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The notorious big intersection Hechtel, just after the Liberation.
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The annual commemorations in September at Hechtel.
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A book published at author’s expense by Gerard Wuyts
Friday 7 December 2012
Tuesday 30 October 2012
AUTUMN STORM OVER HECHTEL
by
Gerard Wuyts
For
fifteen long years the author has been researching to find the culprits and why
of it all.
Read
the obtained results in this book, how the author found the murderer of his
father and his fellow sufferers and read also the story of many inhabitants and
families of all victims of Hechtel.
You
will also find in this book all information and data about the judicial enquiry
concerning the involved Germans, which took place in the years 1946-1947.
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The Battle for Hechtel - 6th to 12th September 1944
Hechtel was from 6th to 12th
September the scene of very heavy fighting between units of the Guards Armoured Division and units of
the 1.Fallschirmarmee of General Kurt Student who from 4th to
7th September came to reinforce the front between Geel and Hasselt.
After they run over a German column at
Helchteren, the 3rd Company of the Welsh Guards had to withstand counter-attacks from the SS-Landsturm Netherlands.
Then they hit the positions of the 20th Fallschirmjäger Regiment,
wich was reinforced by troops from a division of the II.Fallschirm Panzer Ersatz u. Ausbildungs-Rgt. 'Hermann Göring',
all depending from the Luftwaffe.
With an encircled movement through the military
training terrain of Leopoldsburg, the Irish and Grenadier Guards could take
possession of the bridge across the Scheldt-Meuse canal at Neerpelt.
After six days of heavy fighting, Hechtel fell
until noon of 12th September in Allied hands.
The fighting take the lives of more than 127
Germans, 62 British and 35 civilians.
The Germans felt themselves cornered in Hechtel,
they took several families from their shelters and randomly shot men down.
124 houses were completely destroyed or burned
down.
Remember this always and be ever mindful
of our victims!
AUTUMN STORM OVER HECHTEL –
September 6-12, 1944
After 15 long years of research and exploration work concerning
what happened during the liberation of Hechtel (Limburg), in September 1944,
Gerard Wuyts brings to the reader his book published at author’s expense, a
bulky book and well furnished with original photographs. At 14-years of age,
this writer survived six frightening long days and nights in his village that
was surrounded by the Allies. His father was executed, along with ten hostages,
without a single reason or excuse by German Fallschirmjäger
(paratroops). The Wuyts family home went up in flames, with homes and property
of nearby families, in successive fires. A German truck, loaded with shells,
was deliberately placed against the house, doused with gasoline and set on fire.
- In total, 35 civilians died, with at least 22 of them proved being killed
during the fighting. 124 houses were totally destroyed and burned out. - Who
were the German soldiers and perpetrators of all this? Which division or
regiment did they belong to? Who were their superiors? Why did all these people
have to die? Why all these fires? Who was responsible? What did the British
Inquiry reveal about these war crimes? And how did the Belgian judicial inquiry
respond? The author of this book gives a clear answer to all of these
questions. - Sooner or later, the editor had vowed he would look for the perpetrators
of all this. Years of research, at home and abroad, brought him in direct
contact with witnesses of the facts. He finally found the murderer of his
father and ten companions, Heinz von Bursztini being the chief of them, albeit
in a grave in Berlin-Spandau.
Read all about the true and fascinating facts in a superb and bulky book of 383 pages (29 x 21 cm), richly illustrated by 58 unnumbered pages each mounted with multiple photos.Price : € 35,- (+ postage for sending € 6,50 in Belgium) – (+ postage for sending to the Netherlands € 17,-) – (+ postage for sending to the U.K. € 17,- (1/2012). -
Gerard WUYTS, Rue de Nalinnes 29 (Jamioulx), B-6120 Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes - Belgium
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