The internet has been searched for information/documentation about those who are mention as being killed in several sources. According to the memorial stone there are 16 missing victims as result of the bombing.
If anyone has some more information, please let me know.
On 3 October 1944, the dyke to the south of town was destroyed by British bombers – an event still known in Westkapelle simply as "'t Bombardement" ("the Bombardment") – to flood the German occupation troops in Walcheren and so make liberation easier. 180 inhabitants were killed in the bombing and the village was all but wiped off the face of the earth by the bombs and the incoming sea. On 1 November 1944, Allied troops performed an amphibious landing on the northern and southern edges of the gap made in the dyke. During these landings, only six people remained in the village; the rest of the survivors had been evacuated to other villages nearby. It took until 12 October 1945, more than a year later, to finally close the gap in the dyke.
A visible reminder of the Second World War is the brackish lake formed by the inrushing flood when the dike was bombed. An M4 Sherman tank was placed on the dyke as a memorial to the war and to the village's liberation. Behind the lighthouse, placed in a semicircle, are the graves of the war dead.
No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, copying of photographs, recording, scanning or any information storage, retrieval or archiving system, without the prior written permission of the author.
cellphone user, please use the triple stripes on the top left to continue on the site.
Philip Reinders, 2016