Bomb crater (and yet no Sheep Drinking Hole)

A few years ago, there was a sign at this spot in the Ludenbos/Mesdagbosje that this deep pit would have been a sheep watering hole. A long time ago, the shepherds brought their sheep daily from the sheepfolds in the meadows of Langbroek to the moors north of Doorn. The long paths that were created as a result have become well-known Doorn avenues such as the Berkenweg/Drift and the Woestduinlaan (formerly the Schapendrift, then the Hirtlerdrift and from 1934 the Woestduinlaan).

However, an investigation at the Antiquities Room Doorn (1st floor of Cultuurhuis Doorn) raised doubts about the existence of the sheep drinking place. A "bomb map" showing the WWII bomb attacks in Doorn was the reason to investigate further.

Eventually, an aerial photograph of the Royal Air Force from 22 January 1945 surfaced. It shows the impacts of an Allied bombing raid on 26 November 1944. In the Ludenbos there were shelters for German army vehicles and they wanted to hit them. 9 bombs were dropped. The position of this deep pit corresponds to one of those impacts. Mr. B.G.M. Schoemaker wrote about that bombing in his diary letters 1944/1945 that a bomb crater the size of a large house had been created in the middle of the Berkenweg. And that practically all the houses of the Berkenweg were uninhabitable, because there was not a single pane of glass intact anywhere and most of the roofs had suffered heavy damage due to the air pressure. He continues his account with the words: "And all this while the whole 'catch' of the H.H. pilots was: 3 small German cars and 1 soldier who had crawled into a splinter hole, which had been pressed by the landslide, causing the man to suffocate." This pit turns out to be a bomb crater and the Ludenkwartier Association would like to restore it to its former glory. This way, everyone can get to know this historic place.

Niels