Battle of Grebbeberg
Grebbeberg, view from the south
| date | 10. bis 13. May 1940 |
|---|---|
| place | Rhenen in the Netherlands |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Godfried van Voorst tot Voorst ( Lieutenant General ) |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 15,000 soldiers (estimated), 1 division, 1 brigade | 23,000 soldiers (estimated), 1 division, 1 brigade |
| losses | |
|
471 dead |
275 dead |
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Battle of the Netherlands
Maastricht - Mill - The Hague - Rotterdam - Zeeland - Grebbeberg - Afsluitdijk - bombing of Rotterdam
Invasion of Luxembourg
cobblestone line
Battle of Belgium
Fort Eben-Emael - KW line - Dyle plan - Hannut - Gembloux - Lys
Battle of France
Royal Marine - Ardennes - Sedan - Maginot Line - Weygand Plan - Arras - Boulogne - Calais - Dunkirk ( Dynamo - Wormhout ) - Abbeville - Lille - Paula - Fall Rot - Aisne - Alps - Cycle - Saumur - Lagarde - Aerial - Fall Braun
The Battle of Grebbeberg ( Dutch Slag om de Grebbeberg) was a major battle during the western campaign along the Grebbe Line in World War II .
Location
The northern part of the Grebbeberg forms the Laarsenberg, the south is bounded by the Lower Rhine and the Valleikanaal, in the west by the city of Rhenen and in the east the flood plain to Wageningen. The 52 meter high Grebbeberg was the easternmost point of the Dutch defense on the Grebbe line between the cities of Rhenen and Wageningen on the border of the provinces of Utrecht and Gelderland . The Grebbeberg is located on the Ouwehands Dierenpark and was of strategic importance due to its location above the Nederrijn. As early as 2000 BC Fortifications were built on Grebbeberg. The Grebbeberg is made of oaks and has some very steep edges and cliffs. Special features include erosion and a particularly warm microclimate on the south side. The Grebbeberg offers a very special flora habitat. The fallen, Germans and Dutch, were buried after the battle on Grebbeberg. After the war, the German victims were reburied in Ysselsteyn .
prehistory
Waterways like the Meuse and the IJssel formed the geographical obstacles of the " Fortress Holland ". The Grebbe line formed the eastern part of it. The Grebbe Line was built as early as 1745 and was used for the first time against the French in 1794. In the late 1930s, a number of bunkers and casemates were built in the area south of the IJsselmeer and north of the Rhine. There were major deficiencies in the construction of the bunkers, which were difficult to defend against attack from the flanks and from behind. The armament of the bunkers was outdated. Much of it stems from the time of the First World War . Out of consideration for the civilian population, buildings and trees were not removed from the line of fire. There was therefore a lot of cover available for the attacker. The trench system followed the pattern from the First World War.
The defensive line consisted of a number of outposts (Voorpostenlijn), a front line (Frontlijn), a stop line (Stoplijn) and an end line (Ruglijn). German spies realized that the Grebbeberg, due to the lack of floodplain, must be the weakest point in the Grebbe line.
The attack
The battle began on 10 May 1940 at 03:55 clock by the German Army Group B . The resistance on the IJssel and Westervoort was stronger than expected. The 207th Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Carl von Tiedemann and the SS Regiment “Der Führer” under SS-Standartenführer Georg Keppler , both subordinate to the 18th Army , received the order to take the Grebbeberg.
May 11, 1940
On May 11, 1940, the storm began on the Dutch outposts, which covered a three-kilometer-wide section in front of the Grebbeberg. The outposts were defended by the 8th Infantry Regiment (III-8 RI) / 4. Infantry Division. The outposts were improvised and insufficiently secured by sandbags and wooden barriers. The effective radius of the defensive fire was designed so that it did not overlap. The German attack began with an artillery strike on the line of the outposts, which paralyzed Dutch communications. Due to the deficiencies in the Dutch defense, two battalions of shock troops of the SS regiment "Der Führer" were able to neutralize the defense by one group shooting cover fire while the other looked for weak spots for a flank attack.
In the northern sector, in the area of a flood plain, the attack against the Dutch 19th Infantry Regiment (19 RI) began in the front line at Kruiponder. The attack was repulsed with the support of the Dutch artillery. The Dutch line had already been bypassed by the SS regiment. At 6 p.m. the Dutch surrendered in the last position on the outpost line.
