Close to the front line
The modern-day municipality of Heusden was liberated on 5 November 1944 by the 51st (Highland) Division. The Scottish unit left for the De Peel region the next day, and the guarding of the region was taken over by Canadian and Polish troops who took turns. The enemy was on the other side of the Maas river, less than a kilometre away. The places located in liberated territory near the water were therefore regularly shelled from the Land van Heusden en Altena. Houses were badly damaged and civilians killed. Eventually, the situation became untenable.

Evacuation
At the end of December 1944, Heusden and the surrounding villages were the responsibility of a Polish battalion, the Bergjagers van Podhalen. On New Year's Eve of 1944, the commander decided it had become too dangerous for the civilians: Heusden, Herpt and Hedikhuizen had to be evacuated. The residents left for Drunen, Elshout and Vlijmen, with a few people allowed to stay behind to take care of the cattle. Pastor Gründemann from Hedikhuizen also stayed behind: he held church services in Jan van Dal's billiard room. Many Polish soldiers, almost all of them devout Catholics, also attended the services, as did those who stayed behind from Herpt.

Return
From 5 May 1945, residents returned to Herpt and hardly recognised their own homes anymore. The houses were neglected and dirty, and many household items had been destroyed and stolen by soldiers, fellow villagers and strangers. In Herpt, the reformed church was so badly damaged that it could no longer be restored, whilst the Catholic church was being renovated.

The church
On 5 November 2023, an information board was unveiled on the site of the Trudo Church in Herpt, which had been blown up 79 years earlier by the retreating German troops. The had been one of the oldest churches in the Netherlands. Since 1148, the originally Catholic church had determined the silhouette of the village, and after the Reformation in 1610 had become the Protestant church of Herpt.