A series of remarkable films documenting the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945 has appeared on YouTube over the past two weeks. The videos have been published by Rick88888888, a Dutch film restorer who has digitally enhanced and colourized the original footage. The quality is outstanding and in some cases is HD quality … resolution so good that it may be possible to identify soldiers documented in these films.

The easiest way to view the videos is by checking out Rick’s “Liberation of the Netherlands in 1945” Playlist. All of the videos below include English narration and many are proceeded by Dutch narration as well. Here is a summary of the Liberation videos (note: all show Canadian units unless otherwise specified):

Nijmegen – Sep 17-20, 1944 (British 2nd Army and US Paratroopers)
Venlo – Mar 1, 1945 (Food Flying Service)
Zutphen – Apr 6, 1945
Deventer – Apr 10, 1945
Apeldoorn – