• List War Victims May 1940 - Military

Date of birth:

August 21st, 1912 (Beltrum-Eibergen/Gelderland, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

May 12th, 1940 (Rhenen/Utrecht, the Netherlands)

Buried on:

Dutch War Cemetery Grebbeberg
Row: 1. Grave: 16.

Service number:

120821015

Nationality:

Dutch

Rang/eenheid:

Dienstplichtig Soldaat in 3e Compagnie, IIIe Bataljon, 11e Regiment Infanterie

Hendrik Johannes Schröer, a farmer by profession, was the eldest son of farmer J.J. (Johan) Schröer and J.M.B. Rotink. Shortly before mobilisation on 23 August 1939, he married Leida te Molder (1910-1996) in Haaksbergen. Six days later, they were married in the church in Brammelo, which falls under the Parish of Rietmolen.

At the end of August 1939, the general mobilisation of the Dutch army began. Both Hendrik and his brother Bernard (1919-2014) were mobilised. Hendrik left for the Grebbeberg and was assigned to the 3rd Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 11th Infantry Regiment (III-11 R.I.).

On 10 May 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Hendrik Schröer's battalion formed the army corps reserve of the 2nd Army Corps in Leersum. It was already weakened because parts of it had been assigned to all kinds of other tasks. The remainder had to reinforce the Stop Line (the last Dutch line) on the Grebbeberg on Sunday 12 May. During that action, they were surprised by the (temporary) breakthrough of the 3rd Battalion of the SS Standarte “Der Führer”, during which Hendrik was killed around 11 p.m. According to a military report, he was found on 16 May 1940 “in the fortification area south of the Rhenen-Wageningen road, opposite the rye field, located on the Bospad”.

His family only learned a few weeks later that Hendrik had been killed and buried on the Grebbeberg. After the Second World War, in the autumn of 1945, a marble memorial plaque was placed in the porch of the church in Rietmolen, bearing the inscription “TER NAGEDACHTENIS” (IN MEMORY) and the names of three victims of the war from Rietmolen. The first name on the plaque is that of Hendrik Schröer. His name also appears on the Memorial Monument in Haaksbergen.

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• Photo 1: Jan Willem ten Beitel
• Photo 2: Oorlogsgravenstichting
• - Website Grebbeberg
  - Oorlogsgravenstichting
  

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