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Memorial Secret Army

This cross marks the spot where four members of the resistance were executed on the 5th September 1944.
The information board to its left honours these four, plus Theodore Peeters whose remains were not found until 1946 in As.

Around noon on the 5th September some three hundred members of the Secret Army of Limburg gathered nearby in the woods of Kiewit. Mobilising ahead of the Allied advance, they had expected an arms drop, which unfortunately never materialised. However, they managed to capture two carts holding 30 German weapons with ammunition .Unfortunately, the exchange of fire alerted elements of a battalion from the, 34th SS Freiwilligen Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland who formed part of the defensive line north of the Hasselt section of the Albert Canal. Outgunned the resistance fighters had to flee; sadly, not all managed to escape with their lives.

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Source

  • Text: Ian Paterson
  • Photos: Ian Paterson