Plaque marking the execution of Jan van Hoof
Jan van Hoof was a student in Nijmegen and worked for the Dutch Underground. He is credited with defusing some of the German mines under the Nijmegen road bridge so that the British XXX Corps tanks could cross, though RE Captain Tony Jones also did that. On 19 September he arrived at the Sionshof hotel where both American and British troops had established themselves and produced sketches of the German defences in the area of the Waal (Nijmegen) Bridge. At first he refused to guide a recce vehicle into Nijmegen, but later that same afternoon agreed to conduct a Humber scout car of the Grenadier Guards through the centre of town from the Post Office towards the rail bridge. As it entered the Nieuwe Markt it was hit by a German gun and caught fire. Two Grenadiers were killed and, while van Hoof survived the impact, he was then shot on the spot
