German anti-aircraft guns strafing Allied aircraft

The sparsely built-up area around Kasterlee was home to a lot of German anti-aircraft artillery during World War II. The so-called Flakstellungen shelled overflying aircraft of the Allied air force. As a result, several British and American aircraft crashed in the region.

During Operation Market Garden, many of these allied aircraft flew over the Kempen region towards the Netherlands. Their mission was to drop paratroopers there who then had to take strategic bridges over the Meuse and Rhine rivers. These were slow- and low-flying formations, some aircraft dragging gliders behind them. They formed an easy target for German anti-aircraft fire.

On 19 September 1944 - Operation Market Garden was in full swing - German anti-aircraft fire hit a twin-engined Douglas DC-3 Dakota carrying glider pilots while flying over Kasterlee. The aircraft caught fire. The glider pilot was detached and was able to make an emergency landing between Corsendonk and the Tikkebroeken nature reserve. The occupant paratroopers entrenched themselves in the dense vegetation.

The crew of the Dakota was less fortunate. Sergeant Worobrow's parachute refused service and pilot Hesketh crashed with the aircraft. Copilot Pollock and mechanic Turner did survive their parachute jump, but Turner was captured after his landing.

A total of 80 Dakotas were lost during Operation Market Garden, with many pilots and crew members losing their lives.

Tourist information

www.kasterlee.be

www.kempen.be

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, for example monuments, military cemeteries and crash sites. For the liberation routes, go to fietsroutes.provincieantwerpen.be