The Ooijpolder landscape has withstood a lot of wartime violence. After Operation Market Garden in September 1944, this polder was a buffer zone between Germany and the bridges over the Waal. Soldiers were stationed here and fought for months on end. In this period, when the front line crossed through the polder, the dikes were blown up and a large part of the polder was flooded. The residents had to flee or were evacuated. In February 1945, thousands of Allied soldiers crossed the polder to invade Germany during the Rhineland offensive. After the war, many locals returned only to find their homes badly damaged or looted, if they were still standing at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;This war left deep marks, marks you can still see today when you follow the Ooijpolder walking tour. Starting at lake Wylerbergmeer near Beek, you follow the cross-border memorial route. Several information boards (developed by the Rheinland municipal association LVR and the Rhine-Waal Euroregion) describe the events in the polder area during WWII. The route continues towards the Waal, along the former front line, where you will come across old farms that served as a cover during WWII and an information plaque telling the story of one particular Canadian forward observer (scout). Eventually, you arrive at the Waal, standing exactly on the spot where the dike was blown up in the winter of 1944-1945.&nbsp;The route combines historic sites with the beautiful polder landscape.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Netherlands

German soldiers flooded parts of the Ooijpolder; amphibious vehicles DUKWs (pronounced as ‘ducks’) can be seen between a row of trees in the water. 

Soldiers on patrol over the snow-covered Ooijpolder, January 1945.

Amphibious vehicle in the flooded village of Leuth.

The rebuilt windmill Thornsche Molen on its original site, after completion in 2016. A typical Dutch scene: a windmill against a beautiful cloud-filled sky. 

Ooijpolder area route 

The information panel commemorates Canadian soldier Ernest David Harrison, who was killed during a reconnaissance mission on 27 January 1945. He and seven other soldiers of the Canadian Scottish Regiment were due to carry out reconnaissance on German machine gun positions in the polder on this bitterly cold night, but were discovered and attacked near the Eindschenhof farm. The only survivor of the group, Sergeant MacDonald, was made a prisoner of war. After the war, the German medic, Karl Missbach, who was involved in the incident, sent a letter to Harrison's mother, explaining the location of the field grave and informing her that he was to be given a Christian burial. With the help of this letter, Harrison's sister went to investigate and found the spot where the body was supposed to lie, and it is here where the monument now stands. However, the body was in fact not found here. There are several theories about this riddle: it could be that the body was washed away during the submergence or that the rather unclear explanation was misinterpreted and the grave is actually somewhere else. Chances are that Harrison found his final resting place in an anonymous grave in the Groesbeek soldiers' cemetery, among his old comrades. The reconnaissance mission was one of many carried out in the Ooijpolder in January 1945, in preparation for the Rhineland Offensive. In this British-Canadian Operation, which started almost two weeks later, the Allies crossed the German border to achieve what had failed in Operation Market Garden - crossing the Rhine and advancing into the heart of Germany.

Ernest David Harrison Monument

After the bridges of Nijmegen had been taken by the Allies in Operation Market Garden and the city liberated, the occupying forces were determined to prevent the Allies from advancing further into the north and east of the Netherlands. One of the ways they tried to do this was by blowing up the river dikes. In December 1944, explosives were used to create a 100-metre breach in the Ooijpolder dike. The effects were not immediately visible because it was a harsh winter (famine winter) and the river was low. When the thaw came a month later and the river level rose sharply, the polder was flooded. This happened just as the Allied armies began the Rhineland offensive (Operation Veritable).The sudden flooding of the polder had two advantages for the occupying forces: first, the water created an obstacle that slowed the Allied advance, and second, it reduced the size of the front line. However, the Canadian Army units sent to liberate the Ooijpolder and Duffelt at the start of the Rhineland offensive were well prepared and had already gained experience in amphibious warfare at the Battle of the Scheldt. Despite this, the water caused additional delays and casualties. In the end, the self-inflicted flood proved more inconvenient to the German forces, who were soon forced to abandon their position in the polder.The inhabitants of the Ooijpolder and Duffelt had already been evacuated in October 1944 and could not return to their villages until the spring of 1945. By then the water had disappeared. When they returned, they found that the water had done a lot of damage.

Water as a Weapon

In World War Two, the mill and its township played an important role. They provided shelter to people in hiding and had a strategically favourable location: in the almost empty Ooijpolder, the township was one of the few places that offered protection. After the bridges of Nijmegen were conquered by the Allied forces during Operation Market Garden, a buffer zone had to be created in the polder, so that the bridges could also be defended. This way, the mill and the entirety of the Ooijpolder came to be situated on the front lines. The Canadians designated the mill as a ‘strong point’ and both sides fought fiercely for it. In the night of 24 September 1944, the mill was hit by fire bombs and completely destroyed.&nbsp;Even after, the area remained of great significance to the defence of Nijmegen. The front line ran along the Querdamm to Erlecom: right over the former mill. For months, the front moved mere metres, which meant there was lots of gunfire and falling grenades. Dykes were blown up, causing the polder to be flooded. During Operation Veritable in February 1945, thousands of soldiers crossed the muddy area, which was still defended by German soldiers.For the citizens of the polder, the situation rapidly became too dangerous. The township of the Thornsche Mill was evacuated by the German occupiers in September 1944; the rest of the polder a month later, by the Allied forces. The first group of evacuees left for the north bank of the river Waal, the second travelled via Nijmegen and Oss to North Brabant. Many thought they would only be gone for a few days, but it turned out to be months. Just a few civilians were permitted to stay, to look after the cattle. When the evacuees returned, they often found their housed plundered and damaged, if they were still there at all. Flooding, acts of war and the soldiers’ months-long stay had left their marks.MenschenskinderA few meters from the mill is the artwork Menschenskinder by the Kleve artist Anne Thoss. These wooden sculptures symbolize all persecuted, expelled, evacuated and unprotected people as well as the civilian vctims of war.Canadian soldiers in the Rijk van Nijmegen During Operation Market Garden, the Rijk van Nijmegen was liberated by the Allies. Yet the region was not safe: the region became frontline territory. In November 1944, the British and American soldiers stationed here were deployed elsewhere and the Canadians took over. Their task was to protect the bridges, the city and the region from German attacks and defend the front.

Ooijpolder area route

Photos

Sites and stories along the route

Ernest David Harrison Monument

Water as a Weapon

The Thornsche Mill