Subject: Strafing of
German medics and Dutch
civilians in a marked ambulance
by US Army Air Corps
Date: September 17th, 1944
Location: Son,
Holland
Introduction:
In several accounts in
historical literature, an
incident on the edge of the
Drop- and Landing Zones at Son
is described. They all tell of a
sad case of collateral damage.
On Sunday September 17th 1944,
The US Army Air Corps targeted
all suspicious activities on and
around the areas that would be
the scene of enormous airborne
landings, later that day. An
ambulance with Dutch civilians
was strafed by accident.
1) Hart's account
On page 128 in "Four Stars of Hell"
by Captain Laurence Critchell in the
Chapter "Going Dutch" we read the
experiences of David Hart of the
501st Regimental Headquarters
Company. Hart had a fractured arm in
England prior to Operation Market
Garden and was ordered by the
regimental surgeon not to jump into
Holland. Instead he was able to
catch a glider ride to Landing Zone
"W" near Son: "Emerging from the
forest, he found himself at the edge
of the glider field. It was empty of
human beings. On the road at the
side, however, was a German car with
three persons sitting in it, one of
them a woman. The fire that had
destroyed the machine was still
licking up in little tongues of
flame around the rubber tires, and
when Hart approached, he saw that
three figures sitting in the car had
been burned to death. They were
naked. Their bodies were shriveled
and black; and out of their skulls
drifted faint wisps of blue smoke.
He gazed unemotionally at the dead
people and moved on."
2) Bowen's account
"Fighting with the Screaming Eagles"
is the title of the book in which
Robert M. Bowen of "C" Co./401
Glider Infantry Regiment (3rd Bn of
the 327th Regiment, 101st) writes
his experiences. In the Chapter
"Windmills and Wooden Shoes" on page
87 we read: "Lieutenant Armstrong
got orders to move the company to
the battalion assembly area. We
found a track through a field with
high grass on either side on the
edge of the LZ and took off [...]We
passed a German ambulance on the
side of a trail and two young dead
medics lying in the road by it. They
seemed to be sleeping, sprawled
spread-eagled in the track. Our
fighter planes had killed them."
After regrouping the company on the
edge of the LZ, Bowen continues: "We
got orders to move. The enemy was
reported to be moving across our
front to cut off the 501st, which
was fighting in Son. We returned the
way we had come, past the wrecked
ambulance with the dead medics. They
were unrecognizable, mashed to
bloody pulps by passing jeeps and
trucks, which had come in by glider.
My stomach turned as I passed."
3) Burgett's account
In "The road to Arnhem" Donald R. Burgett of
"A"Co./506th wrote his
experiences in World War Two. From
page 32 on, we read in the Chapter
"Operation Market" what happened
shortly after his parachute landing
on Drop Zone "C" near Son : "We
followed a two-track dirt road
alongside a deep, wide ditch that
had some water in the bottom. It was
dry in some places and up to the
knees with water in other spots. We
followed the road, walking on the
left side in the direction of Zon.
We could see the Zoenche Forest in
the not too far distance.[...] Derek
\"Doc" Saint, our medic, joined us
in our walk. Men were headed toward
the forest , coming from across the
open fields as though pouring
through a funnel. [...] Back along the ditch we
came to a small wooden bridge. It
was just large enough for one
vehicle or farm wagon to pass over
at a time. We turned left there and
a short way up the road saw the
remains of a bombed ambulance. It
had taken a close hit of a
five-hundred pound bomb, catching
fire and burning the four occupants
to a char. I suspect from the
closeness of the bomb strike and the
condition of the wreckage that the
occupants were killed instantly by
the blast.
One badly charred body lay on the
ground just outside the driver's
door. Another burned body sat
grotesquely in the front passenger
seat, while two others lay outside,
also badly burned. This was the work
of one of the fighter-bombers that
had bombed and strafed the DZ just
before our arrival. The ambulance
was clearly marked with red crosses
on a white field on the sides and
top. We couldn't understand why it
had been targeted and destroyed. The
only explanation we could think of
was that our fighter-bomber pilots
had been ordered to destroy all
suspected enemy gun emplacements and
all vehicles in the area."
