany before 18 December 1944. After the announcement of the executions, more than 2700 Roermond residents came forward. On 30 December 1944, they went on foot to Germany to be deployed in the Ruhr region, which was ravaged by constant Allied bombing.&nbsp;On the instructions of a German soldier who had been involved in the massacre, the mortal remains were found at the German border town of Niederkrüchten on 26 August 1947 and taken to the town hall of Roermond on 11 September 1947. From there, an impressive cortege accompanied the flower-strewn coffins to the Old Churchyard, the cemetery near the Kapel in ’t Zand church. In 1950, the mortal remains were transferred and reburied at the War Monument in Tussen de Bergen, the new, general cemetery. The place in the Old Churchyard where they had been buried together with other war victims remained empty until September 2020.

Monument for executed residents of Roermond 

The liberation plaque reminds Roermond's inhabitants of their city's liberation on 1 March 1945 by the 15th Cavalry Group of the XVI Corps U.S. Army, under the command of Major General John B. Anderson.

Roermond Liberation Plaque 

Almost nothing in the city reminds of these postwar tragedies. Even 70 years later, only few people knew what had happened in August and October 1945.&nbsp;Thanks to the erection of a monument and some publications in which, among others, friends, brothers and sisters of the victims could tell their story about the dramatic events after so many years, the long silence ended in 2015. Their stories, photos and videos of the dedication of the monument can be found on the website <a href="http://www.spikmaalbroek.nl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">www.spikmaalbroek.nl</a>Every year, the monument is visited by hundreds of interested people. Every year on 30 December, the annual walk that leads from Roermond to the monument for the fourteen inhabitants of Roermond who were shot by firing squads just across the border during the war halts a few kilometres from the monument.In Maalbroek, a hamlet at a stone's throw from Roermond, two boys were killed and a mother with two small children got seriously injured on Tuesday afternoon, 14 August 1945. During an attempt to extract the gunpowder from an abandoned German grenade by means of an axe, the projectile exploded, with fatal consequences for: Jan Diels (11) and Jan Lamers (13).Close to this monument, nine boys from De Spik were killed and two got injured on Sunday afternoon, 7 October 1945. Although the area had recently been cleared by German deminers, the boys still discovered a German anti-tank mine that had been left behind. When they tried to open the projectile, it exploded. Seven boys were killed instantly, and two others succumbed to their injuries later that afternoon:Jan Stox (14), Har Coenen (10), Sjra Coenen (13), Piet Coenen (14), Cor van Cann (9), Bair van Cann (12), and Sjra van Cann (14), Harrie Sanders (8) and Lei Sanders (14).&nbsp;

Monument for the children of Spik and Maalbroek '45

In 1941, when for the first time, Leni Moors and her niece see escaped French prisoners-of-war from Germany, they little realise they themselves will help the resistance in Herkenbosch and its surroundings for years. She organises shelter for the prisoners-of-war and arranges clothing and food. A short time later, she takes them to the bakery behind the Venhof Farm.&#13;
Right from the start, the owner, farmer Simons helps by offering the escapees temporary shelter and food. And also Pie Beckers, head of the local underground with the pseudonym Bakker and who speaks a little French, gets involved, as well as chaplain Verscharen, Jan Haman and some others.&#13;
During the entire war, prisoners-of-war and others who escaped from trains and camps trickle across the border. They simply follow the Iron Rhine to the west, the railway line from the German Ruhr to Antwerp. They know if they walk far enough, they will eventually reach Dutch territory.&#13;
As a result, a network of people arises in and around Herkenbosch, who take huge risks with their lives, sending people safely onwards. The Moors family post office also plays an important role, as Marie Moors kept a sharp eye out for letters to Nazi sympathisers and monitored phone calls when Germans came from Ommen.&#13;
The fact that are also many collaborators and Nazi sympathisers in the area, made the work extremely risky. Still, about 250 people manage to escape the region.&#13;
After the war, several resistance fighters from the village receive the Resistance Memorial Cross for their heroic deeds and some are even awarded the French Croix de Guerre.&#13;
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Help for escaped prisoners of war

In September 1944, there are approximately 240 ships in the port of Maasbracht. Ships masters have found shelter here with their families. Sailing on the River Maas is too dangerous. From the air, the Allies have already strafed ships on the river several times. They assume any ship still sailing could be a German military transport.The German occupation force in Maasbracht has ordered everyone to leave the port and sail north. But not a single ships master obeys. After all, there is no cargo to carry and the risk of attack from the air is too great.In turn, the Germans in Maasbracht fear that the large numbers of ships could fall into Allied hands. They block the entrance to the port by sinking two ships. In this way, they reason the other ships cannot sail and therefore cannot be used against them.But the Germans are not quite certain whether this is sufficient, and on the 29th of September 1944, a reckless decision is taken with major consequences. All the ships masters are summoned to abandon their ships the following day. And so, in the early morning of the 30th of September, more and more families go ashore with only the few possessions they can carry.Soon the first explosions are heard. German demolition units start the day by systematically blowing up all the ships, even in Maastricht and the Juliana Canal.&nbsp;

Unparalleled destruction

Operation ‘Blackcock’ started on 16th January 1945 with the aim of clearing the area between the Maas and Roer rivers, along the Maaseik – Sittard – Linnich – Roermond line, of enemy troops.During the first phase of the attack, under the codename ‘Angel’, the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards made excellent progress until they reached the village of St. Joost. This was where the paratroopers of the 24th Fallschirmjäger Regiment Hübner had come to the aid of the exhausted soldiers of the 176th Infantry Division in their battle against the British. Heavy fighting ensued, and when the Germans realised they could no longer defend their position, they retreated to Montfort.&nbsp;The battle to capture the villages of Linne and Montfort was codenamed ‘Dolphin’. The Fallschirmjäger regarded themselves as elite soldiers and had been given strict orders to defend Montfort at all cost. Over the next 24 hours, the British soldiers, the local population and dozens of evacuees bore the brunt of their fanaticism.When the British approached the village in their Cromwell tanks on 22nd&nbsp;January 1945 at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Montfort was covered in snow. It was cold and freezing, and it had already started to get dark. The first two tanks slid cautiously towards the ‘Aandenberg’ crossroads. Then the Germans opened fire from their well-protected positions, and all hell broke loose. Before they knew it, the first of the tanks commanded by troop leader&nbsp;de Grey, had been hit by a German Pantzerfaust and engulfed in flames.<iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wp_8g_K9szw?showinfo=0"></iframe> <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5SO2fy-Fpto?showinfo=0"></iframe>

Nightmare in Montfort

Eastern European and Russian prisoners-of-war and slave labourers were transported to the Roerstreek to dig positions for the Meuse-Rurstellung and Rurstellung (under the so-called Organisation Todt).&#13;
The Germans built these extensive fortifications in an attempt to halt the western Allies before they could reach the Ruhr. Every day, these people were forced to dig tank ditches, trenches and shelters in an attempt to create a structured defence in front of the Ruhr area, as a supplement to the famed German West Wall.&#13;
Many Eastern European women (they were mainly women) were abused and raped. Some of the local population were also forced to dig for the occupier. This is known locally as the ‘sjansen’, meaning ‘dallying’. Some of the villagers eventually learned quite a bit of Russian and some Russian women continued to live in Herkenbosch after the war.&#13;
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