Monthly Archives: September 2018

Operation Market Garden, Nijmegen And The Valkhof

The next stop for my posts on the Netherlands is the city of Nijmegen. My father took a series of photos of the town centre and also the bridge over the River Waal, one of the bridges that was part of the 1944 Operation Market Garden – the plan for allied forces to breakout from Belgium, capture key bridges over the major rivers that ran from Germany and across the Netherlands to where an unobstructed route opened up to central Germany.

A brief bit of background to Operation Market Garden – By September 1944, the British 2nd Army and Canadian forces had made considerable progress. The breakout from Normandy was followed by a dash across northern France and Belgium to the point where the 2nd Army stood on the Belgium / Netherlands border. The speed of their success meant huge problems with supplies catching up with the leading columns, despite the apparent crumbling of the German forces.

With the American army making progress to the south, there was competition as to who would make the most progress into Germany and an ambition to try and bring the war in the west to a swift end.

Airborne forces had been waiting in England since D-Day. A number of proposed parachute drops had been cancelled at the last minute, often because the land forces had moved so quickly and had already taken the objectives.

Field Marshal Montgomery put together a plan which would make use of the airborne forces to secure bridges across the Netherlands and open up a path for the 2nd Army to sweep across the rivers to the point where a turn to the east would bring them directly into the industrial heart of Germany.

The plan was given the code name Operation Market Garden, with the ground forces being the “Garden” part of the operation and the airborne forces, the “Market” element.

The following map from the 1958 book “Arnhem” by Major-General R.E. Urquhart illustrates the plan behind Operation Market Garden:

Operation Market Garden

US airborne forces with drop and hold the route from Eindhoven to Nijmegen, with British airborne forces landing at Arnhem to hold the final bridge.

Operation Market Garden has been covered in a range of excellent books from the original “A Bridge Too Far” by Cornelius Ryan from 1974 through to the most recent book published this year, “Arnhem” by Anthony Beevor. There are also earlier books, some by those who were involved in the operation, such as the book from which the above map came from.

Operational Market Garden was the subject of the 1977 film “A Bridge Too Far”, directed by Richard Attenborough. There was also an earlier film from 1946, “Theirs Is The Glory”, which included many of the actual participants recreating their role in the operation at Arnhem. It is still available on DVD and a remarkable film to watch, given that the majority of those in the film were participants, not actors.

I can probably guess why may father wanted to see Nijmegen. Having followed the war as a child, using the Daily Express map of the War in Europe pinned to his bedroom wall – seeing the places that would have been featured in news reports, newsreels and post war films would be a thing to do, once travel was easier and he had completed National Service.

The bridges would have been the first things to see – this is the bridge at Nijmegen over the River Waal, a key part of Operation Market Garden. Photographed by my father in 1952:

Operation Market Garden

Sixty six years later in 2018, I stood in roughly the same spot:

Operation Market Garden

The 82nd US Airborne had been tasked with taking Nijmegen and securing the bridge as part of Operation Market Garden. They were to hold until the XXX Corp of the 2nd Army had fought up from the Belgium border, past Eindhoven to Nigmegen.

The bridge was important as by holding the bridge, and with XXX Corp reaching Nijmegen in time, they would have been able to move up to Arnhem to relieve the 1st British Airborne Division who were dropped near Arnhem to take and hold the bridge over the Nederrijn.

There was a significant delay in taking the Nijmegen bridge, which not was secured until day 4 of Operation Market Garden. An initial lack of priority to focus on the bridge, the need to defend the landing grounds, and from assumed German forces in the Reichswald Forest (see map above) meant that German reinforcements were able to build in the town and around the bridge. The Germans also started to demolish and burn large parts of the city of Nijmegen to make it harder for an attacking force.

Another 1952 view of the bridge:

Operation Market Garden

The same view in 2018:

Operation Market Garden

The attempt to take the bridge was made difficult as airborne forces had only been landed on the southern side of the river, rather than on both sides, so the north was well defended and attempts to take the bridge were met with heavy fire from the north.

Fighting in the city of Nijmegen was intense and took some days to clear. Rather than rush the bridge, US forces crossed the river to the west under heavy, sustained fire and taking significant casualties, and after more intense fighting were able to take the northern side of the bridge.

A small number of British tanks made it across the bridge, but then halted due to supply difficulties, no supporting infantry and unknown German forces on the road between Nijmegen and Arnhem. It was a surprise that the German forces had not demolished the bridge.

The final part of Operation Market Garden, the 1st British Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade at Arnhem were left isolated.

I had the opportunity to explore the Arnhem area, and witness the events that are held every year by the Dutch to commemorate the sacrifice of the British and Polish soldiers a few days after visiting Nijmegen.

In the above two photos, there is a grassed area at the bottom of each photo. Moving the camera down in 1952 and 2018 provides a view of a rather elaborate floral display

Operation Market Garden

1952 above and 2018 below:

Operation Market Garden

Nijmegen is probably the oldest city in the Netherlands, with a history of occupation going back to the 1st century BC. The city was established in the Roman period and given the name Noviomagus which means “new market” – as highlighted within the floral display.

On the northeastern corner of the city is a high plateau of land. This was occupied as a fortified area, with the town being established towards the south (where the town of today is located) and along the river. It is from the high point that the above photos were taken.

I then headed down to the bridge to take a walk to the centre of the bridge. The central carriageway is for motorised traffic, with walkways along each side of the bridge for pedestrians and bikes.

The Imperial War Museum archives have some photos which show the bridge immediately after the battle. The following photo is from the Nijmegen end of the bridge:

Operation Market Garden

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 (B 10173) A column of lorries passes wrecked German vehicles on the bridge at Nijmegen, 21 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202526

The same view today:

Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden depended on a long, relatively narrow thrust of allied forces up through the Netherlands. Whilst this allowed considerable progress to be made in penetrating deep into what had been occupied territory, it did leave long exposed flanks which the Germany army continually attacked, occasionally breaking the chain from the Belgium border to Nijmegen.

The allied forces therefore had to be continually ready for an attack from the east or west of their positions, as demonstrated by the following photo with guns facing the land to the side of the bridge.

Operation Market Garden

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 (B 10171) 17-pdr anti-tank gun of the 21st Anti-Tank Regiment, Guards Armoured Division, guards the approaches to Nijmegen Bridge, 21 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202528

The Germans had rigged the bridge with explosives, but had held back from blowing the bridge in the expectation that they would need the bridge for a counter attack. There have been various theories for why the bridge was not blown when the capture of Nijmegen seemed certain – the wires were cut in the fighting, sabotage by the Dutch resistance, or just failed orders.

After the capture of the bridge, a considerable amount of explosive was removed:

Operation Market Garden

OPERATION ‘MARKET GARDEN’ (THE BATTLE FOR ARNHEM): 17 – 25 SEPTEMBER 1944: NIJMEGEN AND GRAVE 17 – 20 SEPTEMBER 1944 (B 10174) Nijmegen and Grave 17 – 20 September 1944: British engineers removing the charge which the Germans had set in readiness to blow the Nijmegen bridge. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193889

Walking further along the bridge and it was from roughly the following point that my father took some photos along the river and back into the city:

Operation Market Garden

This 1952 photo is from the main road bridge, looking west along the River Waal towards the railway bridge:

Operation Market Garden

The same 2018 view with a new railway bridge:

Operation Market Garden

In 1952 this was the view looking back into the city of Nijmegen:

Operation Market Garden

The same view in 2018, although with a lower water level on the river:

Operation Market Garden

The water front has seen some development between the two photos, however the church, undergoing repair in 1952, can be seen in both photos, and along the front there are at least two buildings remaining. The second building from the left, along with the white building in the 2018 photo just below the church.

I mentioned earlier the Valkhof – the high plateau of land to the north east of the city, overlooking the River Waal. The area today is a park, with superb views of the river, but it has a long and fascinating history.

There is a deep cutting between the main part of the Valkhof and a steep hill overlooking the bridge.  At the top of this hill is a building, with a plaque providing the following description: “Originally a defense tower from the 15th century. Substantially changed in 1646. Restored in 1888″

Operation Market Garden

Large trees now obscure the view from where my father took the above photo, so I walked over to the tower and took a closer view. Today the main purpose of the tower appears to be as a wedding venue.

