As a result, German troops could no longer be supplied—or only very poorly. Nearly 9,000 aircraft, flying from bases in England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy, carried out these missions over Germany. They targeted railway objectives, signal boxes, marshalling yards, locks, bridges, road intersections, and all possible means of transport on roads.

Bomber airplanes took off from Melsbroek Air Base near Brussels to attack targets in the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. In the Netherlands, strikes were carried out on railway targets in Meppel, Zwolle, near Dedemsvaart, Coevorden, and Apeldoorn, as well as a canal junction near Gramsbergen and a bridge over the IJssel River.

No fatalities

Around 1:10 PM in Coevorden, twelve bombers dropped approximately 35 bombs on the railway lines to Germany and Zwolle. The railway bridge over the Coevorden-Vecht Canal and the adjacent bridge keeper’s house of the Bentheimer Eisenbahn were also targets of Operation Clarion and were irreparably damaged. Miraculously, no personal injuries occurred during this bombing.

A new life for the railway bridge

The more than century-old historic railway bridge in Coevorden is getting a second life. Restored and in its original location, the currently unused bridge is needed for the new passenger train connection between Coevorden and Bad Bentheim. In September 1939, the last passenger train departed from Coevorden for Bad Bentheim. Shortly afterward, war broke out, and the bridge was bombed flat.

Although the bridge was rebuilt in 1951, passenger service never returned. Only freight transport continued until goods trains could take a shorter, direct route to the Euroterminal in Coevorden via a new bridge, relieving the city center of shunting freight trains. The historic railway bridge fell out of use, but is now needed again for the new passenger train connection.

At the end of 2026, restorations will give the historic railway bridge a new function, and passenger trains will once again run over the new Coevorden–Bad Bentheim rail link.