In memory

Last sunday the Canadian soldier Leo Major died. Mr Major was the soldier that liberated my hometown on april 14th 1945. He became a hero and the city gave him the title 'Honorary citizen' and he also received a special medal. Because of his death the city has opened an codolence register and as you can see all flags will hang half-mast.


I found the following story on wikipedia:
Leo went back to his unit in March 1945. In the beginning of April, the Régiment de la Chaudière were approaching the city of Zwolle , which presented strong German resistance.

The Commanding Officer asked for two volunteers to recon the German force before the artillery began firing at the city. Léo and his good friend, Willie Arseneault, stepped forward to accept the task. They knew that there was big risk during this mission, but accepted it none-the-less. Leo and Willie, not wanting this beautiful city destroyed, decided to try to capture the city of Zwolle alone, though they were only supposed to recon the German numbers, and attempt contact with the Dutch Resistance.


Around midnight Willie was killed by German fire; he made just enough noise to make the Germans open fire, giving away their position. Enraged, Leo killed two of the Germans, but the rest of the group fled in a vehicle.

He decided, more than ever, to continue his mission alone, and to avenge his fallen comrade. He entered Zwolle near Sassenport and came upon a staff car. Leaping out of the shadows, he captured the German driver, and led him to a bar where an officer was taking a drink. Inside he found that they could both speak French (the officer was from Alsace), and Leo told him that at 6 am the Canadian Artillery will begin firing at the city causing many casualties among the German troops and especially among the civilian. I do not want that to happen to this beautiful city so the Germans have to pack their things and leave ? he even gave the German his gun back.

He then proceeded to run throughout the city firing his machine gun, attacking and capturing German troops (about 10 times during the night he captured groups of 8 to 10 German soldiers, escorted them out of the city and giving them to the French-Canadian troops that were waiting in Zwolle vicinity. After giving his prisoners he returned to Zwolle to continue his mission) throwing grenades and making so much noise that he fooled the Germans into thinking that the Canadian army really had surrounded them and was entering the city. Four times during the night he had to force his way into several houses to get some rest. That night he located the Gestapo HQ. He set the building on fire. Later stumbling upon the SS HQ, he got into a quick but deadly fight with eight ranking Nazi officers ? four were killed, and the other half fled. He noticed that two of the SS he just killed were disguised as resistance members. The Zwolle resistance had been (or were going to be) infiltrated by the Nazis. By then, at 4:30 a.m. an exhausted Leo found out that the Germans had retreated.

Zwolle had been liberated, and the Resistance contacted. Walking in the street he met four members of Dutch Resistance. He asked them if they speak French or English. None spoke those languages but they brought him a woman that was an English teacher in Zwolle. Léo told the woman to inform the Resistance people that Zwolle was now free of Germans. The Resistance people took off in a hurry to tell the good news to whoever was awake at this hour. By the early morning hours, Léo?s task inside the city of Zwolle was almost completed; he now knew that the Germans had fled to the west of the River IJssel and perhaps more importantly, that the planned shelling of the city should be called off and that his Régiment de la Chaudière could enter the city unopposed that very morning.