Cycling route Death Valley De Peel - Helenaveen: De Hoge Brug (#22)

Helenaveen: The Hoge Brug

Bastiaan de Zeeuw (24) from Oudenhoorn (Voorne-Putten), was a second lieutenant in the Dutch army. As a section commander, he had to defend the Hoge Brug over the Deurne Canal in the Peel-Raamstelling between Helenaveen and Liessel.
At hour U, plan B came into effect. De Zeeuw now had to sink several peat barges, blow up the Hoge Brug and rush to Lock 10 at the Zuid-Willemsvaart to stop the Germans there without shelter.
The lieutenant did what was expected of him. On May 11, he helped an unknown number of German soldiers to the other world at Lock 10 with his machine gun.
It did not help. De Zeeuw was swept into the maelstrom of time and eventually found himself near Dunkirk on the French disaster ship the Pavon. When the Germans bombed it, he ended up in the North Sea. Months later, his remains washed up on Terschelling. Bastiaan de Zeeuw was posthumously awarded the Bronze Lion, a prestigious military award, for exceptional bravery.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen

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