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Buried Trench Pickaxe

h 16 cm x w 26 cm
1939-1940

On the morning of 11 May 1940, 23,000 German soldiers launched an attack on the Grebbeberg, a strategic hill near the Dutch town of Rhenen. The German army was far superior to the inexperienced and poorly armed 2,500 Dutch soldiers of the 8th Regiment Infantry (8 R.I.).

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German soldiers during the Battle of the Grebbeberg (Source: The Greb Foundation / Vroom Collection).
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Yet, for three long days, the Dutch Army waged a fierce and bloody battle. Under constant artillery fire, from his command post in a trench, Major J.H.A. Jacometti of the 2nd Battalion, 8th R.I. tried to keep up the morale of his men. But on 12 May, at the point of launching a counterattack against the Germans, he was killed in action. A day later, on 13 May, the Dutch army was forced to give up the fight. The battle for the Grebbeberg was lost: 382 Dutch soldiers died.

This pickaxe, part of a combat engineer's military gear, was unearthed in 2011 during an archaeological excavation in Major Jacometti’s command post.