The port of Antwerp had fallen into allied hands with little damage, but the entrance of the port – the Scheldt estuary – runs through the South of the Netherlands and that was still occupied by the Nazis. These long supply lines led to problems and they needed to be shortened. At the time, all supplies for the allied forces were still coming in via the beaches of Normandy. The objective was to make the much needed port of Antwerp usable. Operation Pheasant took place in the last part of October 1944 and was a direct result of the failed operation Market Garden, in which Arnhem proved a bridge too far. The roads looked quite different 75 years ago! (Picture Stadsarchief Den Bosch) They took the same route that the division had taken to free the city. 146 children (and some adults) were wearing a green cap, one for every fallen soldier in the battle of ʼs-Hertogenbosch in October 1944. The battle of ʼs-Hertogenbosch was part of an operation with the code name Operation Pheasant. The Netherlands remembers that is has been a free country for 75 years, this year in the South and mostly next year, since the biggest part of the country was liberated in May 1945. The mayor of ʼs-Hertogenbosch in a jeep at the front of the cycle tour. Over 200 people cycled along and many of them – mostly children – wore a green cap with an image of the formation patch of the 53 rd Welsh Infantry Division one cap for every fallen soldier in the battle of ʼs-Hertogenbosch. The 10-day-long festivities to mark the end of World War II (in the last week of October 1944) included a cycle tour of 22 kilometres. The city of ʼs-Hertogenbosch celebrated that it has been free for 75 years.
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