The Hell of Ten Aard

The Battle of Geel continued at Ten Aard, a hamlet of Geel. For nine days and nights there was heavy fighting here. The entire village was destroyed in the process.

On 14 September 1944, the 15th Scottish Infantry Division managed to cross the Kempen Canal Bocholt-Herentals and form a small bridgehead in the village centre of Ten Aard. But the Germans destroyed every bridge the Scots struck across the canal. They flooded the nearby meadows.

The Allied bridgehead only just held. Every advance the Scots made, the Germans beat back. Incessantly there was artillery shelling and hand-to-hand combat. The British commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, came to cheer the division on 15 September and hand out medals. The fighting at Ten Aard was part of Operation Market Garden, a major offensive towards Arnhem in the Netherlands. The Scots were to cover the left flank in this.

The fighting at Ten Aard continued. As the Scots failed to break out of the bridgehead, they were ordered to withdraw. They did so on the night of 20-21 September. But a day later, the Germans were gone too, to take positions further north.

Ten Aard was left devastated. Of the 300 houses, almost 100 were burnt out, destroyed or badly damaged. Losses on both sides were high. The 15th Scottish Division counted 112 killed, 644 wounded and 158 missing. There were 25 civilian casualties.

Tourist information

Cycling routes

Tourism Province of Antwerp has created liberation routes along the cycle junction network. Cycle and walk past the places where it all happened, such as monuments, military cemeteries and crash sites. For the liberation routes, go to fietsroutes.provincieantwerpen.be