4) Barnes's account
In George Koskimaki's "Hell's
Highway" the Chapter "Glider Lifts"
we read the experiences of
Lieutenant Henry Barnes, a medical
evacuation officer for the 326th
Airborne Medical Company. He came in
by glider on Landing Zone "W". On
page 75 we read what happened to
Hart after his glider landed intact:
"I heard shots ring out, [...]. I
ran forward, dropping near a bundle
on the ground. I hid behind it
trying to figure where the shots
were coming from.
I couldn't believe it. We had
arrived safely. I felt like a great
weight had been lifted off my
shoulders. Just then a loud voice
cut through my thoughts.
"A major walking by on the way to
his assembly area shouted, 'Damn it,
Barnes, you haven't been here five
minutes and already you got yourself
a girl!' Puzzled, I followed his
wave and looked at the bundle I was
lying near. Sure enough, it was the
remains of a Dutch girl, almost
unrecognizable, almost blown apart.
"Near us could be discerned the
remains of a small German car with a
tiny Red Cross on the windshield.
Also, there were the bodies of two
German soldiers and another Dutch
girl. It seems they were parked here
in the same woods, about 1300 P.M.
sitting in the car, when their 'necking' was ended with he
anti-personnel bombs and machine gun
bullets that the Air Corps used to
clean out our landing zone - and I
had chosen a corpse to hide behind."
5)
Van Overvelt's account
The real story behind the Dutch
women and the German ambulance is on
page 27 of George Koskimaki’s "Hell's Highway" in the Chapter
"Liberation: "In an interview with Marienus de Visser, 88 year old
brother of Piet de Visser, who died
on September 17, 1944, Lisa van
Overvelt sent this information: "On
Saturday, 16 of September, 1944, the
Dutch police got instructions from
the Germans to post all houses in
Son and Bruegel and order the men to
come to the canal to dig foxholes.
Most of them refused to work for the
enemy and hid in the woods. This was
repeated again on Sunday, the 17th
of September. So, when the
bombardment started on the morning
of the 17th, many Dutchmen were
hidden in the woods, including Piet
de Visser and his comrade Henk
Scheepens. During one of the bombing
and strafing runs, Piet de Visser
was hit on the side of the head near
the brain by shrapnel. He fell to
the ground. He was seriously
wounded. His friend, Henk Scheepens,
who was unhurt, hastened back to the
home of the Vissers in Son and told
Piet’s wife what had happened to her
husband. She was terribly frightened
but knew that she had to do
something quickly. She went to Nell
Peynburg and these two women went to
the Germans and managed to get a Red
Cross car. A younger brother of policeman Baak accompanied the two
women in the car with three German
soldiers. One soldier rode on the
side of the car with his gun, ready
in anticipation of an attack. They
sped along the woods in the
direction to which Scheepens guided
them. Just as they had reached the
spot where de Visser lay wounded,
another strafing run started. An
incendiary bomb hit the ambulance.
It started burning. The three Dutch
people and two of the German Red
Cross soldiers burned and died
instantly. Piet de Visser died that
evening. A daughter and a son were
left without mother or father."
6) Baak's account
Policeman Norbertus HJ Baak,
mentioned in the previous account,
was interviewed for Cornelius Ryan's
book A Bridge Too Far. Baak was 33
years old and head of the Dutch
police in Son in 1944. After the war
he stayed with the police. His
account is on record in the
Manuscript Collection of the Ohio
University Library. It is filed in
Box 125, Folder 11. His account: "German
troops in and around Son consisted
of standard troops, of the usual age
and battle ready. In the early
afternoon of Sunday September 17th
1944, the Allies started bombing the
woods of Son, South of the Son
Heath. Fragmentation bombs that went
off on the ground and exploded
horizontally. The plan was to clear
the woods of Germans, but civilians
had fled to the woods also and some
of them fell victim to the bombing.
One of them was my 18 year old
brother Jo(hannes). Jo was at the
edge of the woods with a wounded
man. He wanted to get help. Jo
stopped a German Red Cross
ambulance. A few seconds later
everything was hit by a bomb and
pulverized. There were two air
strikes, shortly after each other,
some time later American
paratroopers jumped from their
planes."
Analysis
In conclusion, there are six known
accounts of the incident. Whereas Lt
Barnes tries to reduce the blame on
the Air Corps by stating that the
ambulance only had a small Red Cross
painted on it and also erroneously
accuses the Dutch victims of
fraternizing with the Germans, the
other accounts clearly express grief
about what happened.
