Het Zand;

Het Zand is an area located near the village of Alphen consisting of rollin hills with forest and heather. At the apex, 33 metres above NAP( the Dutch reference to hight measured on land), the Germans built a watch-post. It was a wooden tower with a watch post on the top. From this position two soldiers would continually guard and observe the sky’s around their post with binoculars. From this observation post the guards were in direct connection with the airfield. With the arrival of Camp Bisam the observations became less, but nevertheless was this post manned op until the end of the war. The tower still remained in use after the war as a fire guard tower but was removed eventually. Het Zand is now a day’s turned in to a large recreation area.

Kampstraat;

In the village of Rijen, in the wooded area between the railway line and the road of Tilburg to Breda the Germans began in 1941 with the construction of a 'Siedlung’ a kind of settlement. After the houses for this ‘Siedlung were finished they were mainly used by the women's section of the German air force, the so-called ‘Luftwaffen-helferinnen’. These women, often volunteers to fill in the shortage in personnel were used in air traffic control, in nursing and as secretaries. They also were used in searchlight control units, Luftwaffe listening posts as radio operators and even in anti aircraft units on FLAK batteries, the so called FLAK waffen-helferinnen. Despite the fact that they did not belong to the armed forces they were committed to the military rules and discipline. The houses were usually reinforced buildings and in use as such. After the hasty German retread in 1944 many houses were destroyed by the Germans. A few houses are still there but the street called Kampstraat is now part of an ordinary neighbourhood.

Fliegerhorst Gilze-Rijen, part III

      Airfield during the war

Ammunition storage;

The daily need for bombs was not stored at the airfield, but at a location in the woods situated along the Vijfeikenweg in Rijen. The area, if coming from the airfield, was located three hundred metres past the rail level crossing to the left and right side of the road. The area was surrounded by enhanced fencing and was heavily guarded. The ammunition was simply stored on the ground in the slopes of the area. A bigger ammunition depot for storage of ammunition and bombs was located between the village’s of Loon op Zand and Kaatsheuvel. The ammunition depot was known as the M.A.St. (Munitions Ausgabe Stelle). The MASt served as a distribution point for the German Luftwaffe during the years 1942-1944. The complex was built in 1942 under the leadership of the German Major Wagner and consisted of many bunkers and buildings. The area was 185 acres big with fencing and multiple rows of barbed wire. The area was located along the Langstraat railway line that the Germans also used for the distribution.

The location to both sides of the Vijfeikenweg in Rijen also had a railway line, that was attached to the line of Tilburg to Breda. Daily truckloads of ammunition were transported back and forth between these ammunition depots to keep up their daily needs. The supply of ammunition from Germany was done by train. Regularly these ammunition trains suffered attacks of the Allied air force or accidents that happened involving the ammunition, like twice happened in Rijen witch inflicted a great deal of damage to the area around the Rijen train station. In the summer of 1942 for example, when on may 30 three train wagons blew up at midnight that were loaded with ammunition, and a year later on July 30 when a German ammunition train was blown up between a brick factory and a level crossing in Rijen. On September 5, 1944 when 'Dolle Dinsdag’ occurred, (‘Mad Tuesday’, on this day many rumors were spreading in occupied Holland that the liberation by Allied forces was at hand) the Germans blew up the entire complex at kaatsheuvel fearing that it would fall into enemy hands. That morning the Germans blew up their barracks and the stored ammunition. The destruction was completed by Allied aerial bombardments by the end of the war.

Reserve airfield;

In 1944 the Germans began to realise that because of the many Allied bombing raids on the airfield runways were often not able to be used and that there had to come an alternative. Therefore the Germans began realizing a landing strip in April 1944 between Tilburg and Dongen situated along the Wilhelmina canal. This landings strip was necessary if aircraft returning to Gilze-Rijen couldn’t land and were forced to directly find other landing grounds.

Aircraft compass swinging base/ Flugzeug compass kompensierscheibe;

In the North-East corner of the airfield the Germans built a compass swinging base of the type, ND 12/30 Ae. It was a circular platform with a diameter of 16,40 yards above a 10 feet deep brickwork pit housing an engine room. The platform had a wooden sled that could be attached under the tail of the aircraft to keep it exactly horizontal. After this the personnel could turn the platform so the compass deviations could be corrected. The concrete and brickwork pit with on the top a bronze ring with compass indications divided into degrees, minutes and seconds was the basis of the whole. The construction of the platform was entirely constructed out of wood without the use of metal components. All connections, rotating and moving parts were of copper, brass or bronze and this was done deliberately because the metal parts were the subject of derogations to the compass. By rotating the platform with an airplane on top the compass onboard the aircraft was precisely adjusted by using the bronze ring with degrees, minutes and seconds. The Germans had such a device on multiple airfields but because this device is the only remaining one in the world, the others were removed or destroyed, its rather unique. Due to the fact the brickwork pit under the platform was full of water over the past 65 years the woodwork is well preserved and still in good condition. The ‘Gradzahlenschilder’ are still there; two rows of numbers for ‘Kompensieren’ (calibrating the aircraft compass) and ‘Funkbeschicken’ (calibrating the aircraft radio compass). The entire construction is today considered a monument and as such registered as our military heritage.

Around the airfield