Short before the war started Grave had regained its function as a garrison-city, after it had lost it as a result of the fortress law of 1874 (a great part of the fortress works were pulled down). In the photograph we see the Mayor, Louis Ficq, in 1938 when inspecting the 15th Infantry Regiment. In February 1944 the Germans arrested him because of his open expression for Queen and Country. Somewhat more than a year later, he died in the German concentration camp at Dachau. Louis Ficq has been Mayor of Grave for more than 25 years. In wartime bridges are always strategic targets, including the - now rainbow coloured - bridge near Grave. On May 10th 1940 "Gruppe Grave", under the leadership of Major Einstman, had orders to capture the Grave Bridge undamaged. Now it seems that this Major wasn't quite energetic. By noon that day his men hadn't heard from him. They went to search for him and found him... sleeping! In the meantime the bridge was blown up, in an attempt to stop the German attack or at least slow it down. We now know that the bridge near Gennep was already captured by the Germans, and trains, with the necessary troops and weapons, had been transported deep into Brabant. The residents of Grave and surroundings were evacuated on May 10th 1940. 11 Citizens died, near the town of Nuland, because of an aerial bombardment in the night of May 11th. After the capitulation on May 15th they returned to Grave and saw there lots of Germans, who had already claimed the most important buildings. On the photograph we see a German unit, marching on the "Jan van Cuijkdijk" in Grave. They regularly made long marches in Grave and the surrounding districts. Without knowing it Grave played an important role to Allied aircraft for navigation purposes. Above Grave, that was very easily recognizable because of its shape, the planes had to move east to find the large cities in the Ruhr area. This manoeuvre had the codename "Gravetomb", which clearly referred to Grave and the deadly nature of the mission. In September 1944 the Grave Bridge was important for Operation Market Garden and the Germans knew this. At both the north and south side of the bridge they had a total of 950 kilograms explosives attached to the bridge. These were connected by a "Zundschnur" (fuse) that had to be lit by a match. At the south side, near Grave, this job was to be done by George Jansen, a Volksdeutscher (a German living in an other country). The coincidence was that Georg Jansen lived in Holland since 1917 and had a farm in Bergen (Limburg). As a Volksdeutscher he was called up for military duty, but because of his connection with Holland, there was no way that he was going to blow up Dutch objects. An opinion which he also expressed to the farmers family Van de Putten in Grave. Or, as Alphonses Van de Putten in Grave said: "We got to know Jansen as a reliable and religious man. He told us that he would not cooperate in blowing up the bridge". And Jansen kept his word. When the time came to light the fuse of the explosives, Jansen had disappeared. Later on he said: "A few furious German SS officers came to Van de Putten and asked for him. I was hidden in the haystack, so that at the critical moment only the Gefreiter was at the bridge. At the northern side of the bridge the Zundschnur (fuse) was defective and the Gefreiter could not do the job alone." Van de Putten confirmed the story of Jansen. "On September 17 Jansen was hidden here. There have been officers sent to ask for him. We didn't know anything of course. Jansen was, together with a few others, hidden in the haystack". Now we can say that because of this Volksdeutscher the bridge near Grave wasn't destroyed. For Operation Market Garden it was very important to capture the bridge of Grave undamaged. Day's earlier more than 1,400 Allied bombers took off from British airfields to destroy any German anti-aircraft guns and military presence in the Brabant area. Then, at 9.15 in the morning, 2,023 airplanes with troops, gliders and more flew from 24 British and American airfields in England to Holland. The C-47's, with paratroopers on board, flew in long formations of forty five planes. Other C-47 and British bombers were towing 478 gliders and, in an endless stream, they went to the Netherlands. After years of oppression the enormous stream of planes must have been proof for the Dutch people that liberation was at hand. A lot climbed on the roofs of their houses to see the armada. They were convinced that the liberation of Holland was to be real soon. The 504th regiment captured the Grave bridge over the river Maas. The Germans had a camouflaged tower, which had good oversight on the situation. After a bazooka shot that tower to shivers, the bridge came into Allied hands and... undamaged. On the photograph we se Allied troops on the highway of Grave, while being cheered by the people of Grave. After Operation Market Garden the Grave Bridge was defended by the Dutch Princess Irene Brigade (photo). Although free, the war was still very close to Grave. There were heavy fights in the Reichswald, and regularly evacuees came to Grave and were given shelter. In the surroundings of Grave a lot of American and British troops were stationed, who would later on be replaced by Canadian troops. After a long bad winter the Germans capitulated on May 5th 1945. World War Two in Europe was over. Click here for an interview with Joe Watts: Capturing the Maas River Bridge