The railway yard

Due to coal transport from the South Limburg mines, Susteren acquired a railway yard in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It was built for shunting trains—reorganising train compositions for destinations elsewhere in the Netherlands.

Bombings and shelling

In order to disrupt the transport of weapons for the Germans, the Allies carried out their first attack on the shunting yard on 1 September 1944. This was still weeks before the Americans reached southern Limburg. The Allied bombs were most likely aimed at disabling a Flak (anti-aircraft gun). However, this weapon had already been relocated and was therefore not hit. One railway worker from Susteren was killed and two others were wounded. The damage to the railway infrastructure was extensive: switches, signal boxes, turntables and water pumps were destroyed. As a result, the yard was rendered almost completely unusable.

The railway yard as part of the battlefield

Heide was the last part of Susteren that still needed to be liberated. The main obstacle was the railway yard itself, which was 2.5 kilometres long and approximately sixteen tracks wide. The tunnel—the only connection between Susteren and Heide—had flooded and was therefore unusable. The British had no choice but to cross the railway yard. This was extremely dangerous, as the open terrain made the advancing troops easy targets for German marksmen positioned on the Heide side. Close combat followed, with bayonet fighting man to man. The British gained the upper hand and were ultimately able to liberate Heide as well.