French War Graves Smilde

At the cemetery Kerkenveld in Smilde are near the entrance 5 war graves: 4 Dutch graves and one French grave;

Jean Marie Ravenel
On the night of 7-8 April 1945, 46 Stirlings take off from 3 airports in England to bring the French paratroopers from Operation Amherst to the north-east of the Netherlands. [graveid] 716, Ravenel [/ bioid] not, however, he is in a plane with engine trouble with 14 other paratroopers from the Lageze stick.

Soon the group has to switch to another aircraft, but because the other aircraft are too far away, it is decided that they should not take off anymore. Ravenel his colleague Buchart writes about this later; "One by one we have to get out again, rigged like mules and we have to, and that's the pinnacle for a paratrooper, to go down that ladder again."

Buchard describes that after a cup of tea, in a room with their parachute as a pillow, they waited for the night. He then spoke to Ravenel, who poured out his heart and described the course of his life, as well as pictures of his fiancé and his parents.

Their plane left for the Netherlands on the night of 8-9 April. The group lands close together in darkness and dense fog. Ravenel who jumped 9th was found to have collided in the air with a material container, causing the parachutes to become confused and not to open properly. His colleagues found Ravenel who had died.

Colleague Guyon had broken his leg on landing. He was first hidden and later housed in a nearby farm. Despite this tragic start to their performance, the group attacked a German convoy the same day. Later they conquered the Veenhoopsbrug so that, assisted by Jan Voortman from Smilde, the explosives placed by the Germans could be removed. Explosives reapplied later were again removed by Voortman and his father.

The group inflicted heavy losses on a group of 60 German soldiers who had been sent in their direction from Assen. The bridge sometimes changed "owner", but was recaptured by Ravenel's group. They were able to keep it in possession until the first Canadian tank entered the bridge on April 13.

French SAS lieutenant Louis Gabriel Saltet de Sablet d'Estières is also in the cemetery. He drowned during Operation Amherst.

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Source

• Text: Gerrit Hazenberg
• Photos: Gerrit Hazenberg