Heerder Liberation Cycle Tour

This monument contains the names of the residents of Heerde who fell during the war. The names on panels 1 to 3 (from left to right) are resistance members and civilians who died in the war. On the right panel you see the names of those who died in the former Dutch East Indies. On April 19, 2012, a plaque was added to the left with the names of the Jewish residents of Heerde who were deported during the war.

Crash 24-1-1945 (Ger. Church liberated, Bonenburgerlaan 66/68 - between junction 94 and 4)
On January 24, 1945, around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a hunter's machine gun drum smashed through the roof of this church building. The aircraft, a Typhoon, crashed behind the greenhouses of the Van Leeuwen floristry (diagonally behind this church). Due to engine trouble, the aircraft, belonging to the 183rd Squadron of the RAF, could no longer reach its home base at Gilze-Rijen in North Brabant. The pilot Paul'd Albenas left the aircraft by parachute and landed unharmed near Kolthoorn. After a 10-day stay with the Draayer family in the Veen, he was transferred to Apeldoorn. After much wandering, he finally managed to reach the liberated area via the Biesbosch on March 12, 1945.

Bonenburgersluis (Kanaaldijk near house no. 9 - between junctions 4 and 96)
Here on April 17, 1945, a reconnaissance unit of the Canadian army crossed the lock and went via the Altena forest to the Bonenburgerlaan. They are considered the liberators of Heerde. They were picked up by resistance fighter G. van Huffelen from Veessen at Fortmont on the other side of the IJssel and brought there via Veessen and the Kerkdijk. They were put in touch with HA van Apeldoorn, who acted as local commander of the Domestic Forces. It turned out that there was only one German left in the village, who was taken prisoner of war by the Canadian patrol and taken to Wijhe.

Crash 30-1-1944 Hollewand (between junction 58 and 28)
On January 30, 1944, a German fighter dug into the ground near the Hanken, which you see below the dike. An air battle had taken place above Veessen, in which this fighter was defeated. Due to the swampy terrain, the aircraft and pilot immediately disappeared a few meters underground. In 1956, attempts were made to recover the hunter's remains. The aircraft had already sunk so deeply that recovery proved impossible. It is not known what type of fighter this was and who the pilot was.

Crash 11-01-1944 (Stokveldseweg to house no. 11 - between junctions 43 and 20)
An American bomber of the B17G type, reg. no., exploded above Markluiden on January 11, 1944. 42-31175. The aircraft, which was part of the 326th squadron and 92 BG, was hit by a FLAK battery during a mission over Germany, causing one of the fuel tanks in the wing to be torn open. Just before crossing the IJssel, the situation was untenable because the wing caught fire. That is why a number of pilots left the aircraft by parachute and landed in the vicinity of Wijhe and Deventer. Four others jumped just before the plane exploded and landed near the Oenerweg. The tail section, with the belly dome attached to it, ended up in this meadow. This included James Farrel, who did not survive the crash. Another part of the aircraft landed in a meadow behind the Vorderman nursery on the Weteringdijk. Richard Sperry's body was found among the wreckage. Both were buried at the General Cemetery in Heerde. Their remains were lifted after the war and transferred to Margraten. Sperry was reburied there and Farrel was transferred to the United States for interment.

Monument Klementbrug/Oenerweg (near junction 20 at the beginning of Oenerweg)
In the early morning of April 13, 1945, six resistance members from Heerde and Elburg were killed here by German soldiers. Afterwards, five local residents were shot again in reprisal. The resistance members were here to prevent the bridge from being blown up by retreating Germans. The following people lost their lives: A. van Apeldoorn, GJH van Apeldoorn, B. van Dijk, H. Hulst, JG Pleiter, N. Rambonnet, GJ Haverkamp, J. Stoffer, J. Roke, GHM van der Vegt and K .van Lohuizen.

Crash 26-08-1944 Heerderstrand (junction 81)
Around 1 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, August 26, 1944, a Boeing 17G, reg. no., crashed at the location where the Heerderstrand is now located. 4297204, Squadron 547 and 385th BG. All crew members left the aircraft by parachute. One of them was shot dead in the air while hanging from his parachute by German soldiers who were practicing at the shooting range. Another crew member was picked up by the resistance in a car in the evening near the Eper River and taken to the hidden village in the woods near Nunspeet. After much wandering, he was liberated in Sliedrecht in May 1945. The other 8 crew members were taken prisoner in the vicinity of the Kamperweg, near the Zuidweg, and taken to the Margriet barracks in Wezep. They eventually ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Germany and returned to the United States after liberation. 

Crash 7-04-1942 (junction 83)
In the early morning of April 7, 1942, around 4:20 am, a twin-engine bomber from the 455th squadron of RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) crashed at this location. The pilot was an Englishman, the other crew members were Australians. All lost their lives as a result. This aircraft, a Hampden, was easy prey for the much faster German fighters because of its low speed. That is why they were also called 'flying coffins' (flying coffins). The crew members C. Gammie, Mc Ilrath and T. Roberts were buried on April 13, 1942 at the Rusthof cemetery in Leusden. The English pilot A. Wincott was not found until April 17, 1942 and was also buried in Leusden on April 23, 1942.

Crash 20/21-07-1944 (between junction 30 and Kamperweg)
On the night of July 20 to 21, 1944, a Halifax MK III bomber crashed at this location around 1 a.m.
The aircraft of the 578th squadron of the RAF with reg. no. MZ511 was shot down by a German night fighter. The following crew members were killed: Alastair Hope-Robertson, David Jones, Gwyn Jones, George Johnson and Reggie Gunn. It is still clearly visible from the vegetation that hazardous substances such as kerosene and lysol, which were used to cool engines, have ended up in the ground in large quantities. Pay particular attention to the lack of large trees! Jack Smith, the navigator, managed to get to safety with the help of his parachute, but unfortunately broke his ankle during landing. After stumbling through the forest for a day or so, he was finally arrested by the Germans and eventually ended up in the Barth POW camp on the Baltic Sea.
The seventh crew member Ken Parsons was probably ejected from the aircraft by the explosion. He ended up on a forest path nearby and was helped further by the resistance. On March 10, 1945, after much wandering, he finally managed to reach the liberated area via the Biesbosch.

Koerberg (Koerbergseweg near house no. 19 - between junction 89 and the 1st road on the left)
On this side of the road on November 6, 1944, a bomber from the 50th Squadron of the RAF crashed with a bomb load of 14 x 1000 pounds on board. This crash caused a huge explosion, creating a large crater and causing windows to burst even in the Veessen. The device with serial no. LM-62 8 had the following crew on board: Robert Edward Rennie, George Amos Dunkelman, William Darby, Ralph Andrew Dowling, Frederick Arthur Horning, Michael Arthur Cook, George Thompson Gilbert Terris. All lost their lives and were buried at the General Cemetery at Mr. Nijhoffstraat in Heerde. Frans Sellies' house, located just on the other side of the road, was completely destroyed by the explosion. His wife and one of the children were injured. It is a miracle that there were not more victims.