GORINCHEM – A few weeks ago, a resident of Gorinchem donated a carbine, a rifle, two bayonets and a sabre to the Gorcums Museum. The objects had been found 25 years earlier during dredging operations and probably date from the Second World War. Research confirms this theory, at least in the case of the rifle and carbine.
Martin Veen with the weapons from the Gorcum harbour
Between arrowheads, dating from the end of the fourteenth, beginning of the fifteenth century, originating from the time of the lords of Arkel, a number of relics from the Second World War are displayed on a white table. At least that is what Martin Veen, manager of the Gorinchem municipal depot of soil finds, assumes. It concerns a carbine, a rifle, two bayonets and a sabre, a donation that a resident of Gorinchem made to the Gorcums Museum a few weeks ago.
"I was approached by Rob Kreszner, director of the museum, with the request to take a look at it,” Veen begins. “Despite the fact that Gorinchem was a garrison town for a long time, including during the Second World War, weapon finds from that period are relatively rare and unique.” According to the donor, she received the ‘weaponry’ after dredging work in the Vluchthaven, 25 years ago. “I doubt whether it came from the Vluchthaven,” Veen continues. “No dredging work took place there during that period. It did in the Lingehaven, which I think is a more likely location.” Veen does not think it is inconceivable that soldiers dumped the weapons after the capitulation on 15 May 1940 as a precaution that they would fall into the hands of the occupiers.
Research by Dr. Arjan Bosman has now established that the carbine, the rifle and both bayonets indeed originate from the Second World War. It would concern a so-called M95 rifle, caliber 6.5 and a carbine M95-3, which had been in use by the army since 1895.
According to the report, the sabre cannot be directly linked to the Second World War. In 1813, Napoleon, fleeing Russian and Prussian troops, occupied the Arkelstad to ensure a safe return of his army to the south. Bosman keeps a number of options open in his research: "The sabre may be related to the siege of Gorinchem in 1813, but even afterwards, when Gorinchem was an important military location, they were also present in abundance."
Gerard Droog
The City of Gorinchem
24 – 9‑2013