In the evening hours, German armored vehicles attempt to storm the mountain, but are driven back with 47 mm anti-tank guns. Artillery Sergeant Chris Meijer was executed on charges of leaving his post. Around 9 p.m., the 2nd Battalion of the 19th RI wanted to counterattack the occupied outposts, where they would encounter 3,000 SS grenadiers. Only a few hundred German soldiers were suspected to be on the Dutch side. The counterattack was not carried out. The Dutch artillery support in turn thwarted a German night attack. The Germans suspected that the German attack was recognized by the Dutch artillery observers while it was being built. But that was not the case.
May 12, 1940
On Pentecost Sunday, May 12, 1940, the focus of the German attack was concentrated on the eastern slope of the Grebbeberg. The hill was defended by four companies of the II-8 RI and I-8 RI. These units were reinforced by a machine gun company and a tank destroyer unit, which had moved into the surrounding casemates. The Dutch defense was better organized than the day before, and the Germans could not find a blind spot to penetrate. The German artillery fire was unable to destroy the Dutch bunkers, but it demoralized the Dutch soldiers, who consisted mainly of conscripts. Fort Hoornwerk fell around noon, after which the wooded slope of the Grebbeberg was stormed. The Dutch defenders did not have enough strength to counterattack. At around 1 p.m., the opponents met for the first time. The Dutch defenses collapsed under the superior German firepower. Major Johan Henri Azon Jacometti from II-19 RI was killed. Because the SS regiment was concentrated in a small area, it became vulnerable to Dutch artillery and grenade launchers.
In the late afternoon the SS grenadiers "cleaned up" the III. Battalion / SS regiment "Der Führer" under SS-Obersturmbannführer Hilmar Wäckerle part of the area between the stop line and the front line of enemy resistance. Wäckerle saw it as a matter of personal honor to take the Grebbeberg at any price. Wäckerle ordered two wedges against the stop line on the Rhenen-Wageningen road and the other south near the Rhine . Wäckerle reached the Rhenen-Veenendaal railway line. The rapid advance of the III. Battalions could not follow advancing units.
The Dutch defense, v. a. II-19 RI was able to stabilize again. Reinforcements by the 46th Infantry Regiment (I-46 RI) reached the Grebbe Line. The first troops to appear on the battlefield were the 3rd and 4th Hussar Regiments. The only way to Rhenen was below the viaduct , which was led by troops of the Koninklijke Marechaussee by Captain GJW Gelderman. Geldermann opened fire and hit both the enemy and his own soldiers. An SS company managed to get stuck in a factory between the railway line and the Rhine.
The reinforcements were sent by the commander of the field army, Baron van Voorst tot Voorst. He had relatively few forces available, as many reserves were tied up in the defense against air landings in Dordrecht, Rotterdam and the airfields around The Hague . The II-11 RI, I-20 RI and five other battalions were planned to reorganize the stop line into a new line of defense. Three battalions were to stabilize the Grebbeberg, the stop line and the final line, while a flank attack was to be carried out with four battalions north of the Grebbeberg from the village of Achterberg.
May 13, 1940
On the morning of May 13, 1940, Lieutenant General von Tiedemann had contact with III. SS battalion Wäckerle lost. Von Tiedemann decided to open a second attack axis in view of the confusing situation on the Grebbeberg. For this purpose, the 207 ID was not used in the northern sector, but against the Grebbeberg itself. The attacks on both sides were supported by indirect fire. The Dutch requested air support from the British Royal Air Force . This could not take place, however, as all forces were tied up in the battle for France. Only the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (the Dutch Air Force) could do without four Fokker CX light biplanes, which dropped a total of 30 bombs on German artillery positions in front of the Grebbeberg.
The Dutch counterattack near Achterberg was delayed by four hours and started at 8 a.m. I-29RI, III-29RI, II-24RI, and I-20RI went into battle but were ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and exhausted from the long march. The German associations had meanwhile reached the stop line across the board. Artillery fire and mistaken fire from their own machine guns led to high losses among the Dutch. Against 14:27 attacked Junkers Ju 87 - dive bombers and directed a lot of confusion to among the Dutch troops. The Dutch troops were then gripped by a “Sauve qui peut” mentality. The line of defense of the 4th Division on Grebbeberg collapsed.
