Liberation Route Marker 206:

Drama on the Maas
On the 11th of November 1944, a ferry accident occurred at Kessel. German soldiers force seven inhabitants of Belfeld to cross the Maas on the ferry. The ferryman refuses to cooperate, the ferry is loaded incorrectly, awash with water and heavily overloaded. But orders are orders. The ferry capsizes and sinks. Men and horses drown in river Maas.

The province of Limburg played an important role during World War II. Here began the liberation of the Netherlands, which was accompanied by fierce fighting between Allied and German forces. The breakthrough to Germany also started here: the Rhineland Offensive. During the advance towards Germany, further parts of South Limburg were liberated.

The Meuse River played an important role during the last years of the war. On July 21, 1944, a British bomber crashed into the Meuse near Reuver and Kessel. A dramatic event followed in the winter of the same year by another disaster at almost the same spot. On November 11, the Allies are on the outskirts of the village of Meyel and on that day a drama unfolds on the Meuse between Kessel and Reuver. Due to the ignorance of German soldiers in charge of the crossing of war material and provisions, the ferry with fifteen men on board capsizes and sinks. Of these, thirteen people die, including the seven civilian men from Belfeld. Two Belfeld men, Kuüb Naus and Kuüb Reinders were never recovered. Eight German soldiers also experienced this fatal crossing. Two of them managed to survive the disaster. The victims from Belfeld: Marinus (Tinus) Derks (45), Godefridus (Frits) Linssen (35), Pierre Gielen (35), Gerrit van Eyk (30) and P.Gielen (42) were afterwards buried at the cemetery in Belfeld.

Werner Portinecke (43) was one of the six German victims who died that night. Seventy years later, a war memorial has been unveiled in memory of the victims of the tragedy on the Kessel River Meuse.

Audiospot - Drama on the Maas

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: Arie van Wijngaarden