We have not come upon photographic
evidence of the targeted ambulance.
There are however, several known
photographs of paratroopers leaving
the Drop- and Landing Zones near Son
on the described dirt track. None
show the shot up ambulance. What the
objects, silhouetted in the
background of the picture with the
pipe-smoking Dutch Army liaison are,
can not be established. They
probably are jeeps. The silhouette
may also be the ambulance, however.
One year after the incident the
people of Son held a spontaneous
parade in honor of the men who died
while they were forced to dig
foxholes for the Germans. Men
carrying shovels to represent the
foxhole diggers, marched across the
Bailey Bridge over the Wilhelmina
Canal at Son in September 1945:
One of this website's regular
advisors is Erwin Janssen of Eerde,
The Netherlands. Erwin (r.)
can be seen here showing Battle
detective Tom (l.) around the
Eerde battlefield from the
scaffolding around the outside of
the restored windmill of Eerde:
(Click for an
enlargement)
Erwin reminded us of the fact that
the bridge across Wilhelmina Canal
in Son, blown up on the 17th of
September 1944, is an exact same
version of the bridge at Havendijk
and Prinsenhoeven in the Dutch
city of Tilburg. We made some
comparisons:
(Click for enlargementw)
These are the obituaries for
the victims of the strafing runs in
a local newspaper:
(Click for an
enlargement)
Battledetective visited the old
cemetery at Son. This cemetery has
only old graves, as a new community
cemetery was created several decades
ago. This new cemetery, by the way,
is located in the vicinity of the
former US Military Cemetery (see
Battle Study # 2).
On the old graveyard, we found the
grave marker of Piet de Visser and
Piet’s wife Petronella van den Aalst.
The grave monument’'s inscription
reads:
“Here rest
our loved parents
PETRUS de VISSER
St Oedenrode 25 3 1896
PETRONELLA vd AALST
7 12 1903
Both exp. at Son
17 9 1944”
This
would conclude the sad story behind
a weathered gave marker, if it
weren't for an update submitted by
Mr. Jurgen Swinkels of Zijtaart,
near Veghel, through our
online contact form. On June
21s, 2007 Swinkels wrote about the
second (middle) picture in the
paragraph Analysis in this
Case File:
"This one is taken at the edge of
the [Wilhelmina] Canal close to the
location where Joe Mann was Killed
in Action, approximately between the
highway [the A2 Netherlands
motorway] at Best and the Destructor
factory. In the picture is Jim Norene of "G"-Co./502nd. Hence, this
picture is not taken at the edge of
the LZ & DZ. My best friend Theo
Pijnenburg, who unfortunately has
passed away, had told me where the
ambulance stood when it was hit and
burned out. Petronella Van Aalst was
his grandmother."
This is a picture of Theo Pijnenburg,
pictured as a very young boy at the
edge of the Drop Zone in Son on the
17th of September 1944:
The soldiers are of the same group
as pictured in the left corner of
the third picture of paratroopers on
a dirt track, posted above.
Jurgen offered us to show the
location. An invitation we gladly
accepted.
On Wednesday evening, July 11th 2007
we went to the location.
This is the site on World War Two US
Army Map "Oirschot, Holland 1:25000,
Sheet 18 S.W.":
Jurgen gave us the coordinates of
the site of the ambulance and this
is the
location seen through
the satellite camera's of Google
EarthTM
today:
(click on the image
to enlarge)
Zooming in on that exact spot on
an aerial
photograph taken on Sunday the 17th
of September 1944
shortly after the paratrooper and
glider landings
(by using the still existing edge of
the Sonsche Forest and some dirt
tracks in it, as reference points),
we can see soil being uprooted by
strafing gunfire:
(click on the image
to enlarge)
Because no objects can be see seen
near the Southern most strafing
marks, we leave open the possibility
that the square object in the middle
of the fields is a vehicle.
On this enlarged aerial photograph
(which is clearly taken on a later
time because of the hospital cross
made from
aerial recognition panels and the
moved glider)
from author Karel Margry's "Market
Garden Then & Now"
we see the same object but smaller
and a bit obscured.
(click on the image
to enlarge)
It was our working hypothesis that
this was the actual location of the
ambulance just minutes after the
landings and on a later time. The
ambulance is smaller in the later
photograph from burning out and it
may be obscured by the smoke
billowing from it.