Breakthrough at the stop line
Relief troops were to intervene again in the fighting. Communication between the Dutch troops was interrupted by the shock wedge of the Wäckerle battalion. The day before, trenches on the Rhenen - Wageningen road had already been abandoned. It turned out to be a fatal decision not to have cleared any forest areas near the stop line. This was now to the detriment of the defenders, who were unable to hold the German troops down through the cover that the trees were designed for. With the stop line, the entire Grebbelinie was in danger, as there were no deeper defenses that could have stopped the German attack.
After a German break-in, there was a temporary panic among the less experienced units. A second artillery strike led to stabilization, and by midday the stop line was out of action. The commander of the I-8RI, Major Willem Pieter Landzaat, gave perseverance slogans such as “stand firmly behind the rubble” and “resist to the last cartridge”. Landzaat fell in battle. The Dutch troops remaining in Rhenen were too weak and too demoralized to carry out another attack. In the course of the day, other Dutch units left the battlefield to retreat west.
Meanwhile, an SS company had spent the night in the abandoned factory. They made two attempts to break the opponent's last line. Wäckerle violated martial law twice: on the one hand because he abused Dutch prisoners of war as human shields, and on the other hand because he had an attack carried out using enemy uniforms. The SS men masked in this way were recognized by their boots.
The Marechaussee unit had orders to have its own soldiers executed if they wanted to move west. The viaduct was destroyed by retreating forces. Wäckerle himself was seriously wounded in the course of the fighting. Air strikes on Brigade B north of Grebbeberg resulted in only minor physical damage, but severe demoralization.
The end
The fall of the Grebbeberg was of decisive importance in the campaign against the Netherlands. As a result, the entire Grebbel line collapsed, and as a result, four Dutch divisions had to withdraw. German troops did not find out until May 14, 1940 that the line was abandoned.
“ The SS regiment“ Der Führer ”faced two Dutch divisions (sic) on the Grebbelinie, most of which were made up of the best Dutch colonial troops (sic). The Dutchman defended himself bravely and tenaciously and fought decently except for a few cases. It was unfair, for example, that the white flag was hoisted several times on bunkers and our raiding parties were then taken under fire from prepared positions. The Dutchman's losses must have been great. The regiment brought in around five thousand prisoners. The conduct of all officers, subordinates and men in battle was beyond praise. Reckless going on and unwavering cold-bloodedness even in the most difficult situations made her stand out on every occasion. This was the only way to achieve great success in Holland. […] The regiment's losses in the fighting in Holland amounted to 118 killed (including seven officers), 231 wounded (including 10 officers) and 15 missing . "
losses
The Dutch losses of 18 officers and 399 non-commissioned officers and men in the three-day battle were particularly serious. The German losses were lower. Eyewitness reports do not match the reported casualty lists. Officially 238 soldiers were reported, but estimates range between 250 and 300 dead.
consequences
The eastern front of "Fortress Holland" was no longer attacked because the Netherlands surrendered to the province of Zeeland after the heavy bombing raid on Rotterdam on the evening of May 14, 1940 .
Commemoration
Today there is a war museum and a burial ground in Rhenen, which is supposed to commemorate the battle on Grebbeberg.
Web links
- Website about the Battle of Grebbeberg (nl), (en)
- Website about the Battle of Holland (nl), (en)
- Battlefield Tour 'Grebbeberg' 1940 (en)
References and footnotes
- ↑ Wilhelmina : Lonely and yet not alone . Memories. Translated from the Dutch by Hans Fischer. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1961, p. 247.
- ↑ Ouwehands Zoo
- ↑ Fortification from the 18th century.
- ↑ French: "Save yourself who can!"
- ^ The Battle of the Grebbeberg - May 1940
- ^ The SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment “DF” 1938-1945, Verlag KWSchütz KG
- ^ Dutch War Cemetery Grebbeberg
- ↑ Militair Ereveld Grebbeberg - Rhenen - The Netherlands
Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 14.4 " N , 5 ° 36 ′ 0" E