Ackermans, Florentius Johannes Maria “Jan”, born 25-10-1907, Veghel. Jan’s sister, was the girlfriend and niece of my mother, Adriana Schoffelen. They lived in Veghel, a small village with many wooden shoes factories, along the Wilhelmina Channel in the south of Holland. Jeanne’s brother, nephew Jan, born 15-10-1907, then 18 years old, was in love with my mother Adriana “Adri” Schoffelen, she 19 and a pretty handsome lady ?, but he was not her favourite. Later, after the war, my mother moved to Eindhoven and met my father, Cornelis Hopmans, with me as a result in 1946 (see About).





The Dutch neutrality made it for the German spies very easy, as nobody prevented them to “visit” our defence lines and they “inspected” the line until the last day. In 1940 all “old” former soldiers were mobilized because of the German threat, and Jan, then 33 years old, was one of them. My father, 37 years old, a public servant, had exemption. Jan, without the necessary training, was ordered to the Grebbeline, a small hilly side, organized by General Jan Joseph van Voorst tot Voorst and General, the Dutch military high command in Mai 1940, Izaak Reijnders and the most important Dutch defence line, near Arnhem and the German border. On 10 Mai 1940, my mother died 10 Mai 1999, age 93, the Germans, under command of Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Commander of the 227th Infantry Division, Friedrich Zickwolff
attacked Holland “unexpected”, the battle on the Grebbeline was short but heavy and bloody. The opponent of Jan’s 207th Infantry Division was the SS-Standarten Regiment “Das Reich”
, under SS Obergruppenführer Paul “Papa” Hausser,
most former Nazi SA streetfighters, and already then these SS soldiers had no mercy with anyone in battle. Many German SS soldiers were drunk during this attack, ” is the story” ? On the third day, 13 Mai 1940, Jan was killed in his trench, Holland surrendered on Mai 14th 1940 and lost 417 soldiers on the Grebbeberg line, the Germans 800 and about 1500 Dutch soldiers total in this short battle.































Brettheim is a village in the Schwäbisch Hall district of Baden-Württemberg. Simon ordered the execution of Friedrich Hanselmann, Leonhard Gackstatter and Leonhard Wolfmeyer
for Wehrkraftzersetzung (“undermining military morale”) on 10-04-1945. The farmer Friedrich Hanselmann had taken away the weapons of 15-year-old boys from the Hitler Youth
and had thrown them into the local pond. The boys reported this to their commanding officer SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Gottschalk,
who had Hanselmann arrested. Gottschalk sentenced Hanselmann to death and asked the mayor of Brettheim, Gackstatter, and the teacher Wolfmeyer to confirm the sentence. The two men refused and were subsequently also arrested and sentenced to death. The men were executed by hanging and strung up on a tree at the entrance of the local cemetery. Simon had ordered that the bodies be left hanging for four days. On 17-04-1945 American tanks approached the village. The SS had declared Brettheim a “cornerstone of the German defense” and prevented the hoisting of white flags. The Americans opened fire, and within a short time the village became a burning inferno. 17 civilians were killed. On 01-05-1945 the Corps surrendered to the American forces.



The 101st Airborne Division had the next losses during their campaign in Europe; In Normandy, killed/died of wounds 868, wounded in action 2.303, missing/captured 665. In Holland killed 752, wounded 2.151 and missing 398. In the battle of the Bulge in Belgium, killed 482, wounded 2.449 and missing 527, in total killed 2.043, wounded 2.782 and missed 1590. Another friend and Eindhoven liberator, the first Allied soldier to put steps on Dutch soil, in a scout car on 11-09-1944, near Valkenswaard, is Jack Brook, who gave my his original war baret badge,










Albertine Guerino
I think this is a real great blog article.Much thanks again. Want more.
Mike Davis
An excellent work! Please, can you add a map to Geli Raubel. grave.
Thank you again so much