May is always WWI month here in the Netherlands. Not only were The Netherlands liberated in May 1945, the war also started on 10th of may 1940.
There are a lot of pictures about the fighting in my home town Dordrecht. For those who don't know, Dordrecht was the key to the big cities in the west. We have here the big Moerdijk bridges over the Hollands diep and the bridge over the river Maas towards Rotterdam. In order to commemorate this, some living history groups decided to recreate some of the photo's that were taken in May 1940 in Dordrecht. They did that today and it was tremendous fun. Every scene was concluded by reading the names of the soldiers (Dutch and German) that died at that spot 68 years ago.
A very touching moment was when someone asked if he could sit behind the MG for a minute. Then it became clear that he was a veteran of those days, and had been an MG gunman, firing that same model in the Peel-Raams Line. He could feel it one more time, today.
1. The veteran with the machine gun
2. Kubel wagen
3. German Paratroopers
4. Dutch light division (on bikes!)
5. The MG's on an old Chevy truck
6. Dutch defenders...
7. ...surrendered
There are a lot of pictures about the fighting in my home town Dordrecht. For those who don't know, Dordrecht was the key to the big cities in the west. We have here the big Moerdijk bridges over the Hollands diep and the bridge over the river Maas towards Rotterdam. In order to commemorate this, some living history groups decided to recreate some of the photo's that were taken in May 1940 in Dordrecht. They did that today and it was tremendous fun. Every scene was concluded by reading the names of the soldiers (Dutch and German) that died at that spot 68 years ago.
A very touching moment was when someone asked if he could sit behind the MG for a minute. Then it became clear that he was a veteran of those days, and had been an MG gunman, firing that same model in the Peel-Raams Line. He could feel it one more time, today.
1. The veteran with the machine gun
2. Kubel wagen
3. German Paratroopers
4. Dutch light division (on bikes!)
5. The MG's on an old Chevy truck
6. Dutch defenders...
7. ...surrendered
