Memorial Scharsterbrug

Hollandiastraat, Scharsterbrug

Netherlands, the Friesland Scharsterbrug

This plaque on the bridge over the Scharster-Rhine commemorates the casualties of the fighting for this bridge in April 1945. The village and the bridge were of strategic importance to the Germans during the last days of the war, with the Canadians on their way. Both were on the route to Lemmer, from where the Germans hoped to escape by boat to North Holland.

On 9 April, the bridge was captured by thirteen members of the Internal Armed Forces. They had overpowered the ten German guards with one casualty on the German side. The BS officers thought the man was dead but this turned out not to be the case. He managed to warn another group of Germans after which a patrol boat with heavy weapons appeared. Meanwhile, shelling in the village had caused several casualties and the BS decided to withdraw.

In the following days, the village and the bridge were the scene of retreating Germans who, on 15 April, because of the approaching Canadians, decided to blow up the bridge. The Germans had entrenched themselves in and around the Hollandia factory and until the liberation on 16 April there was heavy fighting at the cost of deaths and injuries. On 17 April, the Canadian Engineers built a Bailey bridge next to the destroyed bridge and the same day Lemmer was also liberated.

The full story can be read at: - https://www.friesland.nl/nl/zoeken?query=monument+scharsterbrug

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