Liberation Route Marker 016: German frogmen beleaguer the bridges

German frogmen beleaguer the bridges
You could call the action of the German frogmen here a genuine act of daring. Putting their own lives in danger, they attempted in the dark of night to lay bombs around the pillars of the Nijmegen rail and road bridges. Would they succeed in remaining undetected and disable the bridges?

In September 1944, the divers of the German Marine Einsatzkommando MEK 65 were given the highly dangerous task of blowing up the river bridges in Nijmegen. Of the 12 frogmen involved in the operation to destroy these two bridges, ten were captured by the British. Three of these men later died of wounds sustained during their attack. Two frogmen of the first group, whose target was the railway bridge, managed to escape capture. In the fast-flowing waters of the river Waal, the men lost touch with each other. Around 6 o'clock in the morning, the two divers heard a huge explosion - it was the railway bridge. The divers were later awarded high military honours for this action.

The Germ

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Liberation Route Europe
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze (1, 2, 3), Peter van Steenbergen (4)

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