Atlantikwall
in Zeeland en Vlaanderen
Gedurende opbouw en strijd 1942-1944
Uitgeverij Hans Sakkers
DE CITADEL Hans Houterman
some resistance-men in the dunes near Klein-Valkenisse,
and one about help for Jewish refugees on Colijnsplaat.
Returning to the battlefields, there are some new books
dealing with the factual battle-movements in the may-
days of 1940. I myself completed a book about the
German invasion of May 1940. Georges van Vooren
described the war in West-Zeeuws-Flanders, and Cor
Heijkoop documented the sinking of British Torpedo-
hunter HMS Valentine at Terneuzen. The devastating
shelling of Middelburg on 17th May 1940 have been
written down by Jacques Cats, who still clings, alas, to
the myth of a pre-conceived air-bombardment.
Paul Crucq, who published 3 books on such matters,
has adequately documented the theme of Air-warfare
in further war-years. Respectively about Air-reconnais
sance and bombardments on Walcheren in 1943/1944,
the bombardments of the Walcheren sea-dykes in
October 1944, and the bombardments preceding the
liberation of Walcheren. These books can be qualified
as excellent publications, based on sound sources. Ivo
de Jong wrote a detailed study of the Allied bombard
ment of German airfields in the southwest of the
Netherlands, with Vlissingen as a primary target. An
attempt at a comprehensive writing about the air-bat
tles over the Westerscheldt by Wim de Meester is now,
despite it's promising subject, trapped in a quagmire,
lost in details.
Of the units that participated in the battles in
Zeeland, many memorial books were published, often
just after the war ended. The books are mainly based
on regiment and official history. During the last few
years, a second wave of publications has appeared, which
often describe personal memories of war-veterans, to
complete and/or accentuate earlier publications.
Obviously, in these books, the battles and liberation
of Zeeland are merely a backdrop for the bigger picture,
yet they deserve to be mentioned here. Especially
about the Commando-units in Walcheren, there are
many such books.
Then you have the books, dealing with the liberation
of the Scheldt-estuary, as a whole, or in detail. Andre
H. Lemoine, author of Forteresse Escaut, revamped the
20-years old publication Les batteries de Walcheren.
Main objection to this book is that journalist Lemoine
did not conduct any archive-research, but just hashed
up the existing literature about his subject, with all
the errors that come from this method. This same
objection applies to the book by Ken Tout, who per
mits himself a great deal of liberties. The same goes
for a book by German journalist Ansgar Duernholz.
53 Zeeuws Tijdschrift 2004/6-7
