The American liberators: Lucky Seventh
After participating in the extremely heavy and bloody battle around Overloon until 8 October 1944, the remaining men of the badly damaged US 7th Armoured Division were given a breather in the considerably quieter front sector between Weert and Deurne. Behind the Peel canals, they felt safe and it seemed that justice had finally been done to their nickname: Lucky Seventh. But nothing could be further from the truth as some 24,000 German soldiers crossed the Noordervaart and Deurne Canal on 27 October. The offensive, which could be considered a dress rehearsal for the Ardennes Offensive and was intended to relieve pressure on the front in Zeeland, took the Americans completely by surprise. The barely liberated towns of Meijel and Ospel again fell into German hands. Finally, on 29 October, the attackers reached Liessel, but lacking reinforcements, they did not get much further. On the Allied side, the opposite happened. Hastily, on that same 29 October, the British transferred a Scottish infantry division and a tank brigade from the newly liberated Tilburg to the front in the Peel. They brought the German advance to a halt. In early November, the Americans managed to retake Ospel. The Scots in turn tried to take Meijel, but they met tough and able German resistance. The attack failed and it would take until 16 November before the village was finally liberated. During the bloody fighting for Ospel, the 7th Armoured Division had again suffered heavy losses: 54 soldiers had been killed and over 300 wounded.
On 8 November 1944, the Americans left the battlefield in the Peel. Rest and recovery hardly came to the Lucky Seventh as from 16 December they again had to face a German supremacy. This time at St Vith in the Ardennes.
Hiking Trail diversions in Nederweert
This Vector of Memory in Ospel is also part of the Hiking Trail of the Liberation Route Europe. Near Ospel, namely in Nederweert, you can walk a diversion with the theme: Nederweert in the Second World War.
Discover all the Vectors of Memory of the Hiking Trail in North and Central Limburg. More information about the Liberation Route Europe