Introduction
Route of the 5th Canadian Tank Division on 15, 16, 17 and 18 April 1945
Introduction and clarification
The map above is taken with consent of the authors form the Liberation Chronicle West-Veluwe by Evert van de Weerd and Gerjan Crebolder in the Schaffelaar series no. 8, BDU Barneveld, 1981.
As is indicated on the map, there was especially fierce fighting at point “0” in Otterlo and at “X”, the junction of the (former) Rijksweg Amersfoort-Apeldoorn crossing the provincial road Barneveld-Nijkerk. These important junctions were not to be surrendered by the German forces because they wanted to keep their escape routes open to the west, to behind the water line (marked by triangles). The information below from published articles in “Oud Barneveld” present eye witness reports of the events along the route of the most right part of the Candian Tank Division, which was short of time and met with resistance of the Germans, and therefore before it reached Barneveld had moved to the north and further charged west of Kootwijkerbroek in the direction of Voorthuizen.
For further military details we refer to the copy of the chapter 8 of the Liberation Chronicle, also with consent of the authors, “The battle for Voorthuizen”.
Remark 1:
The written story of the events in and around Gelkenhorst is, because of the route of the most right part of the Canadian Tank Division, presented first here, even though in “Oud Barneveld” it has been published as third article.