Battle for Hechtel

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The Battle of Hechtel took place from September 6 to 12, 1944 in the Belgian town of Hechtel . German paratroopers succeeded in halting the Allied deployment from Hasselt (Belgium) towards the Dutch border with some tactically well-positioned cannons and tanks. During the fighting with the Welsh Guards , the place was almost completely destroyed.

losses

The German troops suffered heavy losses. There is no official number, but estimates speak of 127 deaths. About 250 were taken prisoner by the British. For the British, the official number was 62 dead. Many of the German dead were later reburied in the Lommel military cemetery. Since the Allied Irish Guards succeeded during the fighting in Hechtel to capture Joe's Bridge in northern Lommel by means of an encircling movement , the withdrawal became difficult for the surviving paratroopers. Nevertheless, some of the paratroopers managed to break away via Bocholt , which is 15 kilometers to the east .

War crimes

36 civilians were killed in Hechtel. Most of them were executed by the paratroopers without trial. A British commission of inquiry dealt with the case until 1947 and handed the suspects over to the Belgian judiciary. The main suspect, Oberjäger Heinz von Bursztini, escaped and was no longer held responsible after the war. Statements by two German soldiers describe the execution: “Suddenly I saw civilians arriving with their arms raised, I can't remember the number exactly, they were ten to twelve men. They had to stop in front of the woodshed in the garden. Various people, younger and older, turned around, their faces turned towards the shed of the shed, the rest of them retained their old postures. All of this happened in a few moments, and immediately afterwards Bursztini's violently uttered words could be heard: "Kill, kill". The shots followed in quick succession; he personally fired it from his submachine gun. The distance may have been 20 to 25 meters. "

tank

Jagdpanther in the Imperial War Museum , London

A Sherman at the Hechtel traffic junction commemorates the battle today. A rare example of the Jagdpanther was destroyed by the British in Hechtel and restored after the war. It is now in the Imperial War Museum in London .

Commemoration

Every year on the 2nd Sunday in September the dead from the fighting are remembered in Hechtel.

literature

  • Gerard Wuyts: Herfststorm over Hechtel (Autumn storm over Hechtel), published privately in 2004 by a surviving civilian, 385 pages.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wuyts: Herfstorm over Hechtel. 2004
  2. ↑ Wuyts: Herfstorm over Hechtel. 2004, copy of the testimony of soldier Wolfgang Neff (London, 1947), p. 238.

Web links