The Liberation of Holland As soon as the D-Day landings started in June 1944, the conditions for the Dutch citizens deteriorated even further under German occupation. At that time the Germans halted the food supplies to eastern Holland. They also flooded the land in order to slow down the Allied advance. After a rainy summer, that winter in Holland was very harsh. Over 30,000 Dutch citizens starved and froze to death because the Germans had also confiscated their food and fuel supplies for their own use. In the spring of 1945, the Allies managed to carry out air drops of food which helped relieve the suffering of the Dutch citizens. After providing AA support for the Guards Division as far as the Nijmegen Bridge, 6 Battery guns were posted to gunpits in the Nijmegen Bridge area on September 17 1944. The van Empel family home was in Maas Straat, Nijmegen only 100 yards from the Nijmegen bridge. The two young van Empel boys playing near the bridge in the late 1920’s were lifted by the Germans at the start of the invasion. They were taken for a period of forced labour. This was a good thing in a way because they could have been taken to a concentration camp. As forced labour they had to be fed to a certain degree. But they survived, working in the Ruhr armaments factories. View attachment 9 The Hanny Walker Story Hanny Walker belonged to another family that also lived in Nijmegan. She recalled,“My name is Hanny van Haarlem. I was born in Gelder Malser, Nijmegaen. Just after the German occupation of Holland, father and the local men were taken by the Germans and used as slave labour on building the Siegfried Line. This was located about 10 miles south of Nijmegan in the Reichswald Forest. I witnessed the Allied Airborne invasion at the start of our liberation from the German occupation. The sky was full of parachutes. It was terribly sad to see because the Germans were shooting the paratroops as they descended. Food was scarce at this stage of the war. On September 17th 1944, my brother Peter and I cycled to a nearby farm to see if we could get any food. We usually bartered with the farmers for our food at that time. The farmer refused to barter because the area was surrounded by soldiers. Peter and I left the farm to go home. At this stage we were under observation from Norman Walker and his gun crew. Norman sent one of his men over to the farmer. The gunner gave the farmer a packet of cigarettes, it was Gallagher’s Blue. The farmer gave the gunner half a bag of potatoes and half a bag of carrots. Then Norman called us over to his gun. We did not speak each other’s language but he ended up giving us the two half bags of vegetables. We thanked Norman and made our way back home. View attachment 10 Norman Walkers Gun Crew at Nijmegen - 1944 When we arrived home my mother said we were covered in mud. There had been a lot of rain in October. The soldiers were also covered in mud due to the continuation of the bad weather. Mother suggested that we must return to the gun crew the next day and ask them if they would like to come back to our house. Norman used to bring at least four different men back to our house every night. There they were able to sit down and write letters home and relax away from the mud and rain. But then the Americans needed help in the Ardennes. The Battery had to pack up before Christmas and headed off Around January 1945 there was a knock on the door and we could not believe our eyes. There stood Norman Walker and his friend Sammy Nevin from Portrush. The Ardennes had been sorted out and the pair of them used to borrow a motorbike and ride the 120 miles from the Ardennes to our home in Nijmegen. One night they were riding along and Norman noticed that there were strands of white tape across his chest. He had driven into a mine field. Sammy Nevin slid himself off the rear of the bike into the tyre tracks and pulled the bike backwards. Then Norman got off at the front and they pushed and pulled the bike back along the tyre tracks until they were clear of the mine field. That year, 1945, Norman asked me to marry him. My father said, “Well, if you really love her you will have to come back for her. You will not marry her until her next birthday in October 1946”. Norman was demobilized in 1945 and went home with the Battery. View attachment 11 Norman returned to Nijmegen again on October 1st 1946 which was his birthday. My birthday was October 8th. At the time we married we could not speak each other’s language, but we managed. After we were married we both came back to Coleraine and never regretted a moment of our lives together”. (Hanny Walker, 2005)
This is a great story! Would you mind sharing it on another site as well? www.aboutww2.info. I would love to share this story there.
You may use this story as long as you quote the source. It is a privately circulated first edition due out March 2006 The Coleraine Battery The History of 6 LAA Battery RA (SR) 1939 - 1945 by Ronnie Gamble (c) 2006