(click on the image
to enlarge)
We asked "A"Co./506th Veteran Donald
R. Burgett about his view of this
lcation. This is what he replied on
the 15th of July 2007:
"I have examined your photo. What
you have is a small white gabled
roof tool shed. It has nothing to do
with the bomb destroyed ambulance
near the Zoench Forest. I was among
the first to pass the ambulance and
view the dead outside and inside the
vehicle at very close range, within
inches.
I have been in and through enough
combat to recognize what happened
and what caused it. Usually I can
look at a shell strike and tell if
it were high or low trajectory, the
approximate size of the shell and
from which direction the shell came
in from. The ambulance was almost a
direct hit, not quite, all occupants
were killed instantly by the initial
blast, their bodies then burned by
the resulting fire. There were large
red crosses painted on both sides
and the top of the ambulance.
The object in your aerial photo is
definitely a gabled roof shed. I
spent many many years as a
residential home builder and a
private pilot of light aircraft. Put
the two together and there you have
it.
I have been back to work on my fifth
book after a couple of years off for
personal reasons, and had already
planned to include that incident
again as I did in my first book on
Holland but more elaborate.
Good fortune on your further
research, Donald R. Burgett"
Closer research of the aerial
picture revealed another object
which may have been the ambulance:
(click on the images
to enlarge)
This location seemed even more
likely to us, because:
1) It is just a few
hundred yards East of where Jurgen
said one of the victim’s
grandchildren pointed where the
ambulance was. 2) It is in the middle
of the dirt track, the paratroopers
of 1st Bn /506th had to walk on in
Eastern direction to go to Son (Burgett
wrote: “We turned left there and
a short way up the road saw the
remains of a bombed ambulance”)
3) It has lot of
vehicle tracks leading to it,
possibly from jeeps unloaded from
gliders, making it fit in Bowen’s
second quote (“We returned the
way we had come, past the wrecked
ambulance with the dead medics. They
were unrecognizable, mashed to
bloody pulps by passing jeeps and
trucks, which had come in by
glider.”). 4) There are objects lying in
the road next to the bigger object.
These objects may be bodies
We asked Mr. Burgett again to look
at these pictures and on the 23rd of
July 2007, he wrote:
"In the photos there seems to be
two figures of something fairly
close together, one behind the other
on a two track road. [...] The
photos are not clear enough for me
to make positive ID on bodies in and
out of the ambulance or other
factors that I am still fully aware
of, having been there at that time.
I certainly would not make positive
comment at this time that the
figures in the photos are that of
that particular ambulance, 17 Sept.
1944, based on the poor quality of
the photos.
Regrettably I fear I can be of no
further help in your quest at this
time, unless you come up with very
clear concise aerial and/or ground
close up photos that I can
positively ID."
This is an impression of the
location today. Jurgen indicated the
location that Theo Pijnenburg had
pointed to him more than once as the
spot where his grand-mother was
killed. We marked the spot and took
some shots of the current situation.
The dirt track at the edge of the
Sonsche Forest is only partially
left, behind the grassy ridges
framing the new Australia Laan in
Son.
(click on the images
to enlarge)
Thanks, Jurgen, for your
contribution to this Case File!
June 11th, 2009 UPDATE Through our
contact form we received this
message:
"Tom
I just found your story today and
wanted to let you know it has been
helpful for me in closing a story. I
am the son of John Anthony DeVisser
who is the son of Petrus and
Petronella deVisser in the story. My
father was 7 years old when this
happened. He has since passed away
[...]. My aunt Dora (the
daughter you mention in the story)
passed away in 1976. My Aunt married
a US service man and moved [to] the
US and my father followed shortly
after in the early 50's. Henk
Scheepens had a son also named Henk
who was my father's best friend. We
keep in touch with Henk currently.
This has helped me put together many
of the pieces of this awful day. My
father because of his age and
presumably the tragic nature of the
incident didn’t share very much of
this. Henk came to the US in 1992
and gave us some account of what
took place. I assume he had a better
knowledge of the events being that
his father was around longer to
share the details of that day. I had
remembered the events slightly
differently for example that my
Grandfather was in the ambulance.
I would love to find out more if
possible and perhaps share
information with you if interested.
Please contact me if you would.
