Cycling route Death Valley De Peel - The last Cavalry charge (Ommelse Bos) (#27)

The last Cavalry charge

Janus Loomans, who was in hiding at home in the Ommelse Bos, witnessed an unlikely military maneuver on the morning of September 22 when he saw approximately 70 German soldiers passing by on horseback.
Led by the fanatical one-armed Major Heinrich Hoffer, these cavalrymen were led straight to the slaughter. Loomans saw the riders moving in a long procession towards the village.
They also carried pieces of artillery with them. Only in Ommel did Major Hoffer find out that the English had dug in with their tanks between Asten and Ommel. They were not surprised and treated the approaching horses and riders with merciless machine gun fire.
Approximately forty horses and riders died. The remaining riders fled in panic and disorder back to the Ommelse Bos, where Janus Loomans witnessed the inglorious downfall of the once so proud German Cavalry. Hoffer's maneuver was the last classic cavalry charge in Western military history.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen