Erwin Melzer

This memorial page is dedicated to Erwin Melzer, one of more than 725 war victims connected to the municipality of Deurne documented by Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. The municipality of Deurne and the surrounding villages of Liessel, Vlierden, Helenaveen, Neerkant and Zeilberg were liberated in the autumn of 1944 during heavy fighting. Victims fell on all sides: Allied soldiers from countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, and German soldiers.

But the archive covers more than just the combat victims on Deurne soil. Residents of Deurne who lost their lives elsewhere are also commemorated: civilians who were murdered in concentration camps, forced labourers who died in Germany, people who were executed or succumbed to the effects of persecution and oppression. In addition, residents of Deurne who entered German military service and were killed elsewhere are also included.

Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers has been documenting the story of all these people since 1995, without distinction of nationality, side or background. The goal is to give every person a name and a face, and to keep their memory alive.

Additional information

Grave location: Section TJ, Row 3, Grave 37

A final outpost had been set up at the home of the Hannes van Ooij family, Z.224a, near the level crossing at the Clarinet. This outpost consisted of an American tank and a few American soldiers. On that particular evening, Mrs Struik, who remembered the incident clearly, was staying with the Pijnenburg family at Z.318B, diagonally opposite the outpost, and was woken by gunfire. It turned out that a group of Germans had launched an attack on the American post using machine guns and hand grenades. The Americans, however, were prepared, and the following morning three dead Germans were found, whilst bloodstains indicated that wounded Germans may have escaped. Mrs Struik believed that the Americans had suffered no casualties, and the three Germans were temporarily buried by the Americans on the tip near the Clarinet.

This is confirmed by the transfer report containing identification details, as the field graves of Gefreiter Erwin Melzer, Gefreiter Hans Green and Sanitäter Bruno Baasch were marked with an American wooden cross bearing a metal strip inscribed ‘Unknown German Soldier’.

Erwin Melzer’s field grave was situated 5 metres north of the embankment of the railway line from Zeilberg to Griendtsveen and 154 metres east of the second unguarded section to the west of the former Griendtsveen halt.

A report on the transfer, containing identification details and drawn up by the Identification and Recovery Service, may be available for inspection from the author.

View all persons in the category: German soldiers killed in action