Operation Market Garden

The Valkhof, the high plateau of land in the north east of Nijmegen, overlooking the bridge, has a fascinating history. Valkhof can be translated as “Falcon’s Court”.

Initially some Roman fortifications were followed at the end of the 8th century by a castle / palace for the Emperor Charlemagne who made Nijmegen one of his residences.

After Charlemagne’s death and towards the end of the 9th century Nijmegen is attacked by the Vikings and much of the palace destroyed. Over the following centuries, the castle went through periods of rebuild and decay until the 12th century when the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa ordered a much larger castle to be built on the Valkhof.

It is from the 12th century onwards that Nijmegen grows rapidly in prosperity and size. The castle and proximity to the River Waal provides the city with an importance in European affairs, along with access to a major trading route. Nijmegen is granted the privileges of a City which allows walls to be built around the city.

The castle was badly damaged in the 18th century when the French occupied the city, and at the end of the 18th century, permission was given for the castle to be demolished, with the exception of two chapels.

The castle and the city walls,  overlooking the River Waal were an impressive sight. The following painting by the Dutch artist Frans de Hulst shows the castle on the Valkhof in the mid 17th century.

Operation Market Garden

The following map from the same period shows the castle at bottom left with the city of Nijmegen enclosed by city walls and fortifications.

Operation Market Garden

There are two structures remaining from the original castle on the Valkhof. The first is the chapel that my father photographed in 1952:

Operation Market Garden

For a building that is hundreds of years old, the change in 66 years should be minimal, which indeed is the case, apart from some changes on the wall to the right of the main entrance, which may have been uncovering features which were bricked over.

Operation Market Garden

Although the chapel dates from the very first castle on the Valkhof, the building today mainly dates from the end of the 14th century following a fire. This rebuild used brick, and the interior of the chapel was increased in height with an additional gallery running around the chapel.

To step inside the chapel is to walk from a 21st century city back into the medieval castle.

Operation Market Garden

Some remarkable decoration still survives:

Operation Market Garden

The other chapel on the Valkhof has only part of the walls remaining. This chapel dates from 1155.

Operation Market Garden

There was only one 1952 photo that I could not find today. I assume it was in Nijmegen as the following photo was in the same strips of negatives. The photo shows a statue in a park with damage caused by multiple bullets.

I had a good walk around the park, but could not find the statue, or the scene behind which looks to be a bandstand.

After exploring the Valkhof and the bridge, I took a walk along the edge of the River Waal, a circular route to head into the centre of Nijmegen to find the locations of the rest of my father’s photos. On the river edge is one of the Liberation Route information panels.

Operation Market Garden

The Liberation Route Europe is a fascinating initiative. Funded by the European Union and the Dutch Foundation for Peace, Freedom and Veteran Support, the Liberation route aims to mark out key milestones in recent European history with the liberation of Europe at the end of the 2nd World War. The route starts in southern England, follows through the D-Day beaches of Normandy, the Belgian Ardennes and the southern region of the Netherlands. The route then moves through Germany to Berlin and ends in the Polish city of Gdansk,

Information on the Liberation route can be found at their website here. The site includes a large number of personal stories.

The website also has a copy of the Liberation Route’s “Magna Carta”, a document written by several European historians to establish the historical and scientific basis for the project.

The Magna Carta includes a summary of the impact of war on each of the European countries included in the route. This summary makes very clear that the impact, both during and in the decades that would follow the war, were and are very different.

For example, the following extract is from the summary for Great Britain:

Operation Market Garden

And the following is part of the summary for the Netherlands:

Operation Market Garden

For the people of the Netherlands, it is the liberation from the appalling hardships outlined in the above text that are celebrated today, with the return of freedom and democracy that the liberation enabled. I would see how these celebrations continue to this day when I made the journey to the Arnhem suburb of Oosterbeek a few days later, where the final actions of Operation Market Garden played out.

Before that, I had some more locations of my father’s 1952 photos to find in Nijmegen – a subject for a post in a couple of day.

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Rotterdam – A Bombed City And Modernist Architecture

Continuing my journey through the Netherlands of 1952, I have now reached Rotterdam.

The bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940 provided a warning of what would fall on London later the same year.

The invasion of the Netherlands started on the 10th of May 1940 with advance drops of parachute forces on key locations such as the Hague and the major city and port of Rotterdam.

The Dutch army within Rotterdam defended the city more aggressively than expected and by the 13th May the invading forces had made very limited progress.

On the 14th May 1940, the city of Rotterdam was heavily bombed. Indiscriminate bombing by 90 Heinkel bombers caused significant damage to the city which was made even worse by the fires that followed the initial attack. A strong wind caused the fires to extend to areas of the city that had not been directly bombed.

The attack killed between 800 and 900 people, over 25,000 houses were destroyed and 638 acres of the city left devastated.

Soon after the 14th May raid, Rotterdam capitulated, and the majority of the Netherlands surrendered on the 15th May with the whole of the Netherlands being occupied on the 17th May. The threat of similar levels of devastation on other Dutch cities was the primary reason for the rapid capitulation.

Occupation until the end of the war in 1945 prevented any significant reconstruction. After the end of the war, reconstruction commenced with a focus on the dock facilities which were back operating as one of the most efficient global ports by 1950.

When my father arrived in Rotterdam from Tilbury in 1952, much of the city centre was still in ruins, and some of his photos are similar to the photos he had taken of the worst hit areas of London.

He also found one of the great modernist designs of the Dutch architect, Willem Marinus Dudok, which although severely damaged in the 1940 raid was not finally demolished until 1960. The people of Rotterdam would also suffer badly during the occupation, and reminders of these events could (and indeed still are) be found across the city.

I had hoped to visit the city during the time we were in the Netherlands, but ran out of time due to other visits, so there are no before and after photos in this post. We had been many times when we lived in the Netherlands, but as I had not scanned these negatives, I was not aware of these 1952 photos.

In the case of Rotterdam, before and after photos would also be somewhat irrelevant as the city is so very different. Post war, and ongoing construction has resulted in a city centre that, with a few exceptions, is so very different to the city prior to the 14th May 1940.

So if you had taken the Batavier II from Tilbury to Rotterdam in 1952, stepped ashore and headed to the city centre, this is what you would have found:

Rotterdam

Although these photos were taken 12 years after the invasion of the Netherlands and 7 years after the end of the war, much of the city centre was still empty.

Rotterdam

The level of destruction was such that the decision was taken to clear the city centre rather than rebuild the ruins that remained. This resulted in a clearer demarcation between the buildings to remain and the area for rebuilding than could be seen in London.

Rotterdam

An initial plan for the reconstruction of Rotterdam included retaining much of the original street plan, however a later plan approved in 1946 called for a more significant change, moving the city away from a complex, narrow street plan to larger and more open streets, open spaces and large building plots. The devastation to such a large area of the central city had also resulted in the focus of the city moving away from the original centre and this change was also incorporated in the new development plan.

Some of the new construction under way:

Rotterdam

The following photo shows the Laurenskerk church which was very badly damaged, but in the early stages of reconstruction in 1952.

Rotterdam

The above photo includes an indication of how much the city has changed. On the right hand edge of the photo can be seen a railway viaduct. During reconstruction, the opportunity was taken to replace the above ground viaduct with an underground tunnel. As well as removing what could be considered an eyesore in the centre of the city, it also made available more space and removed the dividing effect that a large viaduct can have on different communities within a city.

A similar approach for London was included in the 1943, London County Council, County of London Plan, and also in the 1946 report to the Minister of War Transport, where many of the above ground railways through the city were proposed to move to underground tunnels. The money and will to carry out these proposals were not readily available so London’s railway routes are much as they were pre-war.

More rebuilding:

Rotterdam

To the right of the above photo can be seen part of the building shown in the following photo, A large building but I have not been able to trace the building which may have been a survivor from before the war.

Rotterdam

My father’s photos show just how large an area had been devastated by the initial bombing and the fires that would follow:

Rotterdam

One building that whilst badly damaged, was not demolished was the De Bijenkorf department store building:

Rotterdam

My father took several photos of this wonderful building from different angles so it must have been of significant interest to him.

Rotterdam

De Bijenkorf was (and still is) a Dutch department store company and after building new stores in the Hague and Amsterdam, issued a tender in 1928 for the design of a new department store in Rotterdam.

