Nederweert War Cemetery

Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

Nederweert was liberated by British troops on 21st September, 1944. The front line until 14th November was close by, following the Zuidwillemsvaart and Wessem-Nederweert canals; during that period there were casualties from patrol activity and from daily German shelling of Nederweert, besides some deaths in German minefields. After the British crossed the canals and went on towards the Maas, burials continued in the war cemetery from the surrounding area.

There are now over 350 1939-1945 War casualties commemorated in this site.

 

Served with

  • Australian (3)
  • Canadian (37)
  • Indian (1)
  • New Zealand (4)
  • South African (1)
  • United Kingdom (317)

Served in

  • Air Force (49)
  • Army (301)
  • Navy (13)
Nederweert War Cem
PDF – 17,6 KB

VICTORIA CROSS

Lance Corporal Henry Eric HARDEN - 11006144

Royal Army Medical Corps attd. No. 45 R.M. Commando Royal Marines

Died 23 January 1945 Age 32

Country of Service: United Kingdom

Awards: Victoria Cross

Harden London Gazette
PDF – 122,0 KB

Citation

The citation in the London Gazette of 9th March, 1945, gives the following details: In North-West Europe on 23rd January, 1945 the leading section of a Royal Marine Commando Troop having come under intense machine-gun fire was ordered to make for some houses close by. Four of the section had been wounded and were left lying in the open. Under continuous fire Lance Corporal Harden at once went forward and with great coolness and bravery attended to the four casualties. He then carried one of them back to cover. He was ordered not to go forward again and an attempt was made to bring in the remaining casualties with the aid of tanks, but this proved unsuccessful owing to the heavy and accurate fire of anti-tank guns. A second attempt under a smoke-screen also proving unsuccessful, Lance Corporal Harden insisted in going forward with a volunteer stretcher party and succeeded in bringing back another badly wounded man. He went out a third time, and whilst returning with the stretcher party, he was killed. Throughout this long period Lance-Corporal Harden displayed superb devotion to duty and personal courage of the highest order. His action was directly responsible for saving the lives of the wounded brought in, while his complete contempt for all personal danger, and the magnificent example he set of cool courage and determination to continue with his work, whatever the odds, was an inspiration to his comrades and will never be forgotten by those who saw it.

Grave Reference: IV. E. 13.

(Source: Wikipedia)


One of the crew of Halifax BIII MZ763 78 Sqdn is buried here, the others in Weert (Molenpoort) RC Cemetery

SERGEANT ROBERT LAWRENCE NUTBROWN Flight Engineer - 1594041

78 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died 23 September 1944 Age 37