The rivers served for the pilots as landmarks. The population of the villages near the Betuwe defence line was evacuated as planned. The Dutch soldiers in the Betuwe held out but were nevertheless ordered to retreat on 14 May. During the retreat, all major traffic and railway bridges were blown up by the Dutch troops. News of the Dutch army's surrender followed shortly afterwards. Five hard years of war followed for the West-Betuwe are. Famine, war violence and raids left deep scars in the municipality. While other places in the Netherlands were already liberated, fighting continued until the very end in the Rivierenland region.

The Netherlands

Dutch soldiers march out of the Beursgebouw in Geldermalsen, 1940.

Dutch flag above the church in Tricht, after the liberation. 

'I vote Mussert' propaganda poster. 

British soldiers in Geldermalsen, after the liberation. 

Collaboration and liberation in West-Betuwe

Following the Allied invasion of Normandy and their advance northwards, Allied fighters became increasingly active over the Netherlands from September 1944 onwards. The bombers and fighters used the major rivers in the Rivierengebied, among others, for their navigation. During flights towards Germany, they faced anti-aircraft fire and attacks by enemy aircraft in the sky. The Luftwaffe stationed fighter planes in the Netherlands to defend the airspace. The roar of the planes also created hope among the population; it meant that people were fighting for their liberation. But as soon as people heard the planes or anti-aircraft guns, they rushed inside or sought shelter. That way they hoped to be safe from the violence coming from above. In Vuren, a father pulled his playing daughters inside when he heard the anti-aircraft gunfire. However, the Polish plane that was shot down landed right on their house killing all three of them. The pilot who jumped out of the plane survived the crash and was captured.The price paid by the Allies was high. Without the commitment and sacrifice of the Allied pilots, the repression and persecution in the Netherlands (and Europe) would probably have lasted a lot longer. In total, the RAF lost 55,000 airmen and the USA Air Force more than 37,000, of which many hundreds came down in the Rivierenland area.

Crashed planes

In the Betuwe countryside, people hardly knew food shortage during the war. However, people in the West of the country did. Therefore, people who could physically bear it, walked dozens of kilometres with a handcart, bicycle, wheelbarrow or pram to the countryside to exchange valuables for food. Money was not worth much and because there was little to buy the black market flourished on the countryside.People from the West, who often suffered famine, passed farms in Herwijnen in search for food. The Liefhebber family for instance, came from the town of Slikkerveer and received a plate of soup and a place to sleep from the Van Zee family in the "De Vossenhol" farm. Another family, from Rotterdam, swapped food in Herwijnen: 'Dad and brother Kees went on the bike to a farm and came back with half a bag of potatoes, exchanged at a farm in Herwijnen for some tobacco!'On 29 April 1945, Operation Manna began, with planes flying low over major cities in the West of the country and dropping food via parachutes. 535 tonnes of food were thrown out in eight days. Many Dutch people were saved from starvation thanks to the food drops.

Hunger trips to Herwijnen 

The posters are not very readable in the photo, but around 1935 Willem Koster, occupant of the striking round house on Lingedijk in Buurmalsen, made his political preferences clear. Two posters with the slogan 'I vote Mussert' use to hang from the balcony.About 10 years later, in March 1945, almost at the end of the war, NSB leader Anton Mussert made his last visit to Tiel. That day, Mussert had a conversation with NSB mayor Beekman and was explained the military situation near Tiel. After the German troops were defeated, members of the NSB were persecuted. Excesses also occurred in the river area on 'axe day', the reckoning after the liberation. In Tiel, residents vented their frustrations and anger on a number of women, including Greet Fisscher, leader of the Youth Storm, who was secretary to the Ortscommandant during the war.

Vote for Mussert

When four German soldiers were moving ammunition on 6 February 1945, mother Van Bommel was hanging laundry in the garden. Suddenly she heard a strange sound and at the same time a huge bang followed and she saw the washroom and the of the back house fly into the air. It was a huge havoc around her and everything in her surroundings had disappeared. Miraculously, she herself had not suffered a scratch, but her little daughter Reijertje had just finished the dishes. As she walked out from the kitchen she was hit by a huge blast and air pressure and died on the spot. In the kitchen was 86-year-old 'grandma Satter' and she had fallen on the stove as a result of the explosion and suffered severe burns. She was transported to the hospital in Zaltbommel in the afternoon but died on the way.Outside, the neighbour's 8-year-old evacuee, Jannie de Jongh, was hit by flying shrapnel and died instantly.The four German soldiers involved were all killed. It was a terrible sight for the neighbours, as their bodies were torn apart and pieces had landed here and there.The soldiers all belonged to the German anti-aircraft battery (Flak) of Haaften. They were first buried in a collective grave in Zaltbommel and transferred to the German Cemetery in Ysselsteyn after the war.On 5 May 2015, a memorial stone was placed at the bottom of the Waalband dike in the floodplains of Waardenburg in memory of the perished girls.

