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Bombing of the Bezuidenhout

1945 in the Netherlands20th century in The HagueAC with 0 elementsAerial bombing operations and battlesAerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
History of The HagueMarch 1945 eventsNetherlands in World War IINetherlands–United Kingdom military relationsV-weaponsWorld War II strategic bombing of the Netherlands
Bombardement Bezuidenhout, 1945 03 03
Bombardement Bezuidenhout, 1945 03 03

The bombing of the Bezuidenhout (Dutch: bombardement op het Bezuidenhout) took place on 3 March 1945, when the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague. At the time, the neighbourhood was more densely populated than usual with evacuees from The Hague and Wassenaar; tens of thousands were left homeless and had to be quartered in the Eastern and Central Netherlands. The British bomber crews had intended to bomb the Haagse Bos ("Forest of the Hague") district where the Germans had installed V-2 launching facilities that had been used to attack English cities. However, the pilots were issued with the wrong coordinates so the navigational instruments of the bombers had been set incorrectly, and combined with fog and clouds which obscured their vision, the bombs were instead dropped on the Bezuidenhout residential neighbourhood.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bombing of the Bezuidenhout (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bombing of the Bezuidenhout
De Carpentierstraat, The Hague Haagse Hout

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Wikipedia: Bombing of the BezuidenhoutContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.084 ° E 4.338 °
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Address

De Carpentierstraat 137E
2595 HH The Hague, Haagse Hout
South Holland, Netherlands
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Bombardement Bezuidenhout, 1945 03 03
Bombardement Bezuidenhout, 1945 03 03
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Netkous
Netkous

The Netkous or Fishnets is the popular name for the tram bridge in The Hague district Bezuidenhout built between 2004 and 2006. The viaduct is along the Prinses Beatrixlaan. An important part of light rail is the coupling of the Hague tram to the Zoetermeer City Line (formerly part of the NS). To make this possible, it was decided to build a branch of the Hague tram elevated between Ternoot to the railway station Laan van NOI, where it connects to the existing line. In the business area Beatrixkwartier to improve access, a station was built halfway along the viaduct. Before construction could begin the first station Ternoot was moved a few hundred meters, otherwise, there would be no room for the curve CS Beatrixlaan. Both the viaduct and the integrated station were designed by Zwarts & Jansma Architects. The overpass is built up of an open tubular structure, which is reminiscent of a fishnet stocking. Due to this strong construction are relatively large spans possible and the number of columns can remain limited. The viaduct segments are assembled on site, prefabricated steel rings and tubes. To do this, a temporary assembly was built on the route. In a special conserving hall (composed of shipping containers) the viaduct parts were provided with a protective coating. The viaduct is ridden by light rail 3 and 4. A similar fishnet structure applied in 2014 at the Railway bridge over the Dieze and The Royal Welsh Bridge in 's-Hertogenbosch, and is applied to the complete 2016 terminal of the Rotterdam metro line E between Slinge and The Hague Central.

Bezuidenhout
Bezuidenhout

Bezuidenhout (Dutch pronunciation: [bəˈzœydə(n)ˌɦʌut]; English: "South of the Wood") is the neighborhood (Dutch: wijk) southeast of the Haagse Bos neighborhood of The Hague in the Netherlands. Bezuidenhout includes the Beatrixkwartier financial area near the Central Station and streets such as Bezuidenhoutseweg, Juliana van Stolberglaan, Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië, Prins Clauslaan, and Theresiastraat. Part of German-occupied Europe during World War II, Bezuidenhout was bombed by mistake by the Royal Air Force in a bombing raid which killed hundreds of civilians. The targeted area was the adjacent woodland park Haagse Bos that was used by the Germans for launching V-1 and V-2 rockets, but all bombs missed the forest target by more than 500 yards (460 m) because of an error in reading the map, overcast conditions and incorrect allowance for the wind. The mistake caused the deaths of 511 civilians.Because nobody was certain about what to do after the explosion, there were no plans to reconstruct the neighbourhood until 1962, when David Jokinen saw an opportunity to put an end to the situation in which the Staatsspoor station and the Hollands Spoor each served only part of the rail traffic. His plan included demolishing the Staatsspoor Station. His plan sparked fierce discussions. The plan was not implemented, in part because it was only presented when decision-making had finally reached an advanced stage. Today, the Den Haag Centraal railway station stands in place of the Staatsspoor station.