The design by the Dutch architect Willem Marinus Dudok was selected.

Dudok was the city architect for the city of Hilversum, but was also responsible for a wide range of designs across the Netherlands.

His design for the Rotterdam department store was revolutionary. It created the largest department store in Europe when the Rotterdam De Bijenkorf opened on the 16th October 1930.

The design used significant amounts of glass to maximise natural lighting with a central atrium which also let in light to the centre of the building.

On one corner of the building was a tall minaret, topped by a diamond shaped lantern.

At night, the diamond lantern acted as a beacon across the city, and the whole department store was brilliantly lit with the glass windows showing off the illuminated interior and ground floor shop windows.

The shape of the building was similar to an ocean going liner, suddenly moored in the centre of Rotterdam, bringing together goods from around the world for purchase by those wealthy enough to shop in the store.

The rear of the building was significantly damaged during the May 1940 bombing. Over half of the building had to be demolished with the rest of the building patched up as best as possible, given the wartime conditions.

The store had only lasted 10 years.

The following photo shows the rear of the building in 1952. It had originally extended much further back.

Rotterdam

The following postcard provides a view of the size of the De Bijenkorf department store soon after completion.

Rotterdam

The photo shows the long glass windows running along the length of the side wall. There is a restaurant on the terrace at the top of the front of the building. The minaret and lantern were the tallest structure in the area surrounding the store. The photo also shows the original street plan and density of building. As can be seen in my father’s photos, all these buildings will be destroyed in the bombing, subsequent fires and demolition.

Part of a rear view of the department store. It would have originally extended all the way back to where my father took this photo.

Rotterdam

After the war, the remaining part of the original De Bijenkorf store was too small. Technology had also changed, so interior lighting could be provided without large amounts of external glass which was expensive to maintain and keep clean. Post war department stores needed to have large areas of flexible internal space. Side walls could be solid, with bright internal electric lighting and only ground floor shop windows needed glass to show off their displays of goods to be purchased in the store.

A new store was commissioned, this time by an American architect, and Dudok’s building was demolished in 1960.

One of my father’s photos showing one of the new, much wider streets close to the De Bijenkorf store.

Rotterdam

The website of Frans Blok has recreations of what Dudok’s building would look like in the Rotterdam of today, as well as a fascinating video showing Rotterdam in the 1920s, the construction of the building and the interior of the De Bijenkorf store.

As a view of what was to come with the redevelopment of Rotterdam, the HBU tower block in the following photo is one of the early high rise buildings of Rotterdam’s post war development. The building still survives.

Rotterdam

More post was development, very different to the pre-war city:

Rotterdam

New shopping developments:

Rotterdam

Another view of the post war HBU building:

Rotterdam

The Dutch population suffered terribly during the occupation. Not just the day to day loss of freedom, but random selection for execution was also a risk to the population.

When trying to escape arrest, you would run the risk of being shot. After an attack by the Dutch Resistance the occupying forces would randomly select groups of people for execution – always a larger number than had been killed in the resistance attack. A revenge for the resistance activity as well as an attempt to deter such attacks.

After the war, memorials were erected at the places where shootings and executions had taken place. They carried the words “Voor hen die vielen” – “For those who fell”.

Rotterdam

These memorials are at the places where executions of between 10 and 40 randomly selected men were executed in reprisal for resistance attacks.

Rotterdam

These memorials can still be found across the city and are a strong reminder of the brutality inflicted at random on the civilian population during the years of occupation.

The following photo is on the Rotterdam negative strips, however I have no idea where it was taken, or what the photo represents. What appears to be a submarine – I assume it is real rather than some form of reproduction.

Rotterdam

Perhaps not what you would expect to find in a large city such as Rotterdam, however in 1952 my father took the following photo of a windmill that had survived the 1940 bombing.

Rotterdam

The windmill dated from 1711 and having survived the war was destroyed in a fire in 1954. It was not reconstructed, and the area (the Oostplein) is now a large open road junction with a small grassed area in the centre.

My final photo from 1952 is the following, which I also included in last Sunday’s post on Amsterdam. The photo was on the same negative strip as some of the Amsterdam photos, however I could not find the location, but assumed it to be in Amsterdam.

Rotterdam

I am very grateful to Henk Laloli who commented on the post that “The last picture with the escalator is probably in Rotterdam: the entry for cyclists and pedestrians to the Maas (river) tunnel. A lovely old wooden escalator and beautiful 1930s decorations.”

So hopefully I now have the right city for this photo of the tunnel entrance with the wonderful decoration.

Rotterdam today continues to be Europe’s largest port and the city plays host to many Dutch and international businesses, occupying the glass and steel towers that continue to grow across the city. The function of Rotterdam is the same as the pre-war city, but the architecture now is very different.

For my next post on the Netherlands, I am heading to the city of Nijmegen, to start exploring the impact of Operation Market Garden.

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Amsterdam – Exploring The Historic Centre

Following on from last Sunday’s post from the Hague, whilst there we took a train to Amsterdam to track down the location of more photos from 1952. Rather than drive, the train provided an excellent direct service between the two cities and it was a perfect opportunity to use a type of train not available on the UK train network.

The Dutch rail system uses a combination of single deck “Sprinter” trains which are generally stopping trains and double decker trains in use as Inter City services which are faster alternatives without so many stops. The ticketing system is the same for both, and a return ticket between the Hague and Amsterdam could be used on the slower Sprinter and faster Intercity trains.

The double decker trains are not new, they were in use across the network when we lived in the Netherlands in the early 1990s and it was always a novel experience to climb stairs on a train, after using trains on the UK network.

The InterCity train in the Hague Central Station:

Amsterdam

Two decks of train capacity:

Amsterdam

Through the doors and an intriguing option – do I go up or down?

Amsterdam

Up was the obvious choice. The upper deck resembles an aircraft interior but with larger windows and no overhead luggage bins.

Amsterdam

Stopping in Leiden Station and looking down on the platform from the upper deck:

Amsterdam

After arriving at Amsterdam Central Station, I headed to the first location which was easy to recognise. This is the Royal Palace in the centre of Amsterdam, photographed in 1952:

Amsterdam

And this is the same view in 2018:Amsterdam

As could be expected, the view has hardly changed, even the overhead power cables for the trams are still in place. As with the Hague, Amsterdam has an extensive tram system which provides excellent connectivity across the city.

The Royal Palace dates from the 17th century, however the building we see today mainly dates from 1808 when King Louis Bonaparte transformed the palace during the French occupation of the Netherlands.

Very similar to Buckingham Palace in London, the Amsterdam Royal Palace is used to host foreign Heads of State and state receptions. It also plays a key part in the life of the Dutch monarchy as royal marriages and investiture ceremonies are also held in the palace.

The large space in front of the Royal Palace is Dam Square.

Dam Square has been the centre for many demonstrations and rallies over the years. The square hosts the annual National Memorial Day in May, which commemorates all members of the armed forces and civilians who have died in war.

Dam Square was also the site of one of the final actions of the last war in the Netherlands when on the 7th May 1945, two days after the German surrender, German soldiers on a balcony fired into Dutch crowds in the square. The crowds had been awaiting the arrival of Canadian forces. There were many deaths and casualties and no real reason for the shooting to have taken place.

Dam Square today is a busy centre for tourists visiting the city. As well as a natural place to congregate opposite the Royal Palace, the square is also the location for one of the Netherlands largest department stores and a Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

The following map extract showing the historic centre of Amsterdam shows the sites of my father’s photos that I have been able to identify. The Royal Palace shown above is at site number 1.

(Map  “© OpenStreetMap contributors”)

My next location was a walk through the side streets from Dam Square to site number 2. I had found this location in advance. Fortunately in my father’s photo there is a street name visible so I was able to work out where the photo had been taken before arriving in Amsterdam.

This is the Staalmeestersbrug which spans the Groenburgwal canal.

Amsterdam

Sixty six years later and the view of the bridge is much the same:

Amsterdam

There has been a bridge here for many centuries, the first written record dates from 1599. The bridge in my father’s photo dates from 1928 when a replacement bridge was installed, replicating the previous bridge at the site.

The bridge in my 2018 photo is not fully the same as my father’s photo. In 1964 repair was again needed and the bridge section and counterbalance were replaced – but by comparing the two photos, the appearance of the new parts are the same as in the previous photo.