Ammunition explosion in Tuil

On 17 April 1945, when the war is almost over, part of the Tricht population is summoned to leave their homes, the bridge will be blown up by the German occupiers. The signal box, locomotive shed and other important railway infrastructure were also destroyed that day. The violent explosions caused the windows of several houses in Tricht to be destroyed. Pieces of the railway bridge fly through the air like butterflies. At brewer Aalbers, who lives about 100 metres away from the bridge, a piece of a railway track lies in front of the door.In June 1945, fairly soon after the liberation, a company of the British Engineers, the Royal Engineers, came to Geldermalsen to help clear debris and repair the Lingebrug. A tent camp is set up by the British on a grassfield at the beginning of the Koppelsedijk. Local children regularly come to the entrance of the tent camp in those days. This is because the British soldiers have sweets: chewing gum and chocolate.They work hard for 11 days. With two bulldozers and four scrapers, they realise a railway embankment in a short time. This long railway embankment will replace the three southern spans. In it, they also process the debris from the large locomotive shed. In these eleven days, members of the Royal Engineers moved over 9,000 m3 of sand and soil . They also built an emergency bridge over the Linge, and by September 1945 the first trains were able to run again.The company of British Engineers, which was stationed in Geldermalsen, consisted of English and Scottish soldiers. Among the Scots were some drummers and bagpipers. The local Reformed minister Krop held a church service in English for this company one Sunday afternoon. In typical British fashion, the full company with tambourers and bagpipes marched down Church Street to the Reformed church.

Railway bridge Geldermalsen-Tricht

The US B-17 bomber, from 323 Squadron of the 91st Bombardment Group, flew back to base in England on 30 July 1943. Only two crew members managed to survive the flight. The bombardier had fallen through the thatched roof of a farmhouse on a broken parachute and died of his injuries. The pilot and co-pilot landed safely by parachute, but were taken prisoner of war by German troops. On 1 August 1943, the fallen Americans were buried in the cemetery near Opijnen's Reformed church. Despite the fact that only the mayor was given permission by the occupying forces to attend the funeral, the whole village attended the funeral. They listened to the speech and laid flowers on the graves to pay their respects to the fallen Americans. Gravediggers were helped and a huge sea of flowers was formed. The mayor sent a letter to his US counterpart from the pilot's hometown; a copy of that letter reached all the relatives of the eight crew members who perished.At a memorial service in 1947, the Opijnen people received a memorial. Almost all US soldiers killed in the Netherlands are buried in Margraten, Opijnen being one of the exceptions.

B-17 Airplane crash 

The secret nature of the Resistance's activities is obviously the reason why hardly any footage is available. However, immediately after liberation, members of various resistance groups had their photographs taken as a reminder of hard times and times of resistance.Group photo of members of the Ordedienst(OD) in Geldermalsen. Regional commander of the OD in the Tielerwaard and Nederbetuwe was Jaap van Thiel de Vries, director of the brick factory in Heesselt. In the picture, he is in the middle on the second row from the bottom.

Local resistance in Geldermalsen 

Despite the German army having capitulated, the troops were still armed. In the first days after the capitulation, an uneasy freedom prevailed. In Zaltbommel, for instance, the first Dutch flag, which was hesitantly put out in the city, was shot at by German soldiers. After the liberation, the Dutch flag appeared in the streets and in several places members of the Internal Armed Forces, resistance fighters, became publicly known. They rounded up NSB members and others suspected of collaboration. Only between 5 and 8 May the disarmament of German soldiers slowly started and the first Allied troops appeared in villages and towns. They were welcomed en masse by the population, waving their Dutch tricolour flag.The picture shows the destroyed railway bridge over the river Linge. This railway bridge near Tricht had been blown up by German troops on 17 April 1945. More buildings in the area were destroyed with dynamite. After the war, it was repaired as soon as possible. Within months, a temporary bridge was in place. By 1946, trains could again cross a new bridge.

Liberation in Tricht 

In places where soldiers were stationed and moved into their posts, they unexpectedly had to deal with many new 'inhabitants'. Soldiers stayed at forts, barracks, but also in all kinds of requisitioned buildings, such as the stock exchange building in Geldermalsen, or were billeted in private homes. Besides mobilisation, inundation also had a great impact. At the end of 1939, land near Geldermalsen was already flooded by the Dutch army as part of the national defence. Pieces of land were also flooded near the Betuwe positions. Owners and tenants suffered a lot of damage from this measure. The Dutch defence was aimed at an attack from Germany, overland, to the administrative and economic heart of the country with the major cities of The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In the defence plan, the old tactic of inundating or flooding land still played a major role. The idea was to flood entire areas in the area between the major rivers. Inundation proved to be a risky tactic: when river levels were low, such as in the summer of 1940, there was little to flood.

Inundation and Mobilisation

Every house was searched from basement to attic. Cupboards had to be opened and drawers emptied; gold, silver, jewellery, artefacts but also food was looted. It was a fearful situation; the soldiers were barbaric and not gentle during the searches and interrogations.All men aged 16 and above were taken and locked up in Kleyn's garage on Voorstraat for interrogation. Some prisoners discovered a window in the toilet through which they could escape. Many moved through the meadows and over the polder roads to the Asperen duck decoy on Detsteeg. Jan Goesten, an evacuee living on the Haarstraat, asked a German soldier if he could get his coat from his bedroom. Jan wanted to escape through a window at the attic. When he got on the roof, a roof tile fell and he slipped. This attracted the attention of a German, who then fired. Jan was fatally struck.When German soldiers counted the group on 6 February, there were 'only' 400 men; over 70 fewer than that day before. Without being allowed to say goodbye, the men began a march to Utrecht on foot. On 13 February, after a miserable train journey, the Asperen men arrived in Krefeld where they were put to work. Miraculously, all the men returned to Asperen in May 1945.The reason why cars drove through the streets of Asperen early in the morning on Monday 5 February 1945 and the village was cut off from the outside world is not clear to this day.