Dutch War Graves Roman Catholic Cemetery Wagenberg

Wagenberg Roman Catholic Churchyard contains one Dutch War Grave. This is the grave of Johan de Kroon from Wagenberg. In the early morning of May 10th 1940, the day the war in Holland started a number of 50 German planes came to Moerdijk. Moerdijk was one of the first targets of the Germans due the important bridge and harbour. There was soon fierce response from the Dutch side, in Moerdijk at 4 hours in the morning three 7.5 cm anti aircraft guns started to shoot at the planes coming over. Before the anti aircraft guns could take down an aircraft it was hit by a German bomb and got inoperative. After this action a group of about 700 German paratroopers landed in the area around the Moerdijk Bridge. Some were shot by Dutch soldiers and some drowned in the Hollands Diep. Many of the Germans, however, landed safely and took over Moerdijk and the area very short time. From this area the Germans were attacked by the Dutch army. The 1st Company of 1st Lieutenant Brogtrop was assigned to occupy the central sector of the right flank of the the bridgehead to overpower the German paratroopers. The company wanted to establish in the hamlet of Blauwe Sluis, a few kilometers from the Moerdijk Bridge (between Lage Zwaluwe and Zevenbergschenhoek). On the way to the hamlet, they were attacked by the Germans. The Dutch took a few light machine guns in position, one of the gunmen was the 20-year-old Johan de Kroon. Johan was hit by a gunshot in his head and died instantly. The Germans captured a large part of this environment the same day. John was buried in his hometown Wagenberg.

On the Roman Catholic Churchyard in Wagenberg are also three graves of civilian casualties of the Second World War.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Fedor de Vries (1, 2, 3, 4), Bob van Vree (5)
• Regionaal Archief Tilburg