The photo does highlight one of the main differences between the Amsterdam of 1952 and that of 2018, and the same change can be seen in London, and that is the level of tourism and growth in the city’s population.

Main streets in the historical centre of Amsterdam are very busy, and you can tell from the languages spoken, and the photos being taken that a high percentage of those walking the streets are tourists.

Another view of the same bridge in 1952:

Amsterdam

And in 2018:

Amsterdam

Whilst generating economic benefit and employment, Amsterdam is struggling with the level of tourism. In 2017 there were 6.7 million hotel stays by foreign visitors, a figure which does not include day visitors. There are ten tourists for every resident of Amsterdam and local politicians and activists are calling Amsterdam the Venice of the north – not just because of the omnipresence of water, but also due to the impact of high volumes of tourists.

Standing on the Staalmeestersbrug and looking along the Groenburgwal is this view of the tower of the Zuiderkerk, located at site 3 in the map above:

Amsterdam

1952 above and 2018 below:

Amsterdam

The Zuiderkerk dates from the first decade of the 17th century when the body of the church was built., the tower was completed in 1624. There was a rebuild of the church in 1657, and the church has remained much the same since.

Comparison of the two photos shows one of the differences between 1952 and 2018 that can also be seen across London. In 1952 there were few cars parked along the roads, however today there is car parking along the majority of canals – which does require some careful maneuvering to avoid ending up in the water.

As mentioned in my previous two posts on the Hague and Wassenaar, the western part of the Netherlands suffered terribly during the final months of the war and the winter between 1944 / 45 was known as the hunger winter due to the lack of supplies of food. During this time the Zuiderkerk church was used as a mortuary.

Claude Monet painted the view in 1874. The view shows the Staalmeestersbrug with the church tower behind:

Amsterdam

The next stop was for a view of the Montelbaanstoren at site number 4. The tower was part of the city walls. The lower part of the tower, below the clock, dates from 1516 with the upper part added in 1606.

Amsterdam

The tower stands close to the main harbour area of Amsterdam, and at the junction of two major canals. There was a boat passing in front of the tower in my father’s photo above. Whilst I was looking at the view there was a constant stream of river traffic – the canals are still very much in use.

Amsterdam

My next stop was another of the towers from the original city walls. This time the Munttoren, originally part of the one of the main gates into Amsterdam. The tower had been rebuilt in the early 17th century.

This was reached by walking to where the Kloveniersburgwal canal meets the Amstel (site number 5 on the map).

Amsterdam

1952 above and 2018 below:Amsterdam

To where the Munttoren becomes visible alongside a bridge over the canal and a busy road junction:

Amsterdam

The same view today:

Amsterdam

The name “Munttoren” means Mint Tower and refers to a short period in the 17th century when the guard house alongside the tower was used to mint coins.

The Munttoren in 1952 – located at site number 6 in the map:

Amsterdam

The same view today. The tower is still alongside a busy tram route and the wires still stretch above the road, although the impressive street name sign has disappeared.

Amsterdam

As well as the above photos, there were also a number of photos where I could not identify the location, including the following two view of canals and buildings:

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

During the 17th century, Amsterdam was the wealthiest city in Europe. The city was home to the Dutch East India and West India Companies that traded across the world and the Netherlands growing list of colonial conquests. Amsterdam, was also the worlds largest financial centre during this period. Wars with England and France during the 18th century would reduce the influence of Amsterdam, along with competition from other global trading companies such as the British East India Company, one of the reasons for London’s growing influence.

The buildings that line the canals reflect this wealth and were a mix of merchant houses, town houses, workshops and warehouses.

The mix of architectural styles is fascinating. The buildings are typically narrow, but tall to maximise the amount of available space within the building on a small plot of land.

Amsterdam

The buildings alongside the canals are much the same today, although generally in better states of repair. I came across this wonderful jumble of buildings which look to be falling apart from each other:

Amsterdam

One of my father’s photos was of this canal side scene:

Amsterdam

The circular panels for advertising are still a feature in Amsterdam today. The Dutch Amstel beer in the poster above and below, the Chief Whip cigarette brand – “On everyone’s lip”.

Amsterdam

Water is inextricably linked with the history of Amsterdam. As with London’s relationship with the River Thames, it is the reason why Amsterdam is where it is, and access to water and the open sea was why Amsterdam grew to be such a major trading city, at times rivaling London.

The origin of the name is from the Dam built across the River Amstel, believed to have been where Dam Square is now located.

Walking around Amsterdam today, there is a more defined separation between the inland canals which seem mainly to be used by tourist boats, and the docks which are located on the large waterway which runs from the North Sea via the North Sea Canal to the large waters of the Markermeer and Ijsselmeer.

In 1952, boats to transport goods within Amsterdam, and throughout Europe via the canal and river network, could be found across the city.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

However scenes like this can still be found alongside most canals, however with cars now lining the boundary between road and canal.

Amsterdam

I tried to find the location of this Punch and Judy show by looking for the large corner building in the background, but with no luck,

Amsterdam

I assume that with the pipework on the rear of this vehicle, this is a fire engine threading its way through the narrow, crowded streets.

Amsterdam

Street urinal:

Amsterdam

Traffic control:

Amsterdam

I am really not sure where the following photo was taken. It is on one of the Amsterdam negative strips, and appears to show an entrance to something below ground, I would normally think this was to an underground railway. Amsterdam does have an underground railway, however it did not open until the 1970s, long after this photo was taken.

Amsterdam

The mural on the rear wall has a number of different types of ships at the top, with symbols of fish below and possibly Neptune on either side.  The sign reads “forbidden for dogs and loaded bicycles”.  There is a small chance that the above photo was from Rotterdam if some of the negative strips have been muddled over time, but the rest of the photos on the same strip are from Amsterdam.

As with London, Amsterdam is best seen on foot. The historical centre of the city, with some imagination and by ignoring the parked cars, retains the feel of the 17th century city.

With a few exceptions, the majority of later development seems well planned. The majority of new building is outside the centre with considerable new building towards Schiphol airport.

The tourist hot spots are crowded, there is the red light district and the cafes where soft drugs are legal and readily available, however turn away from the main streets, and as with London, there is so much more to explore – and water is never far away.

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Launch And Landing Sites Of The First V-2 On London

I was in the Hague for my last post, and before leaving I wanted to visit a site in a suburb of the Hague that has a very direct and tragic connection with London.

London had been under fire from V-1 flying bombs starting in June 1944 until October 1944 when the launch sites were captured as the allied forces progressed through France and Belgium.

In September 1944 a new weapon was first used against London. This was the V-2 rocket which had a much more flexible launch method than the V-1 and also longer range so launching against London was possible from the areas still held by German forces.

Although Allied forces were pressing up from the Belgium border, through Eindhoven and Nijmegen, the coastal west of the Netherlands was still under German control and the area around the Hague offered the ideal location to launch against London. The Hague had the rail connections to bring in the rockets and their fuel, and the suburbs of the Hague offered a large wooded area, crisscrossed by small roads which provided the perfect cover for mobile launches.

The V-2 was a highly sophisticated weapon. The supporting infrastructure allowed the rocket to be launched from a mobile launcher with fueling carried out on site along with final setting of the gyros that would guide the rocket to its destination. The speed of the rocket meant that it was almost impossible to destroy whilst in flight. The trajectory for the rocket was a parabola from the launch site up to the edge of space before descending at up to three times the speed of sound to the weapon’s target.

The following photo shows a V-2 rocket on a launch platform. Most photos of the V-2 show the black and white painted rocket, these were the test versions and the painted colour scheme ensured that any rotation of the rocket could be identified during flight. In use, the rockets did not have a colour scheme.

V-2

Black and white (CL 3405) V2 on launching platform Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205087580

Wassenaar is a suburb of the Hague, located to the north east of the city. It is a wooded area with small roads crossing the area, concealed under trees which also line the roads. Wassenaar was one of the main launch sites for V-2s and the first rockets against London were launched from Wassenaar’s roads.

Before leaving the Hague, I wanted to find the location of the first V-2 launch against London, so headed out on the short drive to Wassenaar.

The following map shows the city of the Hague. Follow the orange road (the N44) that runs from the Hague to the north east and you will find Wassenaar.

