Most bombs above the Netherlands in the Second World War were by Allied forces

The suffering caused by the bombing of Nijmegen on February 22, 1944, was not discussed for decades because it was carried out by a friendly nation. The government also failed to recognize it for a long time. This was stated by outgoing State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (Public Health, Welfare, Sports) on Thursday in Nijmegen at the 80th commemoration of the city bombing.

Not much is known of the air battles above the Netherlands in the Second World War from 1940 to 1945; between 5,500 and 6,000 planes crashed above the Netherlands in the war. At least 8,500 civilians died due to those crashes, but it could potentially be more than 20,000. Historians said this on Thursday in Nijmegen at the presentation of a special website about the air war in the 1940s - 1945.

Nijmegen commemorates on Thursday that it has been eighty years since a bombing destroyed a large part of the city center. Around 800 people died, with thousands being wounded in the bombing. The bombing was an error of judgment by American pilots. "A majority of the bombings and shelling in the Netherlands was of Allied origin. They had immense air superiority and wanted to hit German targets in the occupied Netherlands," said Ben Schoenmaker, director of the Institute for Military History.

Schoenmaker says that the bombing of Rotterdam in May of 1940 is the symbol for many of the airstrikes during the war; however, Nijmegen had more civilian casualties. "Much less known is also the bombing of The Hague in 1945, of the Maas bridges near Venlo, of the ports in Vlissingen, Breskens and Den Helder, of Montfort near Roermond, which was wiped out. Hundreds of people died each time. The air war was horrific, and the civilian population paid a high price."

The website about the air wars was developed by WO2NET, a partnership between the War Resources Network and the Museums and Remembrance Centers Foundation '40 - '45. As much data as possible about the Second World War air battles has been collected and made searchable. The air wars between England and Germany are also discussed. The lives of crashed pilots and Dutch civilian victims can be followed, but the collection is far from complete because many victims' names are not yet known, according to the compilers. They call on archives and managers of private collections to supply data.

The Evangelical Broadcasting channel will broadcast the TV special De Middag van '44 on Thursday evening on NPO2, including appearances by some survivors of the Nijmegen bombing.