#Airattack factory driver#

“We followed our site procedures and contacted police, specialised consultants, the archaeologist and our site engineers. Hamilton City Council Development Group General Manager Chris Allen says the site’s history was known and processes were already in place to deal with any finds of this nature. The area is part of the works to extend Wairere Dr to Cobham Dr. Remnants of bullets have been found in topsoil between Dey St and Cobham Dr, a site which housed ammunition factories during World War Two. Parks, recreation, and community spacesĮarthworks to complete Hamilton’s Ring Road and link to a future new bridge have unearthed tangible reminders of the city’s wartime past.Waste minimisation, rubbish and recycling.Gravestone of the eleven of the 'Postbrug', now on the Military Cemetary at the Grebbeberg. The common grave on a photograph after the war. Bus-driver Kors is the only citizen on that honorary cemetery. In 1973, the graves at the 'Postbrug' are transferred to the Grebbeberg, without making distinction between the men. The mortal remains of nine of the 11 servicemen buried at the Groene Kerkje were transferred in 19 to various locations, in most cases to the Military Cemetery Grebbeberg. Later a tombstone was erectde on the common grave. Eleven men are buried at the 'Groene Kerkje' and two in their hometown Assen. Transport-firm Van der Luyt brings seven wounded men to the Academic Hospital in Leiden, but all die shortly after arrival. When the mortal remains of these victims were later transferred for burial in the Military Cemetery Grebbeberg in 1973, Kors would be the only civilian buried there.Įleven men found a temporary common grave in a bombcrated at the 'Verlengde Vinkenweg'.

#Airattack factory driver#

One of these men was the 43-year-old driver Willem Marinus Kors. It proved impossible to identify 11 of the 17 bodies which were buried immediately in a mass grave – the bomb crater that had just been made near the Postbrug. Of the 24 men who died, 17 were killed instantaneously – including the bus driver – while seven men later died as from their wounds. Others died when the cartridges which they were carrying exploded viciously, sounding like thunder. The bus exploded in a fireball and some soldiers were killed immediately by bomb fragments. It dropped three bombs on the first bus, the first bomb hitting its target directly. The air attack was over but at the level of Endegeest one airplane turned around and headed back.

Two days later he was buried in the Groene Kerkje cemetery. When the 21-year-old Sergeant Christiaan Leonard van den Broek from Dordrecht tried to rein in the horses, he was dragged along before falling to the ground and was run over by the wagon. The horses start to panic and a team belonging to the 1st Battery go off at a gallop. Because it was impossible for the men to defend themselves using only small arms or field artillery, they had to run for cover behind the buses, seek shelter under the viaduct, or flee into the meadow. These airplanes were surely Dutch weren’t they? But as machine guns began rattling, two German airplanes were spotted. It was about 3 o’clock when the drone of airplane engines was first heard. About 500 meters before reaching the Postbrug (where in earlier times horses hitched to post coaches were exchanged) at the border between Sassenheim and Oegstgeest, they pass by the 1st battalion of the 6th Artillery Regiment that will be taking a position at Castle Oud Poelgeest. With the Company now complete, the convoy travels on, turning onto the main highway just beyond the Sikkens Factory. The men take leave of Hillechien, each in his own way. There they stop at Café ‘De Uiver’ to collect Klaassens and Niemeijer. The convoy of buses departed in the early afternoon, travelling via Bennebroek, Hillegom and Sassenheim. 10 (an almost new A.S./Beijnes) which belonged to the International Motor Coach Line Leo Kors from Heemstede with the owner’s brother behind the wheel. The first buses were reserved for the 1st Company the first in line was No. Therefore motor coaches had to be requisitioned because the regiment did not have their own means of transport.ġ-I-9 R.I in the snow, near Kraantje Lek, 18 Januari 1940.īuses arrived from far and wide, assembling on the Dreef in the Haarlemmerhout.

The regiment received orders to proceed via Oegstgeest to Valkenburg where the airfield was under attack from the air. When the war begins - on - the 9 th Regiment Infantery is located near Haarlem. And then the story of the men at the 'Postbrug'.