V-2

The following map extract shows Wassenaar in detail. The first launches against London took place on the evening of the 8th September 1944. There were two simultaneous launches at two different road junctions. These were ideal locations as road junctions offered a larger space for the rocket launcher and supporting vehicles as the rocket was fueled onsite. The map also shows the wooded nature of the site and that these were side roads – good concealment for the time needed to prepare and launch.

V-2

(The above two maps are  “© OpenStreetMap contributors”).

At around 6:35 pm on the evening of the 8th September 1944, the residents of Wassenaar heard a loud roaring noise and saw two objects rising above the trees, slowly at first before quickly gathering speed, then rushing skyward.

One was from the junction of three roads shown as point 1 in the above map. This is the junction of Lijsterlaan, Konijnenlaan and Koekoekslaan. This is the view of the junction as I walked up to the site:

V-2

Looking down one of the roads leading of from the junction shows the narrowness of the roads and the tree cover. It has not changed that much since the rockets were being launched here and shows how good the area was for concealment.

V-2

The original V-1 had to be launched from a fixed launching ramp. As well as the technological development of the rocket, other innovations with the V-2 were mobility where the complete system comprising a mobile launcher, fuel tankers (including liquid oxygen), launch and control system could drive up to a new location and launch within about two hours.

The following illustration shows a V-2 rocket in launch position on its mobile transport and launch platform:

V-2

The following photo shows a V-2 just after the initial launch. Two of these being launched almost simultaneously from the wooded side roads of Wassenaar must have been a frightening sight for the local residents.

V-2

Black and white (CL 3429) German photograph of a V2 rocket in the initial stage of its flight Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205087577

This part of Wassenaar is occupied by large houses and grounds. Reports from immediately after the launch tell of the road surface been scorched and melted, with trees being burnt for a few feet above ground level where flame from the rockets engines must have bounced of the road and been deflected onto the adjacent trees.

On the next day, the 9th September, the RAF started bombing Wassenaar. A cat and mouse game ensued with rockets, fuel and launch equipment being stored across the area and mobile launches taking place on a regular basis, and the RAF trying to locate and bomb any V-2 related infrastructure that could be found.

Another view of the road junction.

V-2

If you look at the patch of grass on the right, there is a white painted stone. Look to the upper right of the white stone, and just to the left of the tree is a small, wooden pillar.

The pillar records the junction as being the site of the first launch of a V-2 rocket on the 8th September 1944:

V-2

Soon after returning from the Netherlands, and on the 8th September 2018, I visited the site where the V-2 launched from Wassenaar landed – in Staveley Road, Chiswick where another pillar can be found recording that the first V-2 fell here. It had taken the rocket around 5 minutes to get from Wassenaar to Chiswick.

V-2

The view looking along the street from in front of the memorial pillar:

V-2

The memorial pillar is in front of a small electrical substation:

V-2

To the right of the pillar, mounted on the fence is an information panel which was unveiled by the Battlefields Trust and the Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society, on the same day that the pillar in Wassenaar was also unveiled.

V-2

The V-2 on Chiswick resulted in three deaths. Three year old Rosemary Clarke who lived at number 1 Staveley Road, Ada Harrison aged 68 of 3 Staveley Road and Sapper Bernard Browning, who was on leave, and on his way to Chiswick Station.

Destruction was considerable. The V-2 blew a crater 30 ft wide and 8 ft deep at the point of impact. The following panoramic photo from the Imperial War Museum archive shows the damage that a V-2 could inflict.

V-2

V1 AND V2 DAMAGE, 1944-45 (HU 66194) ‘Extensive damage caused by mystery explosion in Southern England.’ The photograph actually shows the site of the first V2 rocket impact on Britain, Staveley Road, Chiswick. Photograph taken 9 September 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205070209

There was a second V-2 rocket launched at the same time, a very short distance from the location described above. This V-2 was launched from the point marked 2 in the map, at the junction of Lijsterlaan and Schouwweg. This V-2 would land minutes later at Parndon Wood, near Epping. Due to the rural nature of this location there were no casualties.

The following photo shows the junction from where this second V-2 was launched:

V-2

From the 8th September onward, there was a continuous series of V-2 launches from Wassenaar and the Hague. The area was also used for storage of rockets and fuel, launching equipment and the German forces and command structure that would launch the rockets were also housed in the surroundings of Wassenaar and the Hague.

Allied planes flew many missions over the area trying to locate and destroy V-2 infrastructure. On the 3rd March 1945 a large force of bombers mounted an attack on the forested regions of the Hague, but due to navigation errors many of the bombs fell on the Bezuidenhout suburb resulting in a large loss of life in the Dutch population.

The Dutch population also suffered when rockets misfired, and also the disruption and treatment they suffered from living in and around a place that was used to store, transport, prepare and launch such an intensive rocket programme.

One of the locations where V-2 rockets were checked and prepared was the tram depot in Scheveningen, the coastal suburb of the Hague.

This is the view of the tram depot today:

V-2

There are historical posters around the streets commemorating the 200th anniversary of Scheveingen as a seaside resort. One of these posters shows the state of the tram depot in 1945:

V-2

The text states that after the liberation, it took some time for trams from the Hofplein line to return to Scheveningen-Kurhaus station and that the tram connection was finally reestablished in 1953.

On the 27th March 1945 the last V-2 was launched against London. It fell on Orpington in Kent resulting in the deaths of 23 people. Whilst the west of the Netherlands was still occupied, rail connection with the rest of Germany had been cut and the German rocket forces had already been withdrawn from the Hague in order to avoid capture of the personnel and their equipment.

From the first V-2 on the 8th of September to the last on the 27th March, a total of 3172 V-2 rockets were launched. Of these around 1358 fell on the greater London area.

London did not suffer as badly as Antwerp, An important port for the Allied forces allowing supplies to be delivered into Belgium rather than the French ports further south, around 1610 V-2 rockets were launched against Antwerp.

Other rockets landed in France, Maastricht in Holland and even in Remagen, Germany where the use of rockets were an attempt to try and disrupt US forces by targeting the Ludendorff Bridge across the Rhine. This was the first time that rockets had been used to attack a very specific target. Eleven rockets were fired at the bridge, however none hit their target, but American soldiers and German civilians were killed.

The V-2 campaign against London killed more than 6,000 people.

The rockets were constructed by slave labour and many tens of thousands died due to the appalling conditions in which they were held and laboured.

The impact of the V-1 and V-2 weapons was considerable on those forced to build them, the areas where they were launched and their targets.

Two pillars in two countries, roughly 205 miles apart provide a reminder of the devastation that these weapons would cause.

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Exploring Post War Netherlands – The Hague

Although by far the majority of my father’s photos are of London, he took his camera with him where ever he went, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with some friends, he cycled across the UK, staying in Youth Hostels and taking photos along the way. I have already featured a number of these locations.

In 1952 he also traveled out to the Netherlands, cycling to a number of cities, both typical tourist destinations and also places that had featured significantly in the war. (I will use the Netherlands as the full name of the country, probably better known as Holland, although this is really only the name of the western province of the country).

Coincidences are strange. My father always wanted to return to the Netherlands and in 1989 my job transferred to the country, so along with my wife and daughter I moved out to live in the Hague for the next five years. It was a wonderful experience, and during this time my parents came to visit several times and we took them to visit the places my father had been to almost forty year earlier.

I knew that he had taken photos, but these photos had not been printed so it has been only in the last few years that I have scanned and seen the photos he took during his post war visit – I had not seen any of these when we lived in the country.

We recently decided to spend a week in the Netherlands this summer to visit the places where we use to live, and as my aim with this blog is to trace the locations of my father’s photos it was a perfect opportunity to track these down as well, now that they have been scanned, rather than hidden in negative boxes.

So, with apologies that this is not London, for the next few weeks I would like to take you on a journey across the Netherlands. Not just tracking down the locations of my father’s photos, but also to discover much about the history of the country, how a suburb of the Hague will forever have a tragic link with west London, how the Dutch commemorate the sacrifices of British and Polish forces, when the war came to Nijmegen, Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and how the bombing of Rotterdam during the German invasion of the country gave an indication of the destruction that would soon visit London.

On the way there are some fascinating individual stories, street photography, some wonderful architecture and architects, and for me, given the state of the world today, some very important lessons that should not be forgotten.

