Five Brothers and a War

Haagse Bos —March 3, 1945

Among the sites shown and described on the memorial is one near the Haagse Bos (“Den Haag Forest’). Though not caused by the malfunctioning of a V-2 rocket, there was an indirectly caused tragedy in central Den Haag just weeks before German capitulation. The RAF had photographic evidence that this area was being used by the Germans in launching V-2s toward London. The British set out to bomb the launch sites, including the ones in the Haagse Bos . Unfortunately, they overshot their targets and bombed the adjacent residential neighborhood Bezuidenhout by accident, causing enormous loss of life and property damage. The following day, the RAF dropped leaflets apologizing for their error.

the war

Leendert’s Work

Five Brothers and a War

Page 550

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