Conscript private Hendrikus van den Akker.
Conscript private Hendrikus van den Akker was part of 3-III-14 R.A. According to military historians De Leeuw and Brongers, the soldier was killed on May 10, 1940, near the railway. However, the War Graves Foundation states his date of death as May 12. His prayer card, on the other hand, indicates May 13 as the date of death. The late Mr. Jan van der Vorm conducted research on his death and concluded that conscript soldier van den Akker moved to the city center of Dordrecht as a passenger after the battles in Dubbeldam. He then reported to Lieutenant J.P. Boots and was assigned to the 7-Veld artillery piece on the Vriesestraat. This artillery piece was under the command of Sergeant Otto Kruithof from 4.II KRA (Korps Rijdende Artillerie, i.e. Corps Motorized Artillery). In his report, he describes being joined by an unknown field artilleryman. After positioning the artillery piece at the Vriesestraat, near the bridge, machine gun fire was directed at the artillery piece from the “arbeiderspers” printing house (building “De Voorwaarts”). This machine gun fire was silenced with two shots fired at the building. After a while, German tanks appeared, leading to an exchange of fire between the 7-Veld artillery piece and the German tanks. During this engagement, soldier Burgers from 4-II-K.R.A. and the unknown field artilleryman were killed1.
A quote from the report on the events of May 13, 1940, in Dubbeldam (Bieschbos) and Dordrecht (Vriesestraat) by Sergeant Otto Kruithof of 4-II-K.R.A., as described in the service letter of May 9, 1941 (as published on the website: www.zuidfront-holland1940.nl/Dordt )
“For the third time, I attempted to load, but Eijkelenberg was unable to open the breech. It was stuck tight, and as I looked back to grab the handle on the left side of the carriage, known as the “aanzetter,” in order to open the breech, I noticed with horror that numbers 3, Burgers, and 4, the unknown field artilleryman, who had been kneeling by the tail of the gun, were lying on the ground in pools of blood. A shell had killed them both.”2
Private Burgers was posthumously awarded the Bronze Cross on May 6, 1945, for his courageous actions in the Vriesestraat. Soldier van den Akker, presumably due to being an unknown soldier and not being named in combat reports, did not receive this honor. Although it is not proven, it is highly likely that Soldier van den Akker was killed while defending the Vriesestraat.
Both soldiers were initially buried at the Cemetery in Dordrecht. In the photo below, also posted elsewhere on this website, you can see the grave of Soldier Burgers, as well as the grave of an unknown soldier, conscript private van den Akker.