But before leaving, there was some important documentation to check. My father had just bought a new Leica camera from R.G. Lewis in High Holborn and the photographic press at the time was reporting on a number of confiscations of “expensive miniatures” by customs on return to the country. Leica cameras in the post war years could be purchased in Germany for much less than you would pay in the UK so documentary proof was needed that a camera had been purchased in the country. R.G. Lewis were able to provide assurance that the receipt provided sufficient documentation:

the Hague

With the right documentation to avoid any customs problems on return to the UK, it was time to get going.

From Tilbury to Rotterdam

To start, we need to get from London to the Netherlands. At the time, the easiest method was to take the train out to Tilbury, then catch the Batavier Line ship, Batavier II from Tilbury to the port of Rotterdam.

This is the route that my father took, when, along with two friends, they took their bikes with them from London. They traveled light, each with a bike and a saddlebag containing everything they needed for the trip.

The following photo from Britain from Above shows the passenger terminal building at Tilbury with the station platforms behind the terminal building. The much larger RMS Strathaird is docked rather than the smaller Batavier II.

the Hague

I would have loved to have seen some photos of the Tilbury terminal, the ship and the outbound voyage, however one of the limitations in the days of film cameras was the cost of film and the amount that could carried, so there are only a few photos.

The first is of the Red Sands fort in the Thames estuary. Built during the war as an anti-aircraft gun emplacement to defend London from aircraft approaching up the Thames, when my father took the following photo of the fort, it was still in use.

the Hague

In 2015 I was on the paddle steamer Waverley on a trip from central London out to the forts and took the following photo with the Shivering Sands fort and the Red sands fort in the distance.

the Hague

There are also a couple of grainy and distant photos of the Thames river bank as the Batavier II headed out into the north sea, but the first detailed photos are the arrival at the port of Rotterdam. This one from the bow of the Batavier II:

the Hague

The Batavier Line was a Dutch shipping line established in 1830 by the Netherlands Steamship Company, when a regular service was operated from the Port of London to Rotterdam. In 1895 the Batavier Line was sold to Wm. H. Müller and Co, and the Batavier name was retained and a number of new ships were ordered including the Batavier II (a replacement of a ship with the same name). The ship was delivered in 1921.

The Batavier II was the only ship of the Bataview Line that survived the war. Of the immediate pre-war Batavier ships, the Batavier V was seized by the invading German forces, but sunk by the Royal Navy in 1941. The Batavier III had also been seized and sunk off Norway in 1942 after hitting a mine whilst being used as a German troop carrier.

Only the Batavier II survived the war to reenter service on the Tilbury to Rotterdam route which survived until 1958 when Batavier ended their passenger services.

The following postcard shows the Batavier II. On the reverse of the card is written “Batavier Line, London to Rotterdam”. The above photo was taken from the front of the boat, just by the railings which can be seen in the postcard.

the Hague

The port of Rotterdam is one of Europe’s largest ports, as it was when these photos were taken with industries related to shipping lining the river for a considerable distance.

the Hague

There are no passenger services from London to Rotterdam today, however the alternative would be a train journey from Liverpool Street to Harwich and then the ferry service from Harwich to the Hook of Holland.

I am not sure where the ship docked in Rotterdam. It was not at the Hook of Holland as this terminal is located at the entrance to the port. My father’s photos show that the ship traveled further into central Rotterdam.

the Hague

When we travelled to the Netherlands this year we did not take the ferry, instead we travelled on the EuroTunnel shuttle service from Folkestone to Calais, then a drive up through France and Belgium, to arrive in Holland.

I suspect my father visited Rotterdam first, and this city will be the subject of one of the coming posts, For this Sunday’s post, it is a brief visit to:

The Hague

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands whilst the Hague is the administrative centre. The city where the States General of the Netherlands (the country’s parliament) is located, along with the Supreme Court and the International Court of Justice.

As with the country as a whole, the Hague has a complex history. The origins of the city date back to the early 13th century, when Floris IV, the Count of Holland established a base in the area,

The city and what was to become the Netherlands has been through a series of occupations, consolidation and separation. The Spanish occupied the city during the eighty years war, the country was a client state of the First French Empire at the start of the 19th century, the country was combined with Belgium with separation only achieved in 1830, and the country was occupied by Germany during the second world war. As with the rest of the Netherlands, the Hague suffered terribly during the last war.

The country has also had a long trading history, at times in competition and also at war with England.

Whilst in the Hague, my father took some photos of the Binnenhof, the meeting place of the States General (the equivalent of London’s Palace of Westminster) and the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Considering the function of the Binnenhof, access is open and the visitor is free to walk around. Whilst there are armed police around the site, there are no searches or restrictions to exploring the open areas and taking photos.

The main entrance into the Binnenhof complex:

the Hague

Once inside and standing in the central courtyard, I found the location of the first of my father’s photos:

the Hague

As probably to be expected of the seat of Government, there has been hardly any change. The main physical change is that the fountain in the above photo has been moved slightly to the left, so just outside of the photo of the same scene today.the Hague

I always find the small details fascinating in comparing the original photos with the scene today. Despite being almost 70 years apart, there is a mobile ice cream seller in almost exactly the same place:

the Hague

One side of the courtyard is taken up by the Ridderzaal, or Knight’s Hall.

the Hague

The origins of the Ridderzaal date back to the 13th century when Floris V built his first manorial hall within the area of land first developed by his grandfather. The Ridderzaal has been used for a multitude of purposes over the centuries, and today hosts the annual opening of the Dutch Parliament by King Willem-Alexander.

The Ridderzaal today, again with hardly a change:

the Hague

I am not sure of the significance of the clothes that this group were wearing.

the Hague

But again,. the scene is much the same today:

the Hague

The Binnenhof appears to have escaped any significant damage during the war, although this was not the same for the rest of the Hague. The population suffered considerably during occupation, and the Hague, along with much of western Holland was occupied until the closing months of the war. Supplies were cut and much of the population were close to starving. When I lived in the Hague, work colleagues told stories of the time which included tinned food being floated down the canals from liberated areas into the occupied.

There was also physical destruction to the Hague, not just from the occupation forces, but also from the Allied forces. The suburbs of the Hague were used for V2 rocket launches against Antwerp and London and the RAF tried to address this threat by bombing the facilities used to store the rocket fuel, the rockets and the mobile launch platforms, however one significant bombing raid missed the target resulting in hundreds of deaths among the local population.

In the Binnenhof courtyard is a rather impressive, neo-gothic fountain. Designed by the architect P.J.H Cuypers (who was also responsible for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam), the fountain was in operation by 1885.

the Hague

The fountain today. Colour photography brings out the gilding of the fountain. It appears to have been relocated slightly at some point over the last 70 years.

the Hague

As the home of the Dutch Parliament, the Binnenhof has always had a symbolic importance to the Dutch population and the state. It was therefore used for rallies and ceremonies by the occupying forces not that many years before my father’s 1952 photos. The following photo is of the main courtyard with the fountain visible in the top left.

the Hague

And in front of the Ridderzaal:

the Hague

As mentioned earlier, the Dutch population suffered terribly during the war. Arthur Seyss-Inquart was the Reichskommissar of the Netherlands during the war. An Austrian and a fervent Nazi, he aggressively pursued the round up and deportation of Jews within the country. He was found guilty in the Nuremberg Trials and hanged shortly after. 

A very different ceremony was held in the Binnenhof courtyard in May 1945 following the liberation of the Netherlands by British and Canadian armed forces.

the Hague

Directly outside the Binnenhof is the Hofvijver, translated as Court Pond, although the word pond does not seem appropriate for this large expanse of water.

the Hague

The history of the Hofvijver can be traced back to the first manorial buildings here in the 13th century. It was originally a lake within the sandy landscape of the area (water is never far away in much of the Netherlands).

As part of the development of the Hofvijver, it was bounded by street and pedestrian areas on three sides with the Binnenhof on the fourth side to form a rectangular area of water, which from the sides looks remarkably shallow.

The scene has not really changed for centuries. This painting from the Dutch School, dated 1625 shows a similar view, although the Hofvijver today is not used for any form of boating.

the Hague

So if it looks much the same over almost 400 years, I would expect the views over the last 70 years to be much the same, and indeed they are:

the Hague

Apart from the expansion of high rise buildings in the background. The building on the left of both photos is the Mauritshuis, the home to a large collection from the golden age of Dutch art, and home to Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” – well worth a visit.

