#Story
Gunfight at the Vrieze Bridge
The liberation of Almelo in 1945 took two days. On Wednesday, April 4, the Canadians advanced via De Riet and through the city center to the Vrieze Bridge. Their advance stalled there when they came under fire from German soldiers. On Thursday, April 5, the troops were able to push on toward Vriezenveen, but only after they had made temporary repairs to the damaged bridge.
After the center of Almelo was liberated in the afternoon of April 4, 1945, German troops withdrew to the Vrieze Bridge in northern Almelo. Explosives had already been placed at this bridgehead but had not yet been detonated, leaving an escape route to the still-occupied north of the country.
The Canadian forces approached with four Stuart tanks. As the lead tank drove onto the Vrieze Bridge, the Germans detonated the explosives, blowing part of the bridge into the air. The second tank collided with the now-uncontrollable lead tank and was also hit by a Panzerfaust anti-tank round. Two of the four crew members managed to escape the burning tank in time – but Canadian Grenadier Guards Frank A. Williams and Milton R. Lewis did not survive the flames.
This setback delayed the liberation. During the night of April 4–5, Canadian troops guarded the area while engineers carried out temporary repairs to the bridge. On April 5, 1945, the liberators resumed their advance, and Almelo was completely freed.
Williams and Lewis were initially buried next to the bridge keeper’s house, where a memorial plaque was unveiled in 1995. They were later reburied at the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten.