The museum was opened on May 25, 1946 as the National War and Resistance Museum, making it one of the oldest museums in Europe dedicated to the Second World War. The museum is located on the site of the Battle of Overloon, a World War II tank and infantry battle between Allied and German forces that occurred in September and October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Market Garden.
The museum is set in 14 hectares of woodland and is the largest of its kind in the Netherlands. The museum receives approximately 120,000 visitors annually.
After the Battle of Overloon, an enormous amount of war materiel, including tanks and other vehicles, was left behind on the battlefield. Overlooner Harry van Daal was so shocked by the events that he proposed keeping the battlefield intact and turning it into a museum. On May 25, 1946, the National War and Resistance Museum was opened by British General Whistler (1898-1963), commander of the 11th British Armored Division and the 3rd British Infantry Division that had conquered Overloon. In 2006, the collection of the Marshall Museum in Zwijndrecht was added with more than 200 military vehicles, ships and aircraft, for which a separate museum, named Liberty Park, was set up. The museum thus focused on both the Second World War and the acquisition and protection of freedom.
A feature of the museum is the large number of military vehicles and equipment on display, both German and Allied. For years these have been kept in the open air, but have recently been moved indoors to help preserve them. Many of the exhibited vehicles took part in the Battle of Overloon. In 2016, the collection was expanded with the collection of the Achterhoeks Museum 1940-1945, which closed its doors in 2015. The new exhibition of the Overloon War Museum includes the recognizable shop and café of the Achterhoeks Museum 1940-1945.
During the 2021 Christmas period, while the museum was closed due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the museum released a series of videos about subjects in its collection. One of these videos was about Vincent Speranza, an American veteran of the Second World War.[1]
The museum has a park of approximately 1000 by 500 m, making it one of the largest museums in the Netherlands in terms of land area. The special objects in the collection include:
aPanther tank; this was disabled at the Battle of Overloon and the crew died while leaving it; the tank then stood under the sky for more than 50 years, but was restored and is now displayed indoors
a Soviet Union T-34 tank, in running condition; this is regularly used during demonstrations
aB-25 Mitchell bomber, which was still part of the 320 Dutch Squadron RAF. This aircraft took part in the attacks on the Maas bridges of Venlo and Roermond at the end of 1944
aRenault FT-17 tank, the only tank the Netherlands possessed in 1940, as a test model
aSherman tank, the most deployed American tank of the Second World War, on a trailer
aSpitfire, the most famous British fighter aircraft of the war
German radar installations, which played a major role in the Dutch air war that raged over the Netherlands for five years and cost 20,000 lives
a forest course, where demonstration rides are made annually and re-enactments take place during the Militracks (in May) and Santa Fe events, among others
The museum also shows weapons, both cannons and small arms, uniforms of both the Allies and the Wehrmacht and military utensils, sometimes in recreated scenes. The museum also has a documentation department, open to the public. There is also a separate exhibition dedicated to the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions.
In addition, in the forest park and in the halls there are a number of statues of Dutch and Allied main figures from the war, including Colonel Borghouts , Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Bernhard.
