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In honour of the 53 Welsh Division


old-timer
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With our 'liberation day' - the 5-th of May - coming up, I thought I'd share with you the role that British troops played in the liberation of our country.

In particular my hometown...


The month of may is one of commemoration regarding WW II in NL.

It was on may 10-th 1940 that the Nazi's invaded our country.

When their 'Blitz' did not progress as planned, they bombed the sh*t out of Rotterdam on may 14-th, almost wiping it off the map...

The Dutch - in fear that other towns would undergo the same fate - surrendered.


Almost exactly 5 years later - may 5-th 1945 - the German troops that were still occupying the northern part of NL, surrendered to the allied.

Now that the whole of the country was free again, this date became our official 'liberation day'.


The southern part of the country (south of the river Rhine), had already been liberated in he autumn of 1944.

Mainly by British and Canadian troops.

Unfortunately the advance towards Germany came to a halt at Arnhem in september 1944.

Allied forces did not manage to conquer the bridge across the river Rhine at Arnhem (a bridge too far!).

As a consequence the northern part of NL suffered a terrible, harsh 'hunger winter' before they could be liberated in may 1945.


But, being in the south, my hometown, 's-Hertogenbosch, was liberated on October 27-th 1944 by British troops.

By Major General Ross's 53 Welsh Division (now The Royal Welsh), to be exact.

So next Ocober 27 (2019) the town will be celebrating the 75-th anniversary.

Beside representatives from the current Royal Welsh, there will be 2 or 3 survivors from the original Welsh Division as well.

Some of these old soldiers are fortunately fit enough to come over to commemorate, though they must be well over 90 by now!


Some years ago a new road bridge was finished in town, next to 2 existing railroad bridges, crossing the river Dieze and the road along it.

In honour of the brave soldiers, who freed us from Nazi's in 1944, the bridge is called: The Royal Welsh brug.

Of the 146 men (some still boys) who were killed in the battle, all names, ages and dates of death are displayed in the underpass of the bridge .

The youngest was 17(!) yrs old George Wheatley, the oldest was 39 yrs old Bernard Duckett.


The look of the existing railroad bridges was changed according to the new road bridge's design.

Below an impression of the bridge, the commemorative plaque and the roll of honour in the underpass.


Naming the bridge after the Welsh Division seems nothing more to me than a fitting tribute...


Lest we forget...




I have made a page in my website about the subject with some more pictures.

Here's the link to the "Royal Welsh" web-page, should you be interested.


http://snellbos.nl/home/gb/royal-welsh.html


 

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Yesterday, May 4-th was our national memorial day.

As always, the day before liberation day is one of ceremonies at war memorials to commemorate and honour those who died in the war.

Both civilian and military; citizens (particularly those deported), resistance fighters as well as troops of the allied forces that liberated us.

Flags are hung half-mast, especially in the afternoon and evening when, at 20.00 hrs. exactly, the whole country keeps 2 minutes of silence (national

television and radio included) out of respect for the fallen.


Today, May 5-th we celebtrate liberation day.

There are liberation festivities all over the country and flags fly in top.


This morning, on my early morning walk, I went to the Royal Welsh bridge (about 1 mile from home).

In the underpass I noticed that the city had already taken care of a homage - flowers and burning candles - at the plaque.

I myself payed my respect to the 53 Welsh Division by stopping at every soldier mentioned in the role of honour, and speaking out his name aloud.

Afterwards I realized that the great majority of the men were under 25, many, many of these even under twenty !


I felt that I should share this with you, knowing that he British are generally quite aware of (British) military history and traditions.

In Britain, I noticed, there are war memorials, for both WW I and WW II, in almost every village and town.

As mentioned in my opening post, British troops played a key role in the liberation of the low countries.

This is to show our appreciation for the British war effort.


 

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Good stuff old-timer. I hope the younger ones take up the baton in the future by reminding people of the futility of war. Holland is a special place for me, I lived and worked there when I first came out of my apprenticeship, I lived in Almelo and then Hengelo in the East of Holland, the Dutch people were just fantastic. :cheers:

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