The small, circular building to the right of the Mauritshuis is known as the “Little Tower” and is the office of the Dutch Prime Minister.

the Hague

Another view along the Hofvijver:

the Hague

Although the lake that formed the Hofvijver dates from before the first buildings, the island in the middle is only about 300 years and of unknown original purpose.

the Hague

A close up view, with the Prime Minister’s office on the left:

the Hague

At the opposite end of the Hofvijver was a fountain:

the Hague

And a rather less impressive fountain can still be seen today:

the Hague

It is interesting to compare transport systems when visiting other cities and whilst the Hague is many times smaller than London, it does have a very impressive public transport system with a combination of buses and trams providing comprehensive coverage of the central city and surrounding suburbs and towns.

Trams navigate the central streets of the Hague and the pedestrian needs to keep a careful lookout for the large number of bikes as well as trams.

I was please to see the number 1 tram. This tram runs from the coastal suburb of Schvenenigen to the town of Delft. It was the tram I caught every day to and from work. The same model of tram is currently in use so these must be over 30 years old.

the Hague

However very new trams have been introduced on a number of routes.

the Hague

The public transport system is fast, efficient and reliable. A day card allowing travel on trams and buses across the Hague and the surrounding towns covered by the system costs the equivalent of £6 (and would be less, but given the current very depressed state of the Pound against the Euro),

My father only took a few photos of the Hague, he would take many more in the places he visited next. We left the Hague to Amsterdam as our next destination, but not before a trip to a suburb of the Hague which has a tragic connection with west London and that will be the subject of my next (midweek) post.

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Building The Tybalds Close Estate

After the devastation of the last war, there was an urgent need to rebuild and housing was a key priority in post war redevelopment. The construction techniques and architectural style were often very different from pre-war housing and new estates sprung up to replace the old street plan. One such location is the Tybalds Close Estate, just north of Theobalds Road.

My father took a couple of photos of the first blocks of the estate being built in 1949:

Tybalds Close Estate

The following photo was taken looking to the right of the above photo and shows the tallest of the first blocks to be built, along with a house in the lower right corner which enabled the location to be identified and also surprised me by showing that you cannot believe that buildings are the age they appear – more on that later in the post.

Tybalds Close Estate

Approval to develop the Tybalds Close Estate was given in 1946 and the estate gradually grew from the late 1940s (when my father’s photos were taken) through to the 1960s when the final tower block was complete.

The first blocks were of a steel frame construction and consisted of one block of 10 storeys (the one on the right in the above photo) and four 7 storey blocks (two of which can be seen on the left of the above photos with the remaining two being built later).

The architects were Robert Hening and Anthony Chitty. They had started their architectural work in the years before the war when their work included a number of regional airports. One of these airports was at Ipswich where despite being Grade II listed, Hening and Chitty’s airport terminal buildings were demolished in 2005.

After war service, Hening and Chitty reformed their partnership and worked on a number of housing developments, commercial, industrial and schools. As well as the Tybalds Close Estate, Hening and Chitty were also responsible for the housing blocks alongside Cromer Street in St. Pancras. The style of both sets of housing blocks is very similar, although the Cromer Street blocks have been through a complete re-cladding.

The buildings were constructed by William Moss and Sons, a company original founded in 1820 and with a long history as an independent construction company until being taken over by the Kier Group in 1984.

The following map shows the location of the Tybalds Close Estate. The overall estate being roughly within the blue oval, with the original parts of the estate as shewn in my father’s photo being within the red oval.  (Map  “© OpenStreetMap contributors”).

Tybalds Close Estate

As can be seen, the area between the housing blocks and where my father was standing was open ground. Originally dense housing, but badly bombed with the area cleared ready for reconstruction.

It is impossible to get a similar view today as the area has been completely built over with large office blocks. The following photo is looking across in the general direction of the original photos. My father was standing somewhere under this large office block to take the originals.

Tybalds Close Estate

The taller of the blocks on the right of the second photo is Blemundsbury House. This is the view of Blemundsbury House today, looking down Harpur Street.

Tybalds Close Estate

This is Windmill House. Not yet started when my father took the original photos, but of the same style and one of Hening and Chitty’s designs. To the left of Windmill House can be seen one of the buildings that was also a steel frame in my father’s photos, at right angles to Blemundsbury House.

Tybalds Close Estate

I mentioned earlier in the post that the location of the photo could be identified by the old house in the lower right corner and that I also found something that demonstrates you cannot always believe what you see.

The following is an extract from the second of my father’s photos. It is an enlargement of the house at the lower right corner of the photo.

Tybalds Close Estate

The house is on the corner of Harpur and Dombey Streets. The following is a photo of the same house today.

Tybalds Close Estate

The house in the original photo looks the worst for wartime damage, however the layour of the windows is the same, the same entrance door, the same seperator at the top of the 3rd floor and the street name sign is in the same place on the corner of the house.

What is really stange is that in the original photo there is no building to the right of the corner house, although today there is a substantial house which looks original in all aspects.

Tybalds Close Estate

This is another view of the two houses. The further being the one in the original photo and the house closest to the camera must be a post war reconstruction of the original house on the site.

The attention to detail is remarkable. The brickwork is the same, the style of the house is the same as the houses in Dombey Street. If I did not have my father’s photo for evidence I would have thought that this was an original Georgian house.

The entrance door to the reconstructed house is shown in the photo below. Note how identical the brick work and the size of the coarse between the bricks is to the wall on the left. There must have been piles of bricks in the area from the bomb damage and I can only assume that bricks and probably door and windows were reused from demolished houses to construct this new house.

Tybalds Close Estate

In the enlargement of the original photo there is a doorway visible to the right of the main house and this was probably the entrance to the original house, but not to Harpur Mews as the sign above the entrance advertises today.

The following map is an extract from the 1895 Ordnance Survey map.

Tybalds Close Estate

Harpur Street can be seen to the lower right. Harpur Mews is in the middle of the block and there is no entrance to the mews from Harpur Street. the entrance was from East Street (now Dombey Street) as shown by the building with the X which denotes a building above a through entrance.

The map also shows the dense housing across the area, much of which is now covered by the Tybalds Close Estate. Blemundsbury House occupies the space occupied by the houses to the north of East Street, starting from just to the right of the junction with Harpur Street and running to the left.

I could not find too much information on the area, however I did find a photo of Ormond Yard, the largest space in the centre of the map and now occupied by the Tybalds Close Estate. The following photo was published in The Sphere on the 2nd December 1933 and is one of a series of photos taken by a Mr. William Clark in 1918. Mr. Clark was apparently a Birmingham businessman who was fascinated by London in the time of Dickens and set out to photograph what he could find that was typical of Dickens time and also mentioned in Dickens novels.

The following photo is titled “Ormond Yard, Bloomsbury – Galleried cottages of Dickensian days whose quiet charm is in strange contrast to 20th century London”.

Tybalds Close Estate

The first mentions that I could find of Ormond Yard date back to 1770, and through one hundred plus years there are the usual reports of the casual crime, accidents and violence that could be found across the dense housing of London.

The pub in the centre of the yard was The Crown. A report in the Sporting Life on the 2nd of June 1885 offers a glimpse of life in the yard:

“The Crown, Ormond Yard, Bloomsbury – A high class show took place at this establishment on the 31st, the exhibits consisting of bulldogs, bull terriers, mastiffs, pugs, dachshunds, and almost every variety of choice toy pets. The house, as usual, was well attended by fanciers and dealers. the chair was occupied by Mr. Alfred George faced by Mr Currie, supported by the following;- Messrs Strugnell (champion pugs), Clarke (bull dogs), Anderson (white half-bred dogs), Painter (champion spaniels), Matthews and Taylor (toy black and tan terriers) and Nicholls (mastiffs); also a gentlemen with some remarkably fine dachshunds, and many others together with many strangers. The handsome silver collar for the best bull terrier was taken by Mr. A. George’s Prince, a very handsome dog.

The land on which the Tybalds Close Estate is built was part of the early 18th century expansion of London. Rocque’s map from 1746 shows the area below:

Tybalds Close Estate

The fields to the north and west show that the area at the time was on the edge of built London. At the time, and as probably built, Ormond Yard was a separate smaller yard and the main area was Ormond Mewse – the two areas would later combine as shown in the 1895 map.

