![\"Battle](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/header-3.jpg\")
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The world has been on fire for five years.
Since then Nazi Germany has ruled Europe, its ally Japan has ruled the Far East and the Pacific.
Millions of victims. Dead and wounded. From fighting on the battlefields, bombing or terror. Concentration camps, persecution, exploitation and mass murder. <\/p>\n
Yet 1944 will be a turning point in the Second World War.
While the Soviets have been slowly but surely pushing back the Germans in the east of Europe for two years, and the Americans have managed to conquer island by island from the Japanese in the Pacific, the Western Allies manage to land on the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944. It is D-Day, the start of the Western Front in Europe. <\/p>\n
From that day on, the Allies slowly but surely advance through France, towards Belgium and the Netherlands. The ultimate goal is the German capital Berlin. On the one hand to totally and permanently eliminate Nazi Germany, on the other hand to stay ahead of the Soviets. Cooperation between the Western allies and the communist Soviet Union to defeat Germany is inevitable, but the mutual distrust between the Allies and the Soviet Union already casts its shadow in this phase and will eventually lead to the Cold War.<\/p>\n
In September 1944, the Allies are at the Dutch border. British Field Marshal Montgomery creates Operation Market Garden. A daring and risky plan: he wants to conquer the strategically important bridges over the rivers in the Nijmegen-Arnhem region by means of massive parachute drops. At the same time Allied troops have to march in a very short time via a narrow corridor from the Belgian border through Brabant to Nijmegen and Arnhem. Montgomery wants to cross the rivers and invade Germany via the middle and north of the Netherlands and paralyse the German war industry in the Ruhr area. This tactic will also have to cut off the Germans in the western part of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Market Garden begins on 17 September 1944, but after days of fierce fighting and at the cost of many casualties, this operation only partly succeeds. Operation Market Garden becomes the Battle of Arnhem. The Allies are unable to push forward. The middle and north of the Netherlands will have a hard winter of war ahead of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
After the Battle of Arnhem, Montgomery shifts his focus to the area below Nijmegen, in order to be able to enter Germany from there. To do this, first Br\u00fcckenkopf Venlo (Bridgehead Venlo), a German defence stronghold, had to be eliminated.
The area consists of many small canals and streams. The Germans have no trouble defending the swampy Peel area. However, there is one weak link in their defence: Overloon. The only place where the Allies could penetrate the German defense. And so the Germans set up their northernmost defense line there.<\/p>\n
Even though the British are the closest to Overloon, the Allied High Command decides to give them a break and the American 7th Armored Division (nicknamed The Lucky 7th) is rushed from the north of France to Overloon to do the job.<\/p>\n
On Monday 25 September and Tuesday 26 September, the first shells fall in the village of Overloon. It becomes too dangerous for the population and on Wednesday afternoon, On 27 September the population of Overloon must leave on order of the Germans. Over 1,300 people walk in the pouring rain towards Maashees. The inhabitants of Vierlingsbeek, Groeningen and Vortum-Mullem also have to leave their villages. Many end up in Venray via all kinds of routes where, when Venray is also targeted by attacks and bombings, they have to survive in air-raid shelters for weeks under harsh conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
While the British forces stop well north of Overloon, the American 7th Armored Division is still on the way from France. These days during which the German defenders have no opposition, they set up a strong defense in the area Overloon. The British failure to press the Germans until the US troops arrive to relieve the British is a major reason for big problems that will occur\u2026<\/p>\n
The American underestimation of the number of Germans present in the area as well as the chosen attack tactic is at the highest levels. The planning for the action is for a combined infantry division (29th) and armored division (7th) attack to take Overloon. But General Courtney Hodges, commanding General of First US Army bases his estimates of the number of Germans in the Overloon region on intelligence reports from the XIX Corps, even before the 7th Armored Division arrives in the Netherlands. In his optimism, Hodges scraps the two-division plan and designates only the 7th Armored Division to capture Overloon.
