Denderleeuw is Belgian town on the border of the
provinces of Brabant and Eastern-Flanders.
The river Dender marks the border. Denderleeuw is also
a major railway junction.
When the German forces invaded Belgium , took
Brussels, 25 km east of Denderleeuw as their pivot point to turn south. The
steenweg Asse Edingen is a highway also going straight south and passing
only a few kilometres east of Denderleeuw. It was used for the right
flank of the German 1st army of Von Kluck. The defeated Belgian army had
retreated into behind the fortress of Antwerp.
Only German patrols continued further west to look out
for a possible British landing in the harbours of Flanders as a possible treat
to the German flank. This way, the 2 provinces of Flanders became a no-man’s-land
for more than a month, Belgian and German patrols fighting small
battles. Scenes of Belgian armoured cars with machine chasing German uhlans
were not uncommon.
To keep a possible junction with the allies open and
prevent the Germans from going west to easy, a plan was made to blow up the
railroad bridges in Dendeleeuw and Aalst. An armoured train was send to Aalst
while a a team with two cars and demolition explosives was send to Denderleeuw.
Both succeeded
Aalst also was the scene of a major confrontation when
the Belgian cavalry division stopped a first major German attack on the city.
The frustrated German troops executed civilians. They also used civilians as
human shields in an attack. The Belgian army escaped west when a second
attack came some weeks later. The occupation of Denderleeuw and almost the
whole of Belgium started.
On the occasion of the exebition, our club was present with a wargame of a battle between the French and Germans in Northern France.
maxim machine gun
In early November
1918, the railroad station of Denderleeuw was bombed by British planes.
a munition
train was blown up destroying several houses and making apart for a number of
German casualties also a number of civilian victims.
before and after the air raid.
The border with
the Netherlands was electrified. As electricity was not well known for most of
the population, many people misjudged the danger
Dear Dirk, I did not new this story. Thanks for your infomation. I only know a lot about Verdun and the Somme (France)
ReplyDeleteThe First World War is very interesting voor gameplay.
I like the early French uniforms with the kepi's!
ReplyDelete