The area in which the Tybalds Close Estate is built was originally part of the land donated by Sir William Harpur in 1566 by Sir William Harpur. See my post on Tracing Harpur’s Bedford Charity Estate.

One final point, the larger of the two blocks being built in my father’s photo is Blemundsbury House. The name provides an old connection to the area of Bloomsbury.

Blemundsbury was the original name of Bloomsbury. In turn, Blemundsbury took its name from a 13th century drainage ditch in the area known as Blemund’s Dyke.

The Tybalds Close Estate is at the heart of a fascinating area.

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The London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine

I love buildings where the design of the building indicates the activities carried out within the building. These buildings show a pride in the purpose for which the building was constructed. They are not the all too frequent bland architecture we see so much of today where almost any interchangeable activity could be carried on within. These buildings proudly call out why they are there. This week’s post is about one such building. I walked past the building earlier this year and took some photos on a rather grey day. This is the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine:

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The origins of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are in the London Docks, where a seamen’s hospital opened at the Royal Albert Dock in 1890. This would evolve into the London School of Tropical Medicine, also in the Royal Albert Dock, which opened in 1899.

In 1920 the school moved to Endsleigh Gardens, to the south of the Euston Road, and a couple of years later, a government report recommended the formal establishment of a school for tropical medicine by the University of London. This was confirmed by the grant of a Royal Charter in 1924 for the school as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

A site was found for the new school in Keppel Street, opposite the Senate House of the University of London and the foundation stone was laid in 1926 with the school being officially opened in 1929.

At first glance, the building looks like any other stone office block, but look closely and the building has some remarkable details.

The overall building is a steel frame with Portland Stone cladding. The main entrance to the building is in Keppel Street.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The door is raised above street level and reached by a a short flight of steps. Above the door is a carving of the school logo, Apollo and Artemis riding a chariot.

If you look above the door to the first floor, each of the windows has a small, ornamental balcony with a small metal frame. On either edge of the frame are gilded representations of the insects and animals that act as carriers of the diseases that the school was set-up to study, treat and eliminate.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

A walk around the building provides a handy guide to the insects and animals you would not want to be bitten by:

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The above is just a sample of the balconies. On reaching the corner of the building there is, in my opinion, one of the best street name signs in London:

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

As with the best design, these signs are very simple. but highly effective and lovely to look at. The signs look even better on a sunny day when the gold lettering glints in the sunlight.

The foundation stone was laid by Neville Chamberlain on the 7th July 1926.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Neville Chamberlain is probably better known for his attempts when Prime Minister to make peace agreements with Germany prior to the start of the last war, the Munich agreement with Hitler and the “peace in our time” words used after his return. Chamberlain had a long political career before becoming Prime Minister and for a time in the 1920s he was Minister of Health.

A newspaper report on the day after the foundation stone was laid provides background as to how the new building was funded. The report is titled “London School of Hygiene. Rockefeller Foundation’s Generosity”

“The Minister of Health (Mr Neville Chamberlain) yesterday laid the foundation stone of the new London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at Malet Street, WC.

The guests were welcomed by Sir Alfred Mond, M.P. (Chairman of the Board of Management) who said it was during his term of office as Minister of Health that the trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation made their magnificent offer, providing a sum of two million dollars for the building and equipment of the new school. The purpose of the institution was of the highest importance to the people of this country and the population of the Empire, and indeed of humanity.

The University Grants Committee was giving £5000 a year towards the cost of immediate development, and the Rockefeller Trustees had assisted with a grant of £4000 a year towards the cost of maintenance until the new school was ready. About a year ago the Rockefeller Foundation substituted for their original undertaking a promise to pay a sum of £460,000, that being the value in sterling at the time of their entering into agreement to provide the original sum. By this action they cancelled the loss due to the rise in the cost of sterling, which would otherwise have meant a diminution in the value of the gift of some £50,000.

Before laying the foundation stone, Mr. Neville Chamberlain said that ceremony marked the commencement of a building which was the result of a combination of the two great English speaking nations, and which, in all human probability, was destined to be famous thereafter as the greatest centre in the world of research and of instruction in one of the most beneficent of all the activities of the human race. The school would have the latest types of apparatus and equipment, and it would contain a notable feature in the shape of a great teaching museum, which would show in a graphic form the subjects which were being taught, and the symptoms of the diseases.

The following cablegram was sent to the Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation:- On the day of the laying of the foundation stone of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the American and British flags fly side by side at the dawn of a new era of preventative medicine. The Minister of Health, Mr Neville Chamberlain, sends cordial greeting, and renewed acknowledgements to the Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation.”

The London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine was opened on the 18th July 1929 by the Prince of Wales. Reports of the opening were carried in the majority of the following day’s newspapers. There were hardly any reports of the actual opening ceremony, the reports focused on the Prince meeting the workers who had constructed the building:

“The Prince and Workmen – Pledges Their Good Health In Beer.

When the Prince of Wales opened the new building of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Gower Street, he pledged good health in beer to two hundred workmen who have been engaged on the building.

The workmen were entertained to lunch by Lord Melchett in a marquee in a courtyard of the school, and the Prince, after the opening ceremony, walked down to the marquee to see them. As he entered  they stood and cheered him for several minutes.

Then the foreman said ‘ We will drink the Prince’s health’ and the two hundred workmen held up their glasses of beer and shouted ‘good luck’ and good health’.

The Prince himself then raised a glass of beer high above his shoulder, and shouted ‘Here is the very best to you too. Thank you, thank you,’ and drank the beer.

The workmen afterwards sang ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow, and then the Prince asked they go on with their lunch. ‘Give us a speech, prince’ cried one of the men as he turned to go. He halted, turned round, and said ‘Good-bye, men, I am very glad to have seen you all. Good -bye.”

Above the upper floor windows, are the names of men (this is the 1920s and the names were chosen by committee, probably also all men), who had been influential in the development of public hygiene and tropical medicine.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

In the photo above are:

Edmund Parkes, a 19th century physician who as a result of the dreadful medical conditions of the Crimean War, developed Army Medical Services and in 1863 published the Manual of Practical Hygiene.

William Leishman, an army physician who died in 1926, not long before the opening of the school. He worked on a typhoid vaccine whilst at the Army Medical School at Netley, alongside Southampton Water.

Timothy Lewis, a 19th century Welsh surgeon who worked in India on several tropical diseases.

Further along are Lister and Pasteur:London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Joseph Lister was a 19th century surgeon whose work in the prevention of infections during surgery, the use of sterile techniques, carbolic acid to dress wounds, aimed to reduce the significant post operative dangers from infection in the 19th century.

Louis Pasteur was a 19th century French chemist who worked in the fields of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurisation, the technique which carries Pasteur’s name in which food stuffs are treated with mild amounts of heat to kill pathogens.

Further along are the pathologist and surgeon John Simon, and Patrick Manson who was the founder of the field of tropical medicine.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Lemuel Shattuck from Boston in the United States was responsible for the introduction of the registration of births, marriages and deaths. Perhaps not an immediate name to associate with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, however when this type of information is correctly and fully recorded across a population, its use in the development of public health strategies is invaluable.

Edwin Chadwick was a 19th century social reformer. His work reforming the poor Laws and in improvement of public sanitation and public health were initially resisted, however in 1847 he was on a committee of inquiry into sanitary conditions in London and a later outbreak of cholera supported the recommendations he had made whilst serving on the committee.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Above the side entrance in Malet Street are three further names. Johann Frank was a German physician, Max von Pettenkoffer, also German, worked to further public hygiene, clean water and hygienic disposal of sewage. Hermann Biggs was an American who worked in the field of infection control.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

I have only covered 12 of the names around the building. There are 23 in total. The website of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine provides detail on 22 of the names, and strangely does not include Louis Pasteur.

Who would have known that a walk around Gower, Keppel and Malet Streets would provide a history lesson in the development of public hygiene and health, and the fight against tropical diseases.

The exterior of the building is much the same as when first built, however there has been development of the building internally and extensions over what were internal courtyards. The importance of the building is such that it is Grade II listed.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine continues to perform important work in teaching and research and their building proudly advertises these activities to anyone who looks up.

And I still think the building has one of the best street signs in London.

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