#Story

Memorial: It is 26 September 1944…

...a day after the loss of the Battle of Arnhem. Allied planes bombarded this area because the Germans had stored ammunition here. In the process, the Bless family's farm was also hit directly. Three people were killed and one seriously injured.

Bombing of Lankhorsterbos
On 26 September 1944, a day after the loss of the Battle of Arnhem, Allied planes bombed the hamlet of Greffelkamp with several bombs. In the so-called “Lankhorstbos”, the Germans had stored ammunition that afternoon. In the evening, this storage area was already bombed. As a result, about a third of the ammunition was lost to the Germans. In the bombing, the Bless family's farm at present-day Luynhorststraat 15 was completely destroyed. Three people were killed: Mrs A.W. Strikkeling-Menting, H.B. Jansen, and J. Godschalk from Zevenaar, who had gone into hiding with the family. Mia Hendriks was seriously injured but survived the bombing.

When Operation Market Garden took place on 17 September 1944, the SS soldiers and the leadership of the OT (Organisation Todt) hastily fled from Didam, and the compulsory digging work in Zevenaar, Groessen and Duiven came to a halt. The Battle of Arnhem ended in a victory for the Germans on 25 September 1944, after which the SS and OT leadership returned to Didam. OT workers also had to report again to carry out the digging work.

After the Germans' victory at the Battle of Arnhem, the Liemers came under fire. The Germans tried to get behind the lines of the Allies, who regularly carried out reconnaissance and bombing raids in the German-occupied area. They mainly targeted places where German army units were hiding. However, this could not prevent many civilians from being killed, such as here in Greffelkamp.

Foxheuvelstraat/Lijnhorsrtstraat, Didam
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