Friday on the way......

We saw some amazing scenery on our way to and from the sites today. We went through Dwingelderveld National Park  and could not believe we were in Holland.

Later more incredible tunnels of trees over the roads.

This tunnel of trees went on for a long time.  Note the bike lanes on either side of the road.  The centre was only a car and a bit wide.

June 22 Camp Wester Bork

Camp Wester Bork: the infamous camp of the deportation of 102,000 German and Dutch Jews to concentration camps in Germany and Poland.

Sad and powerful.

Each brick represents one soul lost to the concentration camps.

Guard tower at the outer limits of the camp boundary.

These twisted rails are left as a memorial.

June 22 Holten Commonwealth Cemetery

We saw the first interpretive centre we are aware of for a WW II commonwealth Cemetary. At Holten the centre describes the Liberation of Holland, some of the stories of those buried there and more inside. The Cemetary itself has an enormous garden at the entrance.

These coloured lines mark the march of the Canadian divisions through Holland.  The 4th, Dad's division is in purple.

Holten is larger, more elegant and has an enormous fore garden to go through before you reach the cemetery itself. All around the cemetery are plantings of rhododendrons.

The lavender was everywhere.

Friday The Bailey bridge

This bridge was constructed during WW II and is still in use today. 

Leading up to it we followed the road below and crossed the Twente Canal near Almen. This was the route followed by the 4 th Canadian Div. and dad and the RCASC.

The bridge sections were constructed in advance behind the lines and brought up to the river as needed by the RCASC  and guys like Dad.

At one time these bridges were everywhere as the retreating German army had destroyed all the bridges in Holland.  They served Holland well for a very long time.  This is one of those still left.
Amazing.
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June 21, 2010 part b

We also had a good look at the path the Canadians took through one area of Germany known as the Villa Reichswald. It has a commanding view of the countryside.

Our hostess could not speak much English but she worked very hard to help us understand the menu and the hotel history.  

Eventually she told us this was her family's home. The young lady that served us lunch today told us the story of her Grandmother waking up to find all of her dining room furniture out on the lawn and Canadian soldiers sleeping inside.

Lunch was great.

June 21,2012

Today we went into the Reichswald Forest to see the War Cemetery named after it. It was a two hour dive into Germany from Lochem.


This cemetery contains over 7000 commonwealth soldiers and is the largest of all the commonwealth cemeteries.

Reichswald War Cemetery

The road to Reichswald

Ken and Gary outside the gates of the cemetery.

We then spent time at the crossroads near the Cleve Gennep roads (the former town of Heccken). This was a major crossroads and battle and dad would have travelled through here.

The Rhine lies behind this farm.

This is where the 4 th Canadian Division crossed the Rhine River. 

More for the 4th Cnd Army Division

At least two of these long roads were heavily travelled by the Canadians. In one area there were over 450,000 soldiers camped for two months ( the combined allied armies).


Dad would have certainly been traveling this area on a regular basis as it was the main road from the camp with supplies to the front.

This monument marks where several platoons and various  infantry units were.

This monument marks the road so many allies soldiers and units traveled.

450,000 soldiers ..... it boggles the mind.

First Battle Field day.......

We travelled for about 6 to 7 hours today to see several areas that the 4 th Canadian Army Division was in. Gary was able to show us several spots were the Canadians were traveling back and forth and Dad would have been part of those units traveling back and forth with supplies.

When we get back I'll label these pictures with more details.

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We found some HLI as well as some from the Royal Canadian Service Corp .

While we were standing near the bridge discussiong the Canadians 

we turned to see a bunch of Dutch soldiers marching toward us.  That gave us a start. 

The sign for the town near the bridge.

At Oosterbeek War Cemetary we spent a lot of time. It has over 1400 interred there