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During the war, the local leader of the NSB lived here. People in the current municipality of Heeze-Leende were also members or sympathizers of the NSB. The real members had taken the oath of allegiance. Sympathizers paid less dues, often for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they had to become sympathetic in order not to lose their job. Others chose it because they would not have to go to German labor camps. Still others got married, borrowed money from people who were members of the NSB and were thus forced to become sympathizers. Even if you had paid off your debt, you could no longer leave the party.

According to the Loss Registers 1939 - 1945 of the Ministry of Defense, the following plane crashes among others took place: On 5 July 1941, a Hampden I of the 106th Squadron crashed near the Strabrechtse Dijk. The pilot was Sergeant Norman Edward Bowering, who, along with his crew, died in the conflagration that ensued after the crash. On July 8, 1941, a crash of a Wellington IC of the 99th Squadron was recorded in front of Heeze (Strabrechtse Heide). The pilot was Lieutenant EA Masters, who was taken prisoner of war along with his entire crew. On December 27, 1941, the crash of a Wellington IC of 57th Squadron was recorded in the Heeze - Someren area. The pilot, Thomas Purdy, and four other crew members are buried in the war cemetery in Woensel. On April 27, 1944 a Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 crashed. The pilot, Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Frank, was killed. On December 25, 1944, a Typhoon IB of the 440th Squadron crashed. The pilot was Harry J. Hardy, who was able to leave the plane.

The Hoenderboom is of historical importance. Traditionally, five municipalities came together here: Heeze, Maarheeze, Someren, Lierop, and Mierlo. This number has fallen to two (Heeze-Leende and Someren) due to municipal reorganisations. On site is a copy of the boundary marker that used to be here. Close to this is the Grafven. It is said that a number of women were murdered here in 1595, accused of witchcraft. The lords of Asten and Mierlo at the time were ardent witch hunters. In the same area is the Rondvenneke, a pingoru? Ne and therefore an geological monument.

After Operation Market Garden, the remaining ammunition was collected and taken to central destruction sites. In the Strabrechtse Heide between the Platvoetje and the Grafven was such a place on the territory of the municipality of Heeze. Unfortunately, there were also fatalities during the destruction. It was destroyed in a very different way than now. The result was that not only was a lot of life-threatening ammunition above the ground, but also in the ground. Between 1980 and 1982, the EOD and a contractor worked daily to search for and destroy all remaining ammunition. At that time, this was the largest clearance campaign of the EOD. The ammunition found daily had to be destroyed immediately.

On the Vlaamseweg, in the bend of the road towards Someren, a monument reminds us of the place where three Dutch soldiers (Private AHA Aarts, Sergeant FA Broos and Private AN Kanters) were killed in rearguard actions on 12 May 1940. At that time they withdrew from the Peel-Raamstelling. Initially they were also buried at this place. The graves then had three simple crosses. Later they were reburied in consultation with their relatives. A little further in the forest was the original Villa Elias. The Jewish family Elias who lived here had emigrated to the United States in time during the war. The Germans confiscated the villa. In 1944 it was completely lost by fire. Various stories are circulating about the cause of the fire. One says that people in hiding set the villa on fire and another says that it was done to prevent the Germans from arresting the people in hiding.

In 1942 Providentia was evacuated by order of the German occupier. In that year a building was built on the complex for the Hitler Youth. Certainly not only Germans were members of the Hitler Youth. Dutch boys and girls of parents who were affiliated with the NSB could also be included. Children were taught at the Deutsche Schule, but were also trained and drilled as a kind of elite. A concrete shelter was also constructed with a one meter thick concrete deck. On top of that, there was again soil and vegetation. A small hill at the rear of the monastery still indicates the location of the bunker.

On the former institutional site of Providentia, adjacent to its own cemetery, there is a cemetery where 42 British soldiers are buried. They died in the field hospital that was located here in 1944 during the liberation (Operation Marketgarden). They left their lives for our freedom.

Out of gratitude that nothing happened to Sterksel himself during the war and that the conscript soldiers from Sterksel returned home unharmed, a Maria chapel was built in 1945 on Ten Brakeweg. On the stone at the chapel it says: "May 1940 - May 1945 O May Queens, O Star of the Sea. You led us safely through the dangers of war. Through the turbulent surf of five terrifying years. Your month of May, O Mother, brought freedom and peace. We thank you, Queen of peace. You who come kneel here. Repeat this prayer. "Yet a resident of Sterksel, namely Henk van Rossum, was killed by the Germans. Henk was a member of a resistance group in Geldrop and had contacts with the resistance group of the de Koning brothers in Heeze. After the raid on Huisven in Heeze followed a raid on the Peelven, where the van Rossum family lived. Henk reported on June 17, 1944 in Haaren and was deported to concentration camp Dachau. According to the victim register of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Henk died there on May 31, 1945. Only in 2016 a memorial stone for Henk van Rossum was unveiled near the British cemetery (near Berkenlaan).

