On the morning of March 19, 1945, a V1 rocket roared toward the southern city district of De Riet. It crashed into the shed behind the house at Rietstraat 1. All residents of the surrounding houses fled into the street in panic, some not even fully dressed. At least thirty people were injured; in Rietstraat and Zwanebloemstraat, 26 houses were destroyed.
It took three years before the traces of the Second World War in De Riet were erased. Only on March 4, 1948 was the last of the 26 newly built houses completed.
The civilian victims are also commemorated at the nearby monument "Voor de gevallenen" (“For the Fallen”), unveiled in 1951 at Van Dronkelaarplein. The monument honors more than 400 civilian residents of Almelo who lost their lives during the Second World War.