Memorial bombing 22 March 1945 Kieldrecht

A memorial plaque hangs on the Old Town Hall, unveiled on November 11, 1998:
"Due to a bomb strike here on 22 March 1945, nineteen innocent victims of senseless war violence fell.
Kieldrecht will never forget them".

Below are the names of the 13 civilian victims, among them the Van Overloop couple with their 6 daughters, only the son escaped because he was studying at the seminary.
Below are the names of the 6 British soldiers who did not survive the attack. They had a camp and field kitchen at that location.

Between June 1944 and March 1945, Germany launched hundreds of 'Vergeltungswaffen' on England, France and the newly liberated Belgium, in revenge for the Allied bombing raids on German cities.
The V1, an unmanned aerial vehicle full of explosives that produced a typical whirring sound, quickly earned the nickname "flying bomb".
On March 22, 1945, a V1 bomb hit the Dorpsstraat in Kieldrecht, causing death and destruction. 19 innocent people were killed, 160 injured and 40 houses were destroyed.
The town hall was also hit, the repairs were done in 1948.
The Rubens cinema was also destroyed on impact, fortunately there was no screening that evening.
The civilian victims are buried together in the local cemetery.

Source : The Latest News (March 22, 2020)

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Marie-Christine Vinck
• Photos: Vera en Jan De Smit-De Baere