A temporary exhibition about the liberation can be viewed in village house De Valentijn Sterksel.

On September 3, 1944, a passenger train was on its way from Heerlen to Eindhoven. Already at Roermond there was a report about air hazards. After passing Weert station, the passengers saw the dots of some planes on the horizon. Near Sterksel station, the train was attacked by five American fighters. The planes opened fire on the train, which came to a halt between Sterksel and Heeze station. The passengers flew out of the train to take cover in the fields. After several attacks, the planes took off again. People were killed and injured. Medical help came from doctors from Heeze, Leende, Geldrop and other places. Because the train was completely destroyed, another locomotive arrived from Eindhoven with a few freight wagons to still be able to transport the other passengers.

On June 15, 1943, an explosion took place in one of the meadows at the Molenschut. Three young people from Leenden were killed. In the evening of 14 June, Allied bombers flew over, presumably chased by German fighters. One of the planes, which was on fire, dropped its bomb load. It concerned incendiary bombs and a high-explosive bomb. The latter had not exploded but had a crack through which the explosive was visible. In the morning of June 15, the bomb exploded when the young people of Leenden were there.

In Leende there were of course more places where people in hiding stayed, including the address Strijperstraat 25. Another place where people in hiding stayed was where the pancake house on the Valkenswaardseweg is now. There used to be a few wooden barracks, including a boardroom. This was used as a hunting and holiday residence. During the war, the Bas de Gaaij Fortman sr. Family also stayed there. The family also regularly offered shelter to changing people in hiding in their holiday home and had to provide extra food. For this they went back to Louis Rutten. A family also stayed with the widow Willems - Bax at the Kleine Kerk. It was not until the liberation that it turned out that it was a Jewish family.

In Leende, the so-called 'Dolinger Putten' were a well-known hiding place. In the area near De Riesten there were so-called dredging pits, where mainly young men hid to escape the Arbeidseinsatz. An outsider was unable to find his way in this almost impenetrable area. Moreover, there were also several ways out for the acquaintances. Due to betrayal of a few pro-German people from Leenden, the hideout was still set on fire by the Germans at the end of the occupation. Fortunately, there were no people in hiding at the time because they were busy with harvesting activities.

Shortly after the start of the occupation, the Germans set up a radar station in the Leenderbos near Heerstraat (Leenderstrijp). Wooden barracks with a forage cellar were built for the men. The radar dish was placed on the so-called Vetersberg, where a watchtower of Staatsbosbeheer was later built. There was also a shelter where the soldiers could shelter during attacks or bombings. A gravel road was constructed from Heerstraat. This post remained in function until the liberation. Residents of Leenderstrijp or other ordinary citizens were of course not allowed to come there. A sign said: "Ohne Warnung wirdgeschossen!" So you naturally stayed away. Foundations and a shelter for bats still betray the place where the radar station once stood.

Mayor GJA Manders was transferred to camp Vught on 6 July 1944, together with a number of other mayors. This happened because, despite repeated orders from the occupier, they had not cooperated enough or had refused to demand workers from their municipalities for the construction of coastal defenses on Walcheren and for the construction of a new airport near the village of Rips in de Peel. Only on June 24, 1945, the mayor returned to Leende, emaciated. He had been imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He managed to escape miraculously from the freighter Athen, in which thousands of prisoners were locked up. The camps had been ordered that no prisoner should fall into the hands of the Allies (the enemy).

Just before the liberation, official F. Vogels was picked up at home by the Germans and taken to Eindhoven. The Germans suspected him of hostile activities against them. He was indeed involved in the resistance in Leende. He stayed in the police station in Eindhoven and on September 18, 1944 he was released again when Eindhoven was liberated. A day later he went back to Leende. On his arrival there, they were shocked when the tricolor car stopped in front of the door. Leende had not yet been liberated at that time. When the Allied army finally reached Leende, he could indeed say that he had the privilege of being liberated twice.

On July 11, 1945, Leende's town hall went up in flames. A number of phosphorus shells were stored in the attic of the town hall. When three English soldiers were busy delivering these grenades, one exploded. One soldier was seriously injured. It would take until 1957 before Leende had a new town hall on the corner of Dorpstraat and Kerkstraat.

According to the Ministry of Defense, a German Messerschmitt BF 109 of the 12th Staffel of the Jagdgeschwader 26 crashed on October 10, 1943 around 4 pm in Leende. The aircraft was destroyed. On 23 September 1944, a Short Stirling IV made an unsuccessful emergency landing at the Leende - Valkenswaard intersection around 6 p.m. The pilot was Flight Officer WA Sparks. He had been shot by the Flak (German anti-aircraft guns) above Arnhem. In fact, the crash landing failed. There were no deaths in the crash.

