Oostburg - War Museum Switchback (NL)

Suffering of war and peace confidence

War is a terrible thing. The newspapers are full of it every day. The West-Zeeuws-Flemings experienced first-hand how terrible war can be during the Second World War. The Switchback War Museum in Oostburg is dedicated to this dramatic historical period.

A missed opportunity
In June 1944, more than sixty years ago, the liberation of Western Europe began in Normandy. After a rapid advance through France and Belgium, the Allied troops reached the Belgian-Dutch border in mid-September 1944. The Germans had quickly withdrawn and everyone thought that the war would end in a few weeks. Things turned out completely differently. The German army regrouped and even managed to win a battle at Arnhem. Supply problems, terrain conditions and disagreements between the Allied commanders caused further delays. This gave the Germans the opportunity to put West-Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in a strong state of defence. They knew how strategically important the region was in relation to the mouth of the Scheldt and the deep-sea port of Antwerp.

Operation Switcback
It was not until the first week of October that the Allies deployed all means to 'open the Breskens-pocket'. to liberate. The name of the operation: ? Switchback?. Opposite them were experienced German Eastern Fronters. A hideous polder war began. In few other areas in the Netherlands has there been so much fighting and is the war so ?total? as in West-Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The liberation could not be considered complete until 3 November. More than 800 Canadians and 788 Germans were killed in polder and street fighting. The population of West-Zeeuws-Vlaanderen also paid a heavy price: 581 inhabitants were killed, thousands of homes were totally destroyed or severely damaged. The destruction had turned almost all the towns into smoking ruins and it would take years before they were rebuilt. At the same time, the liberation brought joy and hope for a new, free future.

Switcback War Museum
This mixture of struggle, suffering of war and faith in a new peace are central to the Switchback War Museum, literally in the centre of Oostburg and West-Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. An impressive collection of military objects from both the German occupiers and the Canadian liberators has been brought together here. You will experience the liberation again, as it were.

Address
War Museum Switchback
Oude Stad 16, 4501 JB Oostburg, The Netherlands
Tel. +31 (117) 452 816

Practical information
Open
June to August: Saturday 13.00-17.00
Outside opening hours groups by appointment.

Rates
Individual:? 2,00
Children up to 12 years old: ? 1,00
No museum annual pass
No group discount
Guided tours: by appointment
Accessible to less mobile visitors: yes

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