Themed route

Polish Cycling Route Zeeland

The Netherlands

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Type

Cycling

Distance

61.91 km

The cycling route that focusses on the role of the Polish soldiers in the province of Zeeland, starts at the Gdynia War Museum.

The route will take you through a part of Zeeland, where the first Allied soldiers, Polish and part of the First Canadian Army, entered on September 16th, 1944. They entered Zeeland via eastern Zeelandic Flanders (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen). At Axel they encountered strong opposition from German units. Three days of heavy fighting broke out over the Axel-Hulst Canal.

The route goes through the city of Hulst too, with the Saint Willibrordus basilica in its city centre. During WWII, this was a perfect viewpoint, overlooking the east of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The German soldiers wrote Nazi texts on the walls. The wooden tower was an important target for the Allies, but it proved difficult to hit. It took twenty direct hits for the spire to collapse. 

Sites and stories along the route