My father had been back to Son and
St Oedenrode in the 70's and again
in 1994 and 1998 before he passed. I
plan to make my first trip there
hopefully in the fall and would for
obvious reasons want to visit the
site.
Thank you again for helping to fill
in a very important piece in my
family's history.
Peter J. DeVisser"
In subsequent e-mails Peter asked us
for a translation of the Dutch
obituaries which we translated as
follows:
"In Your God-worshipping prayers
are recommended
PETRUS DE VISSER
born in St. Oedenrode 25 March 1898,
deceased through a faithful accident
in Son, strengthened by the Holy
Oiling
and his wife
PETRONELLA v.d. AALST
born in Nistelrode 7 December 1903,
diseased through a faithful accident
in Son. [handwritten: 17 September 1944]
Precious children and family.
Suddenly we were taken away from
You.
The council decisions of God can be
understood by no human. Bow your
head with respect and do not
complain to God. We ask one thing of
You, that thy keep commemorating us
in Your prayers and do not forget
us.
LET US PRAY:
Dismiss, Lord, the souls of Your
servants of the shackles of sin, so
that they may relive in the glory of
resurrection with Your Holy and
Chosen ones. Through Jesus Christ
Your Son our Lord. Amen.
----
Printer P. van Lieshout, Eindhoven
Commemorate in Your prayers the Soul
of the Late
PETRONELLA v.d. HEIJDEN
Widow of
Willem Pijnenburg
born in St. Oedenrode 20 May 1884,
diseased through a sad accident in
Son 17 September 1944.
Every one, who serves You, o Lord,
is insured, that his life, when it
is put to the test, will also be
crowned, that he who will be
oppressed will be freed, and that he
who will be chastised, may take
refuge to Your compassion . Tob.
3.21
My children, the Lord will listen to
You in days of oppression, the Name
of Jacob’s God will protect You. He
will send You help from the holy
place en will protect You from Sion.
Serve the Lord with sincerity and
seek to do what is pleasant to Him.
Love each other with brotherly love.
Pr. [Ecl.] 19.2.3. Tob. 14.5. Rom.
12.10
Our Father – Hail.
They rest in peace.
----
Printer P. van Lieshout, Eindhoven
"
Peter also sent us a photograph of
his father kneeling in front of the
gravesite:
We put Peter in
contact with Jurgen Swinkels and
Peter forwarded e-mails to Henk
Scheepens who wrote us this:
"Hello, Tom
Peter de Visser is a mutual
acquaintance of us.
In 1996 my wife and I paid a visit
to Peter’s parents in America.
Peter’s parents have visited us in
Son several times.
Peter’s father (deceased in the mean
time) used to be the boy next door.
My father and his grandfather were
in the Zonsche Forest when a bombing
raid took place on September 17th
1944.
Today, I am 74 years old and
therefore I can tell much about it. [...]
Greetings,
Henk Scheepens [...] Son
[...]" [translated from e-mail message
in Dutch] Later Henk wrote: " Hello Tom
Some years ago, on request by the
newspaper of Son named De Brug [The
Bridge], I wrote an article about
the liberation of Son and problems
that arose for the De Visser Family
as a result from it. I want to send
the article to you [...].
Sincerely,
Henk Scheepens.
We received a copy of the article on
June 18th:
(click to open
original article in Dutch)
Translation:
"D-Day
I gladly fulfill the request of "De
Brug" to write an eyewitness account
about the Operation Market Garden.
Despite me being 9 years young, I
lived through this period very
consciously, and therefore September
17th 1944 will always stay in my
memory.
Where the dispensary drugstore is
today, I was born in 1935. In front
of our home on Dorps Straat number
A106, today named Nieuw Straat, my
father was arrested by the Germans
on September 15th 1944. Together
with my neighbor Piet de Visser, he
had to help dig an 88 millimeter
canon in, near the Aloysius boy’s
school. After this job my father and
neighbor Piet were told that they
had to report again on Saturday
morning to dig foxholes near the
bridge of Son across Wilhelmina
Canal. They disliked doing this and
the entire Saturday they hid in a
large oak thicket on Bos Laan. In
order not to fall into the arms of
German soldiers my father and
neighbor Piet went to the Zonsche
Forest before the crack of dawn on
Sunday morning September 17th. They
had brought enough food with them.
