The Amstelwijck villa park in May 1940

During the mobilization and May 1940, the Amstelwijck villa park served as the command post of the 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment (I‑28 R.I.). The command post was located inside the villa. Major Van Hoek was the commander of the Wieldrecht sector, which was directed from Amstelwijck. The command post was connected to the Kil Group in Puttershoek by means of a PTT cable and conduit. In the adjacent villa park, four type‑P casemates had been constructed for the benefit of the command post. The villa park was surrounded by ditches and accessible by two small bridges. One of these bridges was located roughly southwest of the villa park. The other was a stone bridge on the southern side, between the villa park and the villa.

On 10 May 1940, German paratroopers landed south of Amstelwijck, in the fields near Rustenburg and along the Wieldrechtse Zeedijk. These German paratroopers of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 1 soon attacked the positions of the Dutch artillery units I‑17 R.A. and III‑14 R.A. in the area. Meanwhile, the 3rd Company of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 1 also landed in the Polder in Krispijn. This company was eliminated by the Railway Troops and the Depot Troops of the Corps of Army Maritime Engineers. As a result, the 2nd and 4th Companies (2./FJR 1 and 4./FJR 1) of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 1 were redirected toward the bridges over the Oude Maas, which were held by one platoon of the 3rd Company that had landed in Zwijndrecht. On their way, the 2nd and 4th Companies passed Amstelwijck, where fighting broke out between Dutch soldiers and the German paratroopers.

At the time of the German attack, 82 officers and enlisted men of I‑28 R.I. were present at the command post. This number grew to about 100, as additional artillery personnel fled from Gravensteijn to Amstelwijck. The defense of the casemate park and the villa was poorly organized. Major Van Hoek spent much of his time on the telephone and barely left his casemate. Meanwhile, 4./FJR 1 advanced along the Nieuwe Rijksweg toward Amstelwijck, while 2./FJR 1 moved along the old Rijksstraatweg in the same direction. 4./FJR 1 came under heavy machine‑gun fire from the heavy machine gun positioned at the northeasternmost of the four casemates in Amstelwijck park. 2./FJR 1 also received fire from the casemate park while regrouping north of Gravesteijn. The 2nd Platoon, under Leutnant Graf von Blücher, was ordered to engage this resistance.

While the Dutch were unaware of the danger developing, Leutnant Graf von Blücher moved with several men across the Koekebakkerskil and past the stables. He formed an assault group consisting of himself and five others and stormed across the southwestern bridge. With loud shouting and the throwing of hand grenades, the many Dutch soldiers in the casemate park were completely overwhelmed. It was easy shooting for the German paratroopers, and the hand grenades were also effective. Two paratroopers stayed behind to provide covering fire while the Leutnant and three others rushed forward and threw hand grenades into two of the casemates. The Leutnant received a grazing wound, and Feldwebel Müller was seriously injured. The approximately 75 Dutch soldiers in the casemate park were completely overrun. Major Van Hoek was knocked unconscious in his casemate by a hand grenade. After the fighting in the villa park had ended, he was (according to his own report) held at gunpoint with a submachine gun and forced to order the garrison in the villa to surrender.

On the Dutch side, 12 men were killed and about 25 wounded. In addition, the remaining 50–60 men were taken prisoner and transported to the barracks camp near the Tweede Tol. The Germans lost four men from 4./FJR 1 and had seven wounded. The wounded were treated in the villa park. The Dutch dead were buried next to the villa on the western side. German dead were buried on the southern side.

In the evening, the Germans evacuated the villa and the park. It was later recaptured by Dutch troops, who found it abandoned. The photographs below were taken around 16 May 1940 by Luftwaffe personnel. It is unclear whether they were paratroopers. *1

Source: Zuidfront-Holland1940 and Dordt Open stad. *1 Bron: www.Zuidfront-Holland1940/10 mei 1940 - Wielwijk 1e fase.