Easy hikes and walks around De IJzeren Man

The Kamp Vught railway line was a freight railway line during the Second World War from Vught Zuid-Oost station to the industrial estate of the Vught concentration camp. The railway line was constructed in February and March 1944 to transport aircraft wrecks to the aircraft scrapyard on the site and to remove the metals. The railway connection to the Tilburg - Nijmegen railway line was located at 18.2 km with a switch in the direction of Den Bosch. From the switch, the railway line ran parallel for a few hundred meters and then turned off, crossed a road and ran between lunettes II and III to the road parallel to the camp. At the end, the track made a bend to go over the canal onto the site near the industrial barracks. After construction, the railway line was also used to deport prisoners until the camp closed in September 1944. The railway line was demolished in 1948. In 2016, the route was marked by placing railway sections at three locations.

On Loonsebaan in Vught stands a modest but remarkable monument: a brick column with a bronze plaque depicting a rugged, mustached Colonel G.J.P.A. Thomson. In 1934, the residents of the villa park donated this tribute to the man they affectionately called "the mayor of the villa park." Thomson, a colonel in the Royal Military Police, was known for his warm commitment to the community. He was active in associations, events, and neighborhood activities, making him a beloved figure in Vught. The monument still commemorates his dedication, charm, and significant significance for the neighborhood.

Free with the museum card.

Impressive place. Beautifully constructed museum and more than ever needed. A bit odd that it is located next to a current detention center.

In the vicinity of the National Monument Camp Vught, three reconstructed sections of the camp railway line have been placed, connected by a walking route of approximately 4 kilometres. After the war, the railway line remained unused for some time, until it was removed in June 1948. In 2013, at the request of the National Monument Camp Vught, part of another dismantled railway line from 's-Hertogenbosch was stored in a barracks, with the intention of placing some of the railway sections in their original locations. Since 2016, part of this camp history has been made visible again in three locations near the memorial centre (at the intersection of Loonsebaan-Breautélaan, at the access road to the execution site and at the rear of the National Monument Camp Vught), including the associated information panels. The project was supported by the Genie (Defence), in addition to financial contributions from the vfonds, the Municipality of Vught and the Regional Fund Het Groene Woud. Info: visitvught.nl

The Iron Man, named after the steam dredger that dug it, is a recreational lake in the woods near Vught in the Dutch province of North Brabant. Source and more information: Wikipedia

In the middle of the woods on the Vughtse heath you will find this execution site which belonged to the Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch. When the concentration camp was built, a shooting range was also built in one of the Lunetten around Denbosch. This was also used as a place to shoot people. The camp itself was used as an internment camp after the liberation of Vught. On the former camp site you will today find a prison, a small remnant of the original camp as the National Monument Camp Vught and the barracks of the engineers with a museum. The current wall was built on the former shooting pit. If you look into the pit for the memorial panels you can still see the old wall. All the white stone is therefore post-war, most of the brickwork is from the war. How exactly the executions took place is not clear to me. One source speaks of a number of shooters where 1 weapon was loaded with blank cartridges and the rest with live ammunition, so that the shooter could never say with certainty whether he actually shot someone dead. According to witnesses who walked onto the Lunet immediately after the Germans left, there was 1 machine gun halfway along the track and there were countless shell casings from the executions. The fact remains that many resistance fighters breathed their last breath here at this location. The panels are arranged by place of residence and below that the fallen from that place. Behind the panels, on a sand hill, is the large cross. This is on the former bullet trap. Source: https://www.oorlogsgraf.nl/nieuws/fusilladeplaats-vught/

a nice view from the bridge. The Broekleij flows through a wide valley in a largely open landscape from Haaren to Cromvoirt. Nowadays you will find meadows and fields here, mainly corn, and here and there are some hedgerows and bushes. But before exploitation, this area was mainly marshlands and wetlands. The Broekleij is fed at its upper stream by the Ruygbossche Loop and the Oude Leij. Until the twentieth century, it flowed between Helvoirt and Cromvoirt into the Zandleij, after which the water flowed via the Bossche Sloot and the Dieze to the Maas.