Piet even brought a small jug of
home brewed 'genever' and two shot
glasses with them. In the vicinity
of the Old Lake my father and Piet
were surprised by a bombing raid.
Quickly they both dove into a deep
ditch. When the last bomb had
fallen, because of the smoke, they
thought that the whole of Son was on
fire. On their way home they were
caught in a second bombing raid.
This time they only had a small
ditch at their disposal. During this
action Piet caught shrapnel in his
head. My father had to leave his
friend and neighbor behind to get
help. When Nel, Piet's wife, was
informed of the accident she and her
neighbor's wife Nel Peijnenburg,
stopped a German Red Cross car, with
the request to drive to the place of
the tragedy. Quickly the neighbors,
together with three German soldiers,
rode to the spot in the Zonsche
Forest that my father had indicated.
When they were almost there, the Red
Cross car was hit by an incendiary
bomb. All passengers perished. Piet
died that same night in the Sisters
convent. Daughter Dora and son Jan
de Visser survived without parents.
Dora later married an American
soldier and migrated, like Jan, to
America.
During the 50th anniversary of the
liberation in 1994, Jan de Visser,
together with his American wife Ann,
paid a visit to his hometown.
Unfortunately Jan, and his sister
Dora, have died.
During the landing on Sunday
afternoon September 17th we were in
the air raid shelter of the
Peijnenburg Family with four
families. This well supported air
raid shelter was dug along Zand
Straat, across from today’s
elementary school De Harlekijn. When
the soldiers of the 101st Airborne
Division emerged from the woods
after the landing, we were curious
and, despite all danger, left our
shelter. My father got a carton of
cigarettes from an American while I
was thinking it was a loaf of
"ginger bread".
At a few hundred meters from our air
raid shelter, in the garden of the
sanatorium (today's Zonhove) fierce
fighting took place and the
Americans suffered tens of
casualties. The image of these
victims being transported in open
trucks to the temporary American
Cemetery on the Waterhoef farm, is
still in my memory.
One may not always agree with
today's American politics, but the
fact that so many young Americans
gave their lives to liberate us and
that the American Marshall Aid has
been the first step to the wealth in
which we live today, may NEVER be
forgotten.
Henk Scheepens"
[handwritten: P.S. Next November
Peter DeVisser and his mother will
come to Son.]
June 19th, 2009 UPDATE Based on our earlier analysis,
comparing aerial photographs with
recent satellite images, we visited
the spot, of which we are confident
that it is where the ambulance was
hit. The tree line and the dirt
track in the woods are still much
the same except that an earthen
mound is dumped on the end of the
track. The mound runs along a new
road named Gentiaan Laan. It is part
of what the Dutch call a "whisper
wall" [fluistermuur],
intended to prevent traffic noise
pollution in residential areas and
probably sits on top of the exact
spot:
(click on the images
to enlarge)
November 7th, 2009 UPDATE
Peter DeVisser, grandson of both
Peter and Petronella DeVisser,
visited The Netherlands with his
Mother, this year November. They
were the guests of Henk Scheepens of
Son.
Battle Detective Tom guided Peter,
his Mother and Henk to the location
of which we concluded last June that
it must be the location of the
accidental strafing of the ambulance
which killed Peter's grandfather and
grandmother:
(click on the images
to enlarge) 12345
1
& 2 Peter DeVisser on top of
the man-made dirt mount of which we
have concluded that it sits on top
of the location where the ambulance
was shot and burned out. Peter's Mother and Henk
Scheepens are in the back ground in
the forest lane.
3 Peter and Tom in front of the
dirt mount.
4 In front of the dirt track in
the woods which is still in the same
location.
5 Peter, his Mother and Henk
Scheepens in the woods of Son (named
"Zonsche Forest" in many
American military accounts).
December 14th, 2022 UPDATE
In the hardcover publication "They
were all over the sky, A Chronicle
about the American aerial bombing
raids during Operation "Market
Garden", by Antoon Meijers, Flying
Pencil NL B.V., 2019, ISBN:
978-90-818702-5-2,
more specific in Chapter 9 titled
"De Bossen bij Son" (the woods near
Son) we read :
"In order not to be deployed for
mandatory digging labor several men
from Son, among whom Henk Scheepers
and his neighbor Petrus (Piet) de
Visser, hid in the Son woods before
the crack of dawn. Near the Old Lake
they were surprised by the first
bombing attack. Together they
quickly dove into a deep ditch. When
the last bomb had fallen, they
thought, in part caused by the
smoke, that the whole town of Son
was burning. On their way home they
were surprised by the second bombing
attack. Unfortunately there was only
a small ditch they could use to hide
in. Piet was hit in the head by a
bomb fragment. Henk Scheepers had to
leave Piet behind to get help. When
Petronella (Nel) de Visser- v.d.
