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Disarming German troops

The Netherlands

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Even after liberation, the former front line remained a dangerous terrain. Here the necessary debris and military weaponry had to be cleared before the inhabitants could return.

Allied units disarmed German soldiers. For example, German soldiers were disarmed at the De Hamsche Brug farm in Kerk-Avezaath. Ammunition and weapons are handed in. The disarming of the German troops was done by the Allied forces, not by the Internal Armed Forces who stepped out in many places starting May 5. Tons of war gear were thus collected. In Tiel, a large amount of confiscated ammunition was stored in an auction hall of the Septer company on Stationsstraat after the war. The dangerous stuff remained there much longer than the residents wished.

On a meadow across from the farm De Hamsche Biezen in Kerk-Avezaath, war material was collected and sorted. Equipment pieces of the soldiers were piled up and the confiscated vehicles were neatly put together. Because there was a great lack of "rolling material" in the Netherlands, some of the vehicles were given all kinds of non-military functions, for example, with fire departments and construction and transport companies. On the Linge near Zoelen was a simple prisoner of war camp, where German troops stayed for a short time in tents, guarded by soldiers of the Piron Brigade, before being transported to central assembly points.