Hello all, Thanks to this site I figured out my hometown of Haaksbergen, the Netherlands was liberated by troops of the 2nd Armoured Battalion, Irish Guards on April 1st 1945. In my spare time I like to build miltary models and diorama's, and I would like to build a diorama based around an incident in Haaksbergen that day : the Pancratius church on our market square was damaged due to it being hit by the barrel of a passing tank (I assume a Sherman VC Firefly). To help me build this diorama any information regarding this incident and the liberation of Haaksbergen in general would truly be appreciated ! Especially photo's, as so far I've only managed to find one. This is the Molenstraat, leading up to our market square. The Pancratius was (and still is) just around the corner. Kind regards, Michel (aka DocProg)
Hello all, The local historical society replied to an email I sent earlier. They apparently have some pictures and other material regarding the liberation of Haaksbergen. I'll be bringing them a visit real soon Michel
Hello Michel, Glad you found something. I mined out all my information when posting about the liberation of Enschede. It's here http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/11182-who-liberated-enschedeholland/?hl=%2Bliberation+%2Benschede There's also the War Diary for 2IG in 1945, but I'm guessing you've seen that too. Unfortunately photos are especially hard to locate. I'd imagine there'd be more from your fellow countrymen than from the likes of my father in the Irish Guards Group who were fighting there at the time. Best of luck with your enterprise, please do share whatever you can, particularly of your diorama.
I've no idea where/when Dad took these, it's possible that it was in Belgium or Holland. Tanks of 2IG, infantry of 3IG.
