The shelling of a villa full of Germans

Jan Arends from Grolloo was 12 when the liberation of his village was imminent. Being curious, he regularly headed out in those days to see what was happening.

These were tense times, with events that made a deep impression on the young man. A German also shot at him at some stage. He was also witness to the shooting of the villa of Ms Servatius, who was the owner of what would later become De Berenkuil campsite. His testimony on the event: 

"When Canadian soldiers approached Grolloo on the afternoon of 12 April, the sone of our neighbour and I walked towards Schoonloo with Mr Van Lochem from The Hague, who was staying with our neighbours. Near Grolloërholt, Mr Van Lochem stopped the Canadians and told them in English that German soldiers were staying in a villa just outside Grolloo.

We drove with Mr Van Lochem into Grolloo, sitting on a Bren Carrier. In Middenstreek we had to dismount as we were not allowed to go with them to the villa where the German soldiers were. Mr Van Lochem led the Canadian soldiers to the villa. They deployed two Bren Carriers and started firing on the villa. The son of our neighbour and I saw that the tops were shot from the pines. After some time, a group of German soldiers emerged walking behind a large white sheet. They were captured and transported to the Westerbork camp where a reception centre had been set up.

Later in the afternoon, a large number of military vehicles carrying Canadian and Polish liberators entered Grolloo. It was striking that the Canadian and Polish soldiers lined up separately with their vehicles in the courtyards of Harmjan Hingstman on Amerweg and Jan Sijbring on Hoofdstraat. Full of admiration, we watched as everything proceeded perfectly."