War memorial expanded with some details of historical or tourist interest

In Operation Market Garden, the Allies moved through a narrow corridor from Valkenswaard via Waalre to Eindhoven. A branch line entered Heeze from Valkenswaard via the Heezerenbosch.

In the central reservation of the Muggenberg between the Oudenmolen and the Ten Borchwardlaan is a simple sign with the text: "In memory of Heezenaar Antoon van Lierop, who was arrested here on June 20, 1944". As a political prisoner he stayed in concentration camp Amersfoort, and afterwards in various German labor camps. He is probably buried in a mass grave in Bad Sassendorf. A street name was named after him.

During the war years, far from civilization, there was a farm here where the De Koning family lived at the time. Organized resistance in the Netherlands only really started around 1943. Due to its remote location, the farm was an ideal place for people in hiding. In the night of June 12, 1943, the farm was searched for the first time by the Germans and some Dutch policemen. They then found two people in hiding and the radio that had not been returned. Father Jacob de Koning was taken, but miraculously he was allowed to return home after a few days. The resistance group Het Huisven must also have arisen during that time. In particular, four sons and their brother-in-law Aart van Heijst were active in this group, as well as other young men from the area. The members were mainly involved in raiding distribution offices and rendering the population registers of some municipalities unusable.

Nicasius was one of the so-called martyrs of Gorcum. His worship started in the nineteenth century. At that time it still took place in the church. After the war, a small chapel was built on Kreijl, where official ceremonies take place from that time on. Building a chapel after the war is not surprising because the predominantly Catholic population wanted to do something out of gratitude for the successful outcome of the Second World War and because the village and its inhabitants were not too badly affected.

In August 1939 the married Willem Verberne, also the father of six children, was called up for the mobilization. He had to defend our country against a possible attack by the Germans. Initially he was in Puiflik in the Betuwe. In the night of 10 to 11 May, after the German attack, his army unit had to go to Rhenen to defend the Grebbenberg. During a firefight with the enemy on May 12, 1940, Willem was fatally hit. He was 34 years old when he died for his homeland. Willem Verberne is buried in the Cemetery of Honor on the Grebbenberg.

Doctor Theeuwen was a general practitioner in Heeze. The population usually called him Piet or Pietje. It is known that the GP has helped people in the resistance and people in hiding. He provided assistance to the De Koning brothers, but also took action during the liberation at the risk of his own life. The street name was mainly assigned because he was the general practitioner in Heeze for many years.

The young mayor, esquire, mr. Theodore Willem Serraris, remained at his post after the occupation by the Germans, like many other mayors. He had no easy task, because he also had to cooperate with the orders of the occupier. It was known that the mayor was certainly not a friend of the Germans and that he opposed them wherever possible. For example, he tried to keep many young men out of the so-called Arbeitseinsatz or labor camps. The local leader of the NSB in particular had anticipated him and the man did everything he could to take the place of the mayor. Serraris, along with a number of other mayors, was captured and fired on July 8, 1944. He was deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he died just before the end of the war.

In memory of the De Koning brothers, this street was named after them.

In the years after the war, the municipalities began to pay attention to war memorials. However, these monuments did require approval from the Ministry. Plans for a large monument in Heeze were rejected. Finally, a monument in the form of a plate with names was placed on the facade at the front of the new town hall from 1954. A very simple monument where the annual commemoration of the dead was held. Due to the extension of the town hall after the reorganization, the monument needed a different location. They chose a place in the garden of the town hall. Later the old plate was replaced by a new one.

In the years after the war, the municipalities began to pay attention to war memorials. However, these monuments did require approval from the Ministry. Plans for a large monument in Heeze were rejected. Finally, a monument in the form of a plate with names was placed on the facade at the front of the new town hall from 1954. A very simple monument where the annual commemoration of the dead was held. Due to the extension of the town hall after the reorganization, the monument needed a different location. They chose a place in the garden of the town hall. Later the old plate was replaced by a new one.

During the war, the municipal population register was regularly stored safely in the castle. As a result, it was also preserved when the resistance in a robbery set fire to the town hall of Heeze in September 1943, see also point 25 below. Because Heeze had no town hall at the time, the castle was also used as such for a short time.

After the liberation, Allied soldiers camped in the woods behind the ice house and the castle. Here and there you can still find carvings from that time in trees and beech trees in particular. The long supply lines from Normandy? for soldiers, fuel, ammunition, material etc. and the resistance of the occupier made it necessary to go into bivouac. Many trees were felled in the forests that were necessary to be able to pass through the wet and swampy Peel.