Special Operations Prinsenpark

Suspense and espionage in Prinsenpark! Two true and well-documented wartime stories serve as the inspiration for the adventurous exploration tour “Special Operations Prinsenpark.” War experts Gil Geerings and Wim Govers from Battle For The Locks (VVG Mol) conducted the research. They received support from the Provincial Green Domain Prinsenpark and Stuifzand for the project’s development. During the walking tour, you’ll learn more about two secret operations that took place in the park’s woods. The facts are narrated by a local resistance fighter, Ward, and the American pilot Scott.

Start at the Prinsenpark parking lot and follow the green route. At 11 points along this walk, you’ll hear a segment of one of the two war stories ErfgoedApp by step via the ErfgoedApp . Listen to resistance fighter Ward and pilot Scott, then use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to view the accompanying photos and documentation.
Want to know a little more before you start your tour? Then read on! Or dive right into both stories and press “Start tour.” We wish you a fascinating walk!

“The Secret Weapons Drop”
During World War II, what is now Prinsenpark was owned by the royal family and part of the vast ‘Royal Domain of the Kempen’. The park was a popular hunting ground for the German occupiers, but the remote forest also served as a hideout for the resistance. One day, London sent secret agents to the Kempen to reinforce the resistance. They decided that the park within the Royal Domain was the ideal location for a major weapons drop. And so, one night in 1943, the British Royal Air Force flies over the region and drops containers full of weapons for the resistance into the woods. Can the local resistance find the weapons and get them to safety? Resistance fighter Ward is involved in this drop and takes you on a journey through his story.

“Dramatic crash”
A second event that took place in the park was only recently investigated and unraveled. Following the liberation in 1944, the large-scale Operation Market Garden unfolded in September. This operation did not go unnoticed in Prinsenpark. Retie and the surrounding municipalities lie directly beneath the flight path of the immense air armada deployed for this operation. The occupying forces managed to shoot down several aircraft, including a glider carrying troops from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. This glider landed in the royal domain, which at that moment lay directly within the German front lines. All occupants survive the crash, but the aircraft is immediately surrounded. You can find out what happens to these soldiers through the story of pilot Scott.

New memorial site
Recently, researchers from Battle For The Locks discovered a great deal of new information about the glider that crashed in Prinsenpark. Contact was also made with the families of the crew. To preserve their stories and as a memorial to the crash, a memorial site with a monument was established near the crash site on September 17, 2022.

We will remember them!

📏 4 km
🕑 2.5 hours
⭐ easy
📍 Prinsenpark
🏁 Prinsenpark