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    PA75OV - Limburg - Gennep - Netherlands

    Special Event Station PA75OV on the air in 2020


    In 2020, radio amateurs in the North Limburg region (The Netherlands), will be onthe air with Special Event Station PA75OV.

    Just like in 2015 with PA70OV, the station PA75OV is a Special Event and Memorial Station for the occasion to commemorate 75 years of freedom and the WW-II Operation Veritable.


    Operation Veritable

    Operation Veritable, a.k.a. the Battle of the Reichswald or the Great Allied Rhineland Offensivethat started February 8th 1945, took place in the North Limburg region and was the successor of Operation Market Garden.
    Operation Veritable is not known very well to most people, compared tothe bombing of Rotterdam, Operation Market Garden and the Dutch famine of 1944-45. The failed Operation Market Garden (a 'bridge too far’) took place eight months earlier with parachutist and glider landings near Nijmegen in the city of Groesbeek.
    After Operation Market Garden the Allied troops were halted in and around Nijmegen in the winter of 1944. In the following months almost a million troops were gathered for Operation Veritable and Operation Grenade together.

    Operation Veritable lasted from February 8th to March 11th 1945, when the objective to clear German forces from the area between the Rhine and Maas rivers, east of the German/Dutch frontierin the Rhineland, was achieved. It was part of General Dwight Eisenhower's "broad front" strategy to occupy the entire west bank of the Rhine before its crossing.

    Churchill and Montgomery visited the battlefield of Gennep in February 1945 to see the course of the battle with their own eyes. The picture shows next to the visitors, a Bailey-bridge (the longest of WW-II), which was built for the occasion to cross the river Maas.

    PA70OV + 5 = PA75OV

    In 2015 Special Event Station PA70OV was activated throughout the year with a special three days live event in the old town hall of the city of Gennep.

    In February 2020, exactly 5 years later, this will be repeated; we only added 5 years to our callsign.
    Various activities will take place to commemorate 75 years of liberation of the municipality of Gennep and its surroundings by the 51st Highland Division (Black Watch). Special Event Station PA75OV is part of these activities.
    A group of re-enactors is also setting up an English HQ in the basements of the old town hall, just like in WW-II.

    Special event station PA75OV will be active throughout 2020; the live event will take place during the Liberation weekend from Friday, February 14th 2020 to Sunday, February 16th 2020 in the old town hall of Gennep on the second floor, performed by more then 20 amateur radio team members.

    Our housing will be the council chamber of the old town hallon the second floor. Several radiopositions will be deployed to activate the callsign PA75OV.
    One of the radiopositions is manned by members of the Surplus Radio Society (SRS) and historical WW-II radio equipment will be used.

    There are no particular band plans: HF, VHF and UHF activities will be announcedon the DX-Clusters. QSL cards will be sent automatically by the end of 2020 after closing of the station.

    We started our preparations at the beginning of 2019 with an English website: www.pa75ov.nl.

    This website contains information from Operation Veritable and images from PA70OV and the preparations for PA75OV so far and lots more.

    During the three days live event you are welcomed to visit us. We are in the old town hall of Gennep, about a 15-minute drive from Nijmegen. The address details are stated on the website. For questions please contact us via the contact form.

    We hope to hear, work and see you in 2020.

    On behalf of the PA75OV team.


    Jan, PA2P


    PA75OV Churchill Montgomery February 1945
    73 Al 4L5A
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