Willi Schlaghecken

At the age of nine, Willi Schlaghecken witnessed his parents' house in Bienen being hit several times by Allied shelling. His mother, grandfather, and one of his brothers were seriously injured.

I was eight and a half years old at the time. Our family consisted of grandpa and grandma, my parents, us seven children and our aunt Emma. About 80 forced labourers were housed in our barn - they had to build defensive positions here in the area. In the period before the Rhine crossing, weapons and equipment were stored. The farmers also had to transport ammunition from the station at Empel with their horse carts. Sometimes I drove along. On March 23rd, when the attack was launched from the other side of the Rhine, my mother gave birth to her eighth child in the basement. Our house was heavily shelled from the other side of the Rhine. Whole walls collapsed. At a quiet moment I came out of the basement and saw that the church tower burned and that it collapsed and crashed on the school and the teacher’s house. Our basement was hit by a shell, and we had to move to a small, vaulted cellar. To my astonishment, on one of these days I saw a tank down at the local war memorial. It coincidentally turned its barrel at me. I quickly ran into the basement and then there was a shot. The front door flew apart. My grandpa was hit. He had not made it into the cellar. One of his legs was torn off by a shell fragment. The following night our house was fired at by German soldiers. It caught fire. When a shell exploded in front of the basement window, my brother Alfons was hit by a shell fragment. My mother was struck by a load of bricks which hit her in the back. She was in severe pain. Alternately, German and then English-speaking soldiers came into the basement. They fired into all corners. Then English-speaking soldiers came again and asked for blankets. With these they covered their dead comrades. Then they took us out of the basement, and we were separated. Grandma and grandpa and our mother as well as my brothers Alfons and Josef were placed in a jeep. Off it went. They were taken to the dressing-station at Bedburg-Hau. There, my grandpa and my brother Alfons died of their wounds. The rest of us, who had stayed behind, had to go to a camp for refugees from Bienen, temporarily set up at the Aryus farm in Esserden-Reeserward.

(Published in: Josef Becker, Bienen 1939-1945. Erinnerungen, Erlebnisse, Berichte, Bienen 1999)