Evacuation of Arnhem

The evacuation of Arnhem (Dutch: evacuatie van Arnhem) was the departure, forcibly conducted by the German Wehrmacht, of tens of thousands of inhabitants of the Dutch city of Arnhem and nearby places^[1] from 23 to 25 September 1944 during the Battle of Arnhem in World War II.^[2] The occupying German forces decided to evacuate almost the entire civilian population in order to better defend the city against the Allied Operation Market Garden. After the city was evacuated, many houses and other buildings were looted by various groups of organised and unorganised German soldiers and pro-German collaborators.^{[citation needed]}

The evacuation was conducted in an unorganised manner, and with great difficulty, demanding a heavy toll on many inhabitants, who were only allowed to take possessions of utmost necessity with them, not knowing where to go, when they would be able to return, and in which state they would find back their homes and other property (generally very bad, as would become apparent). It was not until the Allied Liberation of Arnhem on 14 April 1945 that the evacuees were theoretically allowed to return,^[3] but in practice, it was often very difficult as many homes had become uninhabitable due to war damage and plunderings. Some residents would only return in September 1945,^[2] others would never return at all.

The evacuation of Arnhem did save the lives of potentially hundreds of civilians, as it would be in the front line for several subsequent months and be shelled by enemy fire, just like the liberated city of Nijmegen on the Allied side. Nijmegen, however, was never evacuated during the five months that it was being bombarded by the Germans from the northern bank of the river Waal, due to which hundreds of Nijmegian civilians were killed.^[4] During the eventual Allied liberation of Arnhem in April 1945, much damage was done to buildings, but there was barely any civilian deaths. The only exception was the Battle of Geitenkamp (12–13 April 1945), in which a British–Canadian bombardment killed many of the last remaining residents (mostly forces labourers and NSB families).^[5]