Learn about WWII History

Explore the critical events related to the war and the personal stories of those who lived through that challenging time.

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The liberation of Viersel

By 9 September 1944, Viersel village had already been liberated. The other side of the Albert Canal was still in the han...

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The battle for the stone bridge

October 1944. In the north-east of the province of Antwerp, the German army was trying to hold out. The British 49th Inf...

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Celebrations after a delayed liberation

Hoevenen experienced turbulent times in 1944. The liberation of Antwerp on 4 September brought not the hoped-for joy, bu...

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Friend and foe

Belgium fell victim to the infamous flying bombs, a German precursor to the rocket. Antwerp and its port were major targ...

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Two beautiful liberation stories

In September 1944, the British army took the southern part of Kempen step by step. The Germans did what they could to st...

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Of fathers and bridges

On 13 September 1944, the British liberated Mol. Nearby, every crossing on the Kempen Canal Bocholt-Herentals was fought...

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Poles liberate the centre

Merksplas was the scene of heavy fighting during the last days of September 1944. On 29 September, British troops delive...

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The Wing, a special monument

On the night of 14-15 February 1943, German guns brought down a Royal Air Force bomber over Meerhout. The HE164, a Vicke...

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Waiting on the Liberation

On the night of 3 to 4 October, the shelling lasted almost 10 hours. Dozens of civilians did not survive the bombing. It...

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A bloody liberation

The battle erupted in full force. For a fortnight, both camps shot back and forth. Kalmthout was heavily bombed. Many ho...

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Battle in the Kempen

House to house, body to body. On 25 September 1944 Canadian liberators crossed the Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten canal near Ri...

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A mass grave on the moors

On October third 1944, Allied troops took Brasschaat. After liberation, a gruesome discovery was made at the Maria-ter-H...

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Bombs under the bridges of Boom

The liberators were coming. On 4 September, British tanks rushed towards Boom. Their mission: to liberate Antwerp and th...

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Hiding in the brick oven

Brickworks battlesOn 24 September, the battle erupted. With the help of local resistance fighters, the 49th Infantry Div...

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Children won't be spared

On 24 September, troops of the British 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division advanced from Postel, across the northern canal ba...

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German anti-aircraft guns strafing Allied aircraft

The sparsely built-up area around Kasterlee was home to a lot of German anti-aircraft artillery during World War II. The...

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Lots of people and lots of flags

The end of the war was already in sight in Heist-op-den-Berg in August 1944. On 29 August, the women and children of the...

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The battle of Geel

Antwerp had been liberated, but the Germans were entrenched behind the Albert Canal. The Command of the British 50th Nor...

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The Hell of Ten Aard

On 14 September 1944, the 15th Scottish Infantry Division managed to cross the Bocholt-Herentals Canal and form a small ...

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Liberated, but still under attack

On March 6 1945, at around 10 pm, a German flying bomb struck Heuvelplein. The projectile came down on the corner of Nie...

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Ten days of shelter

In September 1944, projectiles from Germans and British crossed each other for days over the Kempisch Kanaal at Mol-Donk...

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Last train to Auschwitz

During World War II, the Nazis used the Dossin Barracks as an assembly camp for nearly 26,000 Jews, Roma and Sinti. Plan...

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Celebration and sadness in Gierle

In the final months before liberation, several aircraft crashed near Gierle. On 9 May 1944, a US B-24 bomber crashed at ...

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Quickly liberated, long wait

From 3 September 1944, the Germans began the retreat. They claimed everything with wheels, from bicycles to farm carts. ...

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