The liberation of the Dutch town of Nijmegen in 1944 in color! De bevrijding van Nijmegen in 1944

Nijmegen is a city in the province of Gelderland in the east of the Netherlands, not far from the border with Germany and about 15 km south of Arnhem on the river Waal.
During the war, the city of Nijmegen was badly hit by an aerial bombardment on February 22, 1944. At around half past one in the afternoon, American bombers dropped a deadly load of bombs on the inner city. More than 800 people were killed in the bombing. The American pilots were on their way to Germany, but had to turn bad weather back. If the original target was not reachable, the aircraft had to look for a target of opportunity, another suitable target that could be bombed.
On February 22, 1944, the bombers therefore bombed Nijmegen, Arnhem, Deventer and Enschede. Because Nijmegen were bombed, for a long time, and sometimes even today, there was talk of a bombing mistake.
The bombs wreaked havoc in the city. In particular, the upper town of the historic center, where Plein 1944 is today, was seriously damaged. The tower of the Stevenskerk collapsed.
The city was liberated during the largest military operation on Dutch territory, Operation Market Garden, between 17 and 20 September 1944. The Allies were received with open arms by Nijmegen's residents.
The most important battlefield of this operation was near Arnhem, but Nijmegen and especially the bridge over the Waal were an important target of the Allied forces. At Groesbeek, the 82nd paratrooper corps of the American army landed on September 17, 1944, led by General James Gavin.
After heavy fighting, the Allies managed to capture the Waal Bridge. The conquest of Nijmegen took longer than expected, claimed hundreds of civilians and caused great damage. Finally, with the Waal crossing on September 20, both bridges were captured, but it was too late to relieve the British 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem. For this reason, from a historic perspective, Operation Market Garden was a failure.
This film shows the battles of American paratroopers in Nijmegen and the entry of the vanguard of the British 2nd Army, which advanced from Eindhoven with destination Arnhem and the IJsselmeer. Also recordings of the Allied bombing raids, the street fighting and German shelling by V1's that destroyed lower part of the town can be seen.
Please turn on the CC captions to get more information about the events and locations while watching the film.
NOTE: For those who wonder why all my recent films are accompanied by spoken commentary I can tell you that this is not only done to be more informative about historic topics, but also because KZbin more or less forces me to do so in order to be able to continue to monetize this channel.
Surprisingly enough KZbin considers meticulously restoring and colorizing historic footage as not providing enough added value, and thus this channel has already been sanctioned twice.
Source: Beeld En Geluid
Music: Hampus Naeselius - Dark Turns to Light

[@Rick88888888]

*All episodes in this series about the Liberation of the Netherlands in 1945 can be found in this Playlist* : kzbin.info/aero/PLP_6hUsQRi8serTiHGuwlDPnbXmv1SPHe

[@vangestelwijnen]

Prachtig werk Rick!

[@peterstuyvesant9815]

Komen er toevallig nog beelden van Arnhem online ?

[@Rick88888888]

@@peterstuyvesant9815 Misschien volgend jaar rond deze tijd. Na 11 filmpjes in deze serie (waar behalve de Stentor geen enkele krant, ondanks meldingen, in geìnteresseerd was) vind ik het nu even mooi geweest.

[@peterstuyvesant9815]

@@Rick88888888 jammer om te horen dat er geen interesse was vanuit de kranten, hier worden de filmpjes in ieder geval wél gewaardeerd. De ingekleurde beelden voegen toch een extra dimensie toe aan de beelden van vroeger. Ik wacht in dit geval rustig af, en hoop volgend jaar eens wat oude ingekleurde beelden van mijn eigen stad te zien, als ook van andere Nederlandse steden.. Keep up the good work 👍👍👍

[@Arnhem-NL]

Beste Rick, Ten eerste, uitdrukkelijk bedankt voor het delen van dit materiaal. Ontzettend boeiend. Met veel interesse heb ik bovenstaande comments en de vraag van PeterStuyvesant gelezen. Nu het +- een jaar verder is, komen er nog beelden van de bevrijding van Arnhem? Ik snap dat je graag waardering voor je harde werk wil zien. Mocht je er geen zin in hebben, kunnen we onderling niets regelen? Ik zou ontzettend graag zoiets van Arnhem willen hebben. Wat mij betreft verdien je daar zeker een vergoeding voor en ik ben uiteraard bereid die te betalen. Ga vooral door met dit belangrijke werk. Dit mag nooit vergeten worden.

[@paulbaker5658]

My dad was part of the liberation troops, he served with 61st Ant Tank RA 51st Highland Division. He met my mother during liberation of Enschede and they married in Enschede 1946.

[@theoldtimeywoodworker2488]

My parents were 16 and 14 at the time of the bombing. I knew it up to now only from their stories. Thank you for sharing this. Now I have the images that go with their stories.

