Crash of a B-17 near a bunker

Parallel to the N57 lies the Blomweg, along which there are two access points to the walking path on the old sea dike around the Preekhilpolder. Between the two, at a bend in the dike, is an infantry position where all the structures were built in or against the dike.

The most important of these is the bomb-proof troop bunker designed to house ten soldiers. Attached to it are a gun shelter and a small brick storage bunker. Further along the dike lies another of these small storage bunkers. According to a German inspector who oversaw the construction of the fortifications, these brick-built structures in the Preekhilpolder were damp, causing food stored in cardboard or paper packaging to spoil. A striking detail he noted was that even the stored tobacco suffered from the damp conditions. Around the turn of the century, all the structures were restored because of their cultural and historical value, and the open gun emplacement for the anti-tank gun was reconstructed.

About a kilometer west of this infantry position lay the so-called Kilhaven. At that time, sugar beets from the surrounding farmland were loaded here onto ships for further transport. Across the current N57 road, near the pumping station in the dike, there was also a troop bunker for ten soldiers. On April 5, 1945, an American B-17 bomber crashed here. It was one of the aircraft from a large group returning from Germany after bombing an airfield near Nuremberg.

They were flying low, forced by bad weather conditions. Too late, they realized they were flying over occupied territory and came under fire from German anti-aircraft artillery. Many planes did not manage to escape, and one of them crashed at this spot. Just a month before liberation, seven of the ten crew members were killed. The WWII Foundation Goeree-Overflakkee (Stichting WO2GO) has placed an information panel here to commemorate the event.