Battlefield

Terhagen

The Netherlands

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In the early morning of 1 September 1944, a squadron of American fighter spotted a train near Stein. They had orders to attack the road and rail traffic between Liege and Nijmegen. The train was packed with German soldiers who were on the retreat. The driver brought the train to a halt in the Steiner Woods, just south of the railway bridge at Terhagen, to conceal the transport as much as possible.

The American aircraft returned around 9 o'clock in the morning. One wave of attack after another followed, but the well-hidden train was not hit. A number of houses in Terhagen were hit, but there were no casualties here. One of the passengers on the train died of a heart attack.

Later, on 17 December 1944, a German Messerschmitt dropped a set of flares near the Steiner Woods where the British had a number of storage places. The English anti-aircraft guns opened fire and set fire to the German fighter, which came down in a steep dive and crashed into the Low Woods near Kniensheuvel. The three-man crew was killed and buried at the edge of the woods.

Address

Terhagen 7, 6181 HR Elsloo