[@prairiehills416]

My wife who was born and raised in Nijmegen during the War, lost an older brother, age 5 when an Allied bomb landed in a school yard. Over 100 children, nuns and staff were killed. There is a memorial there for those who perished. The American Pilot thought he was over Germany as Nijmegen and Germany are very close. A very sad day for the family, and the town. They will never be forgotten. RIP.

[@ranranshi]

Same here, but my mother was a bit older and often told the story about stepping over corpses as she walked home from her work in the city to the St. Jacobsstraat. I somewhere have the book "Verwoesting van een oude keizerstad", I should find it and shed a few tears for my mother and my native city Nimwegen.

[@oldmanhuppiedos]

Dank voor het plaatsen, belangrijk stuk geschiedenis.

[@shaunwest3612]

Great video Rick, amazing footage👍

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@641020313]

Prachtige serie! En je stem luistert lekker weg. Grote klasse.

[@Rick88888888]

Dank je wel!

[@jamesallardice4645]

Great footage, i think much work has gone into these films to get the quality we see here.

[@tariqghuary7848]

unfortunate history but footage is amazing

[@War_Gaming_RUS]

Mijn overgroot ouders met hun kinderen woonde in de burchtstraat toen dit plaatsvond. Mijn opa is die jongen met de schep op 3:07. Ik weet nog wel dat hij altijd vertelde wat voor chaos het was na het bombardement en de propaganda die de Duitsers eruit haalde. Maar ongeacht dat ze boos waren op de Amerikanen, waren ze blij toen ze gearriveerd waren. Hij had ook nog een nep grasmat uit het puin gehaald en wordt tot de dag van vandaag door mijn oom gebruikt voor de kerststal.

[@seandelap6268]

Thanks very much for this footage.

[@Rick88888888]

Very welcome

[@ianrobert6239]

Brilliant footage, thanks

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Wi3rzb0]

Amazing clip as always, thank tou for your work ❤️

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@cameronkedas3375]

“82nd airborne corpse.” Uh, it’s 82nd Airborne Division, and “corps” is pronounced as “core.” Great footage overall.

[@stephenandujo729]

Even though operation market was a failure at least the allies were able to liberate Nijmegen, or I maybe wrong.

[@tiezel5656]

Mijn opa en oma hadden een kruidenierswinkel aan de stikkehezel straat naast de st stevenskerk waar ze ook woonden . Tijdens het bombardement is de toren van de kerk op de winkel gevallen , vlak nadat mn oma , mijn tante die in het wiegje lag bij het raam weggetrokken had . Met de baby op haar arm zijn ze de vuurzee ontsnapt en moesten ze door het door lichamen bedekte centrum naar de schuilkelders bij de limoskazerne. Tante to die bij het station liep, heeft letterlijk voor de bommen uit moeten rennen . Haar leven bleef gelukkig ook gespaard

[@Rick88888888]

Dank je wel voor het delen van deze herinneringen! Tot nu heb ik nog geen comments ontvangen van mensen die familie hadden tijdens dit drama in Nijmegen.

[@danamarcotteseiler7423]

Dankje wel for telling this , God bless your grandmothers memory and All who Survived

[@herosstratos]

0:48 "Bad weather" Een ooggetuige die de luchtaanval vanuit Lent had gadegeslagen, vertelde, dat het een erg koude februaridag was en dat de markeringen de toestellen duidelijk zichtbaar waren in de kristalheldere lucht.

[@diniemadsen4778]

My mother worked in Lent that time, she saw this bombing happen, she told me many times about it.my mote her married in March 1944

[@ajalvin2012]

It's a long march , that much I do know 👍☮❤

[@MrDaiseymay]

There were many errors of misidentification in the War. Some were Human errors, but mainly, due to equippment failure or limmitations.

[@gradivariusnoviomagus]

After the war these pilots were interviewed and s they knew which town they bombing. The river was the'r guide into Germany, it was almost like a daily routine

[@glennlee2115]

The greatest American generation, who suffered during the great depression when they were kids and fought the war for world peace.

[@yorkyswe]

Half my family is in Ukraine, and the stories of the inhuman deeds and atrocities that reach us has filled my soul with nothing but sadness and despair. The young boys wearing the soldiers' helmets and carrying their rifles made me cry. I am not sure why. Maybe it is the small acts of kindness and compassion by the soldiers amidst a terrible war. Maybe the innocence of the children. Maybe the fact that nothing changes, and we learned nothing,

[@Trust-me-I-am-a-dentist]

Sure mate.

[@psotos]

AATW!

[@piketkodim9824]

The country that colonized my nation, Indonesia, was colonized by Germany.... so funny... 🤭🤭🤭🤭

[@jandenijmegen5842]

colonization is never funny. Do you think colonizing Indonesia was funny?

[@ranranshi]

he or she means "ironical", english is not his or her native language. @@jandenijmegen5842