This decision will prove fatal. Because according to the intelligence report on which Hodges bases his attack plan, there are supposedly a total of 2,000 Germans in the area.
But in reality, there were as many as 15,000 Germans present!
In addition to the underestimated number of German troops, German equipment, motivation, and fighting spirit also turn out to be of a higher level than the Allies estimate at that time.<\/p>\n
The American atttack is launched the afternoon of 30 September. But when 30 September dawns, the eight men who die from that day’s combat near Overloon are still 15-20 miles away from the attack’s line of departure.
Their first look at the terrain and situation where they are to make their attack is just minutes before the time of the attack! They are completely unfamiliar with the terrain and the reality of the situation.
And then there is the huge amount of fierce German resistance and also the bad weather, heavy rain and cold that make the area a living hell.
In the night of 3 to 4 October, the last American attack takes place, but the infantry is so fired upon that they cannot follow the tanks. It is decided to pull back everything and everyone.<\/p>\n
It is all a tragic fatal mistake by the British and American high-level commanders who put the 7th Armored Division into a position with erroneous intelligence and complete misunderstanding of the reality of the situation in a place they have never even seen until minutes before it all begins…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Saturday 7 October the Americans are relieved by the British. The Americans go to the area of Deurne for flank protection of the British.
For every American, there are now 4 British troops present. Only with a force that large Overloon can be taken.<\/p>\n
Thursday 12 October the British attack from the woods near Stevensbeek. After the introductory artillery bombardment, concentrated artillery fire comes down in front of the ready infantrymen. Via a creeping barrage, the fire-wall tactic that the British have used successfully in various wars, the fire and the bursts of the more than 200 guns shift 100 metres every five minutes with the aim of breaking the German resistance.
After heavy fighting, the British infantry, supported by tanks, finally reaches Overloon. The village is very badly damaged by the fire.<\/p>\n
The next day Overloon is almost house by house purged of remaining Germans. In the woods around Overloon fierce fighting still takes place.<\/p>\n
Saturday October 14 the area south of Overloon up to the Molenbeek is captured by the British.
The Sunday is used for reorganisation and repairs for the coming attack on Venray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
On Monday morning, 16 October, the attack on Venray starts with the crossing of the Loobeek. A brook, also called Molenbeek, which flows between Overloon and Venray and enters the river Maas at Vierlingsbeek. Tuesday 17 October the conquering of the areas up to Venray follows and Wednesday 18 October Venray is liberated. But the situation in both Overloon and the also heavily hit Venray is unlivable. The British decide on 25 October to evacuate all of Venray and the surrounding area, in total some 15,000 people, to places in the central of Brabant and even Belgium. <\/p>\n The front area then remains in this region. Only when in November the entire bridgehead of Venlo can finally be conquered, this phase of the operation is over. The forgotten battle. The Battle in the Shadows. Battle of Overloon 1944 The world has been on fire for five years. Since then Nazi Germany has ruled Europe, its ally Japan has ruled the Far East and the Pacific.Millions of victims. Dead and wounded. From fighting on the battlefields, bombing or terror. Concentration camps, persecution, exploitation and mass murder. Yet 1944 will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5633","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Unfortunately due to heavy rainfall, and the water management being disrupted by the Germans, this stream has become six metres wide in some places. Because the Germans have placed many mines, even in the stream, it is a difficult obstacle to take.
The British crossing seems at first to become a failure, partly because of the enormous fierce German resistance.
Yet the British eventually manage to cross the stream and push the Germans back.
The Loobeek is later nicknamed the Bloedbeek<\/em> (Blood stream) by the British because of the many British casualties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nUnlivable<\/h3>\n
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The civilian population cannot return home until spring 1945. Or rather: what was left of their homes. They must build up a new life on the ruins of Overloon and Venray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nthe battle<\/h3>\n
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These are two common names for the Battle of Overloon.
In reality, a battle with much impact. And therefore a Battle that should never be forgotten.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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