Valkenburg Resistance - Liberation

Liberation

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When the allies approached Valkenburg in September 1944 there were several days of shooting, with the result that when the allies entered the town on 14 September it was deserted; everyone had fled into the caves. But two men stepped out onto the street, one of them Pierre Schunck, the other a youngster from The Hague who was in hiding with him. They had made contact the day before and now told the 19th US army corps where the Germans were to be found - in a hotel near the only remaining bridge over the river Geul, at the Wilhelminalaan, which the Germans kept intact as long as possible to let their troops retreat. A column of jeeps approached and Pierre was put on the hood of the first one. Later he found out that the soldier behind him had orders to shoot him if anything went wrong because they still didn't trust him. They were going to conquer the bridge, so Pierre sent off a few locals to tell people to stay indoors and not to start cheering. But the Germans were informed by a collaborating local and blew up the bridge just before the liberating soldiers had reached the bridge (creeping from tree to tree), by igniting the explosive charge that was already in place. So now Valkenburg became a front line and the troops were delayed for three days. The army division got orders to wait until Maastricht was conquered, which happened two days later. So on 17 September Valkenburg was finally on the right side of the front and fully liberated. The people could finally leave the caves, which was needed because during these few days food had run out and the hygienic conditions had become difficult due to the overcrowding of the caves. In those days in the caves three children had been born and an old man had died (of natural causes).