Liberation Route Marker 119: De Hattert Castle

De Hattert Castle
Almost nothing remains of De Hattert Castle. Between late September and mid-October 1944, an unprecedented tank battle takes place near it. First, an American armoured division engages the Germans. The weather is atrocious. Rain turns the battlefield into a quagmire, in which large tanks can poorly manoeuvre. The Americans suffer heavy losses. A British armoured infantry division relieves them. During the battle, the castle is totally destroyed.

After the failure of Operation Market Garden, the Allies attempted to widen the corridor they had conquered from Belgium to Nijmegen. In the east, they encountered very fierce German resistance around Overloon. The area was difficult to access due to the many canals and streams and incessant rainfall made manoeuvring the heavy tanks more difficult.

Faced by the 107th German Panzer Brigade, the 7th U.S. tank division came to a halt here. A tank battle raged for days. On October 8, the Americans suffered so many losses, they had to be relieved by the British 11th Armoured Division and the 3rd Infantry Division. The Battle of Overloon continued. The nearby castle, De Hattert Castle, was completely destroyed during this battle.

Audiospot - De Hattert Castle

Liberation Route Europe is a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. With hundreds of sites and stories in nine European countries, the route links the main regions along the advance of the Allied Forces in 1943-1945.
The entire route consists of themed routes that can be travelled by by hiking, walking, cycling and car. These routes pass numerous historical and interesting sites and tell stories from a multitude of perspectives that were important in the final phase of World War II.
Many routes feature listening spots, offering the opportunity to listen to a historical story at a location. In addition, many ‘Vectors of Memory’ have been placed, indicating that the passer-by is on one of the Liberation Routes.
The routes can be found on the Liberation Route Europe website or in the app through which many stories can also be listened to.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Liberation Route Europe
• Photos: Corin Gelderblom