News - TracesOfWar.com

30Apr

Resistance fighter identified almost 80 years after World War II

Almost 80 years after he was arrested and disappeared during World War II, the remains of resistance fighter Cornelis Pieter Kreukniet have been identified. The DNA of a second cousin has determined that the remains that were excavated in 1947 from an anonymous grave on the Waalsdorpervlakte are Kreukniet, the Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday.

9Apr

World War 2 Youtube Series - Bicycle - Can You Put a Gun on It? - WW2 Special

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

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26Feb

British veterans visit the Airborne Museum

On Saturday 26 February 2022, a group of British veterans visited the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek. The renovated museum would be opened by them on March 13, 2020. That didn't happen in the nick of time because the first lockdown related to Corona came into force on that day.

24Sep

Photo Report Race to the Bridge 2021

When the first Airbornes landed on 17 September 1944 in the Renkum/Wolfheze area, it was of the utmost importance to reach their target as quickly as possible: the road bridge in Arnhem. Every year on the Saturday afternoon during the memorial weekend, this Race to the Bridge is reenacted.

7Apr

World War 2 Youtube Series - The German Art of Bunker Building - WW2 Special

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

26Feb

British veterans visit the Airborne Museum

11Feb

World War 2 Youtube Series - Eat the Nazis, There’s Nothing Else - WAH 052 - February 1943, Pt. 1

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

10Feb

'Auschwitz tattoo kit' claim put in doubt by Yad Vashem

The auction of tools said to have been used to brand prisoners caused uproar among Holocaust groups.

6Feb

Ghost Army, a World War II Master of Deception, Finally Wins Recognition

President Biden signed a bill that bestows the Congressional Gold Medal to the members of “a traveling roadshow of deception” that built inflatable tanks and trucks to trick the Germans.

12Jan

World War 2 Youtube Series - Sniper Warrior - Vasily Zaitsev - WW2 Biography Special

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

24Dec

Candles on War Graves

It has been a good practice for several years now to place candles on war graves on Christmas Eve. Here is an impression of the lights on the Airborne cemetery in Oosterbeek.

24Dec

World War 2 Youtube Series - How Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin Spent Christmas

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

20Dec

Christmas and New Year's message

1Dec

World War 2 Youtube Series - The Titanic Struggle for Reunion Island - WW2 Special

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

22Nov

British soldiers in Helmond, the Netherlands

Helmond is a town in the south of the Netherlands, just east of Eindhoven. It was liberated on the 25th of September 1944 during one of the flanking operations of operation Market Garden. After its liberation, the town was used as a rest centre for allied soldiers, mainly British. They where quartered in schools, but mostly at the homes of the civilians. Some signed their names on pieces of paper, others sent lengthy letters after they left. We've compiled a list of names that we came across and encourage British family members to contact us.

13Nov

Searching for Nazi escape routes by bike in an empty Berlin

Escaping Hitler's Bunker is the latest book by Sjoerd J. de Boer. It is an overview of the last ten days of Hitler's life. Subsequently it follows the escape of various groups and individuals from that last day when they were in Hitler's vicinity. It is the first time that all escape routes are mapped in a book. In word and images, author and WW 2 expert Sjoerd de Boer tells the stories of the best known occupants of the bunker and the Reichskanzlei. And he reports about various eye witnesses who told him after the war how they had attempted to escape. We asked him a few questions by e-mail about his book.

28Oct

Researchers discover WWII sewers where Jews hid to escape Holocaust

Ukrainian researchers have discovered the hiding place of Jews in the Lwów sewer made famous in Agnieszka Holland's Oscar-nominated film In Darkness.

20Oct

Illegal murders in Auschwitz

WWII specialist Kevin Prenger wrote: 'A Judge in Auschwitz' about SS judge Konrad Morgen. In 1943, this judge paid a visit to concentration camp Auschwitz in order to investigate malpractices in the camp – as strange as it may sound. The occasion was a parcel, sent from the camp and containing chunks of gold and which was intercepted by customs. In the camp, Morgen discovered this smuggling affair was the tip of an iceberg: camp guards in their masses were guilty of theft and corruption. Whereas in the gas chambers of Nazi-Germany millions of Jews are being killed, Morgen is engaged in gathering evidence of 'illegal' murders. The Dutch History website Historiek.net questioned author Kevin Prenger about his remarkable book.

20Oct

New book about SS Judge Konrad Morgen published

In October 2021 Pen & Sword Books published a book written by TracesOfWar volunteer Kevin Prenger. It is titled A Judge in Auschwitz and tells about Konrad Morgen's crusade against SS corruption & 'illegal' murder in the concentration camps. It has already been published successfully in Dutch and Polish. This English version was translated by Arnold W. Palthe, also a contributor of this website.

12Oct

Arnhem veterans Sam Kendrick and Victor Gregg passed away

British Arnhem veteran Sam Kendrick passed away on Sunday 10 October in Ireland. He turned 96 years old. On September 17, 1944, Sam landed with the British 1st Airborne Division at Renkum. He was taken prisoner of war during the Battle of Arnhem.

10Oct

WWII was above all won by the blood and sacrifice of the Soviet people

Russia’s losses during the Second World War were beyond imagination and touched the lives of an entire population caught between a brutal and murderous invader and a ruthless leadership at home. Soviet victory over the Nazis, which effectively won the war, according to the author, was the end result of effort and sacrifice by the ordinary millions who were totally committed to saving their motherland'. The humanity of the ordinary Soviet citizen in uniform is often forgotten because of later Cold War narratives propagated East and West for differing ideological reasons. With Red Star at War Colin Turbett seeks to redress these imbalances. We asked him some questions about his book by e-mail.

24Sep

Photo Report Race to the Bridge 2021

23Sep

Photo Report Airborne Commemorations Renkum and Heelsum 17 September 2021

On September 17, 2021, the Airborne commemoration was held at the landing areas near Renkum at the beginning of the afternoon. It was then exactly 77 years ago that the first paratroopers and gliders of the 1st Airborne Division landed here. In the evening the commemoration took place at the Airborne memorial in Heelsum.

22Sep

Photo Report Commemoration Victims Bomb Raid 17 September 1944 Ede

On September 17, 1944 at 11:41 in the morning the first bombs fell from allied aircraft in the area around the Parkweg in Ede. The bombs were intended to attack German targets on the east side of Ede, prior to the Airborne landings later that day. A second attack followed in the afternoon. A total of 71 inhabitants of Ede died as a result.