Aalten, 24 March 1945
On 24 March 1945, a bombing raid took place in the Dijkstraat in Aalten. The factories on the Dijkstraat were the target. There were at least 18 to 19 fatalities. However, the exact number is not known to date.
Shortly before the end of the Second World War, on Saturday 24 March 1945, planes suddenly screeched down over Aalten. Almost immediately the whistling sound of the falling bombs was heard. Part of the textile factory and Driessen’s office was bombed flat. The factory of the Aalten Tricotage Factory (ATF) also turned into a mess. From the bridge on the Dijkstraat to the railway, houses were completely destroyed, others had suffered very serious damage. The consequences were terrible.
Victims
At blacksmith Umbach’s, the cellar, where father Umbach (43 yrs.) and three of his children (13 yrs. 10 yrs and 5 yrs.) were hiding, was hit by a direct hit. All perished. The mother of the family and another son barely survived by crawling under a table in the kitchen. A little further on, the Te Linde-Wechelaar couple (both 68 years old) and their 40-year-old son were killed. At Koelman’s house, father Henricus Wilhelmus (55 yrs.) and daughter (20 yrs.) were killed. Johannes Henricus Antonius Tepe (50 yrs.), Maria Johanna Christina Leemhorst (34 yrs.), Anton Lamers (73 yrs.), Annie Kamphuis (15 yrs.), Henk van Mechelen (15 yrs.) are also among the victims. Furthermore, three evacuees, namely Catharina van Ingen (79 yrs.), Catharina Hendrika Stokking (25 yrs.) and an unknown 15-year-old girl from Haarlem.
In the Aaltensche Courant of May 4, 1945 and in the book “Er op of er onder” (by W.P. Nederkoorn and G.J.B. Stork) two more victims are mentioned: M.J. Praster-Polman (28 yrs.) and a certain G.A. van der Meulen (44 yrs.).
There were also many wounded. The emergency services of the Red Cross and the Air Protection had their hands full recovering the dead and getting survivors out from under the rubble. Bombs have also fallen in the Stationsstraat, De Wheme, Kerkstraat, Hofstraat, Hogestraat and Boomkampstraat. Buildings on the Parallelweg and Koopmanstraat, south of the railway line, were damaged. Bombs also fell in the Molenstraat and Varsseveldsestraatweg.
Sources
- Aaltensche Courant, 04-05-1945
- ‘Er op of er onder’, W.P. Nederkoorn and G.J.B. Stork
