The Battle Of Arnhem

By Willy Dirks, Thornloe, Ontario, Canada
Date mid 1980’s
Excerpts from her book she wrote of her life.

War makes animals out of people. We gossiped about the Germans. Rumours were flying all the time. They say ..... and it was repeated immediately. Oh, how we laughed with glee, when we heard some Germans had been pushed in the canals and drowned.
The battle of Arnhem made things worse. Even in Utrecht rather far away, we knew something was going on. We heard the exploding of bombs and saw the planes going towards the East. After the Germans came out the victors of that battle, life became really bad. Our part of the country was completely cut off from the South and East. No food supplies could come in.
It became necessary to do what many others did, jump on your bike and visit the farmers to beg if they could spare some food or exchange bed linens for food. Since Art could not show his face outside, I was the one who had to do it. Rubber tires on bicycles had long since disappeared. They were used to make shoe soles. The tires were replaced by wooden ones or not replaced at all.
Art would look after the children while I rode away on my bike. According to the neighbours he did a terrific job. By 10 o'clock in the morning the kids were clean and dressed and Art was playing the piano and singing to them.
On the three big trips I made I have been extremely fortunate.
My first trip was Southward to Wijk bij Duurstede on the river Lek. At the first farm I stopped, the farmer was red in the face and shaking a fist at a man, riding away towards the road. "Oops, wrong place" was my first reaction, then shyly I approached him. He told me why he was so mad. The man, who just rode off, had demanded part of the farmer's pea crop. No please or thank you, only rude talk. He looked me over and handed me a large bag of dried peas. if the previous beggar (and that was what we were) would have been polite, the bag would have been his.
The bag was so big and heavy, I had to walk home, balancing the bag on my bike. Also I did not have to bother to go to other farms. What loot!
The second time I went eastward towards the Ysel river. Art had baked and packed me some pancakes, at that time a delicacy even when baked in linseed oil. At about 6 o'clock I went to an abbey, recommended by one of Art's agents, to ask if I could stay for the night. They made me fee 1 most we 1 come and the next morning I received, again, a large bag. This time filled with rye. The brothers had been harvesting for a R.C. school and this was extra. Again it was not easy to drag the bag home, but it was sure worth the trouble. I t meant many pots of porridge.
My third trip led me to Apeldoorn. It was bitterly cold. The wind was so sharp, that I decided to wa1k beside the canal to Dieren instead of riding. I was freezing to death, when I came to a small cafe. I walked in just to get warm. It was full of German soldiers in the best of mood. They had decorated a large Christmas tree with phoney Mark bills. They offered me a cup of hot chocolate. Could you imagine chocolate? Then they wished me good hunting. I saw no problem with that. The problems were the Dutch Nazis, who usually took away, what a hungry person had gathered. At one f arm I got a piece of bacon, from another farmer some vegetables. Happy with what I had, I went homewards. My feet were terribly sore and blistered. Therefore I decided to take a short cut through the woods. I did not meet a single person and felt quite ill at ease. Suddenly I saw 5 German soldiers carrying a dead body. Now I was sure I was where I was not supposed to be. I hid behind a tree, put my bike down in the ferns, and waited. The only thing I heard was my heart beating. When the soldiers were out of sight, I raced to where I saw light and some houses, only to surprise a startled guard, who could not imagine how I had ended up in "No man's" land. Well, I did not know either. I showed him my painful feet and he let me go.
At home that night we had a feast of bacon and red cabbage, shared with tante Dien, oom Age and Jenny.