Aalst, Piet's wife, was informed she
and the neighbor's wife Petronella
Pijnenburg- v.d. Heijden asked
German soldiers with an ambulance to
drive to the location of disaster.
The two women together with three
German soldiers drove quickly to the
location in the woods of Son.
Jo(Hannes) Baak who had taken care
of the wounded Piet de Visser wanted
to stop the approaching ambulance [Endnote
28 in the book].
When the ambulance had almost
arrived on scene close to the
vehicle a fragmentation bomb from
the third or fourth bombing attack
detonated [Footnote 1 on this
page].
All occupants and the 18 year old
Johannes Baak perished then. Petrus
de Visser died that same night in
the convent of the Sisters of Love
of Schijndel on Nieuwstraat in Son."
Endnote 28:
http://www.battledetective.com/casefiles4.html Footnote 1: Some sources
describe that the Red Cross car was
hit by an incendiary bomb. One is
probably misled by the fact that the
car and its occupants had burned
out. Incendiary bombs were not
deployed by B-17’s this day. The use
of incendiary bombs on September
17th 1944 only took place in the
afternoon by P-47 Thunderbolt
fighter bombers and above all only
in the northern sector.
Apart from this account Chapter 9
describes in technical details the
various bomb runs on the woods near
Son listing the letter codes of the
flights, the squadrons that executed
them, the number of planes in them
and the times and altitudes on which
the fragmentation bombs were
dropped. Also photos of the impacts
of the bomb runs are included.
The book is in Dutch and a
translation of the text of Chapter 9
into English can be found
here.
Information from 384th Bomb Group
Website
The
website of the 384th Bomb Group
has published many documents about
the 17SEP1944 raid. We learned that
the target was described as "a
concentration of enemy tanks and
guns located in a woods" and
that the bomb runs should be
carefully executed because the
targets are "in the vicinity of
friendly troops and peoples".
The intelligence of the cancelled
mission from a day earlier was used
for the mission on 17SEP1944.
click to enlarge) Source:
website
of the 384th Bomb Group from
their album
Combat Mission Records and Plans /
September 1944 Combat Operations /
1944-09-16 Canceled Mission Plan Box
1723-30
On the first run, the bombardier in
the lead plane of "C" Squadron
didn't have the rack selector switch
on "On" and the squadron then
had to make a second run using a
shorter turn cutting on the Initial
Point. From the Lead Bombardier's
Mission Narrative we know that he
was aware of the fact that they were
the last Squadron on target and were
at the time sure that the decision
to make a second attempt would not
interfere with their orders given in
the briefing.
(click to enlarge)
Source:
website of the 384th Bomb Group
from their album
Combat Mission Records and Plans /
September 1944 Combat Operations /
1944-09-17 Mission 195 Formal Report
Box 1707-08
From the images and information on
the website and from
the book, we created a diagram of the
impact areas of the four bomb runs
on the words near Son:
(click to enlarge)
Forest floor
During visual inspections of the
impact areas in the Sonsche Forest
(woods near Son) on 8&14DEC2022 we
found no traces in the forest floor
such as impact craters. The Dutch
website
Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland
shows lidar images of the country
including the forest.
Lidar, which stands for Light
Detection and Ranging, is a remote
sensing method that uses light in
the form of a pulsed laser to
measure ranges (variable distances)
to the Earth.
(click to enlarge)
There are no patterns of bomb runs
to be seen in the actual forest
today. We theorize that this is
caused by the use of fragmentation
bombs meant to neutralize enemy
troops in the woods, instead of
ordnance like high explosive or
fitted with delayed fuses.
The only anomalies
in the forest shown on lidar were investigated earlier by
this agency and appeared to be
too few in numbers to form a bomb
pattern and manmade (and adapted post-war):
Analysis
Piet de Visser was wounded during
the first bomb run. This means that
he was either struck by a fragment
from a bomb dropped by "P" or "N"
Squadrons of the 303rd Bomb Group at
09:45 AM.
