Memorials Bentheimerbridge Coevorden

The monument on the Bentheimerbrug in Coevorden was erected in memory of the Dutch soldiers Bernardus Drenth and Jitse Veenstra who died during the border guard at Coevorden on 10 May 1940. The monument also commemorates the liberation by the Canadians on April 5, 1945.

On May 10, 1940 at half past three in the morning, the Dutch border troops blew up the Bentheimer Bridge to slow down the advance of the attacking Germans. This was successful in that the advancing cavalry unit split in two, after which one half was stopped by a section of the Dutch army for hours at the Oosterhesselsebrug and the other at the 'bridge of Goselink' over the Lutter Hoofdwijk.

At the latter location it were four occasional soldiers who held out from a bunker for hours. Two other soldiers, Bernardus Drenth and Jitse Veenstra, who cycled unsuspectingly towards the invading Germans along the Coevorder Canal, were shot at the 'bridge of Noppers' halfway along the canal without warning. The plaque on the right side of the Bentheimer Bridge commemorates their deaths.

On April 5, 1945, the Bentheimer Bridge was blown up again, this time by the German occupiers on the approach of the Canadian liberators. The first bren carrier, approaching the built-up area of ​​Coevorden near the customs office, was hit head-on by a 'Panzerfaust', fired by two Germans. Two liberators, Mervin Brampton and Montgomery Cliff, were killed and the two Germans immediately afterwards.

When the first Canadian Sherman tank arrived at the destroyed bridge, it was fired at by three Germans with a machine gun from the tower of the N.H. The first shot back tank grenade hit and took the three Germans, the machine gun and part of the turret with it. The Canadians only entered the city the next day and then Coevorden was truly liberated. The plaque on the left pillar of the bridge recalls this event.

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Source

• Text: Bert Deelman
• Photos: Bert Deelman
• Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei

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