Homefront

Place Foche,Leuven 1944

brummbar

This photo shows the Place Foche ,almost dead center of Leuven,after the 12 and 13th of may 1944 airraids.With the exception of 1 house all the rset were destroyed or damaged.My dad,going on 11 at the time,had a schoolfriend living there.As almost everybogy in Leuven the boy and his family had taken shelter in their vaulted cellar.The house came down upon them but thanks to the strong vaulted building of the cellar they survived the bomb.Sadly enough the water mains had been broken and water filtered into the cellars,slowly flooding them.The rescue efforts were too slow and the family drowned. The large building with the tower you see on the right side is the University Library that got hit by the artillery duel between British and German forces in may 1940.The building started to burn and 900.000 books were lost. greetz,brummbar