When compared to the location where
the German ambulance was seen by
witness Theo Pijnenburg and shown by
hearsay witness Jurgen Swinkels, it
can be deduced that the bombs that
destroyed the vehicle and killed it
occupants have been dropped by "C"
Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group at
11:23 AM on 17SEP1944.
The bomb runs of "P", "N" and "C"
Squadrons are all across or near the
dirt road running from west to east
through the woods and the section
east of the A50 Expressway now paved
and named Gentiaanlaan.
In 1944 Gentiaanlaan and the dirt
track were connected.
We understand that there is some
distance between "C" Squadron's
impact area and the location of the
ambulance near the roundabout. We,
however, consider it safe to
maintain this theory due to the
facts that the ambulance was moving
when it was hit, the hearsay nature
of determining the spot where the
vehicle came to a stop and above
all, the kill radius of the (AN-)M81
fragmentation bombs used in the
raid.
(click to enlarge)
The deadly radius
of the bombs is plotted with red
circles drawn on an aerial
photograph taken during the bomb run
and seen on today's satellite image
Source:
website
of the 384th Bomb Group from
their album 384th Wartime Documents
/ Combat Mission Records and Plans /
September 1944 Combat Operations /
1944-09-17 Mission 195 Formal Report
Box 1707-08, Google Earth (Tm)
The diagram shows that the ambulance
was without a doubt within range of
the deadly fragments.
(click to enlarge)
(AN-)M81 fragmentation bomb
(computer rendering).
Note rings around bomb's outer body
and compare with fragments found as
described below.
In terms of "whodunit" detective
investigations we are now able to
identify who, or rather the ordnance
of which US Army Air Corps unit,
wounded and killed Piet de Visser,
Johannes Baak, Petronella van de
Aalst, Petronella van der Heijden
and the German soldiers in the
ambulance.
April 23rd, 2023 UPDATE
On 3FEB2023 , on a tip from Joey van
Meesen, M.A. of
Footsteps Researchers, we
contacted Joe P. of
http://absolutelyarchives.com.
Joe lives "just down the street
from the US National Archives!"
and we asked him to scan the Strike
Attack Vertical (SAV)-photo taken of
the bombing by "C" Squadron of the
384th Bomb Group on 17SEP1944 from
the mission files. On 7FEB2023 Joe
e-mailed: "I scanned all of the
photos. I couldn't help myself, they
were all just sitting there saying,
"scan me! scan me!" I only saw 5
total. I definitely scanned "C
Squadron." "
We received the photos that same
day. Unfortunately even the
high resolution scan of the
SAV-photo of "C" Squadron's raid
does not show anything that looks
like the stricken ambulance.
However, now that we are in
possession of three different aerial
photographs of the road along the
Sonsche Forest where the ambulance
was hit, all taken on 17SEP1944, we
are able to create a timeline of the
events there:
(click to enlarge)
Although the aerial imagery does not
provide photographic evidence of the
incident, it does brings to light
details such as the relatively
limited damage that "C" Squadron's
fragmentation bombs caused to the
vegetation of the forest and the
pastures of the Landing Zone.
August 27th, 2023 UPDATE
We organized two visits by small
groups of metal detector operators
to the Sonsche Forest on 13JUN2023
and on 18JUL2023. The goals was to
try and find evidence of the
17SEP1944 US Army Air Corps raid of
this area with fragmentation bombs.
On the first day, metal detecting
was focused on the Northwestern part
of the hourglass shaped woods,
closer to the Drop and Landing
Zones.
(click to enlarge) Impression of
metal detector search in Sonsche
Forest on 13JUN2023
On the second day the search led us
to the Southeastern area of the
woods, working our way through to
woods to where the ambulance must
have been hit.
(click to enlarge) Impression of
metal detector search in Sonsche
Forest on 138JUL2023
We found and abundance of
fragmentation bomb shrapnel. Most
fragments are of approximately the
same shape and they have all
corroded significantly. We agreed
that the fragments resembled fried
chicken nuggets a bit.
(click to enlarge) Diagrams of
relevant items found in the Sonsche
Forest on 13JUN2023 and 18JUL2023
Remarkably but also understandably
the fragments were found exactly in
the area where the bombs detonated
in the SAV-photo of "C" Squadron's
raid.
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