Liberation Route Marker 010: German train escapes trough liberated area

German train escapes trough liberated area
After the start of the Allied airborne landings, the Germans immediately activated their evacuation plan. At Nijmegen Central Station, trains were packed full with stolen goods and supplies. In the meantime, the Arnhem rail bridge had been blown up, so the evacuation had to take place along the Groesbeek-Kranenburg railway line. But that was almost completely liberated territory! Yet the German authorities still decided to take a chance.

On the night of September 17 to 18, 1944, the Germans decided to pull out of Nijmegen, where the fighting was still fierce. They wanted to attempt their evacuation by train, through an area that was already in American hands. The original plan was to run freight trains from Nijmegen, through Arnhem, to German territory, but because the rail bridge in Arnhem had been blown up by German troops on the first day of Operation Market Garden, they had to find an alternative route.

This route would run directly across enemy-held ter

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Liberation Route Europe
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze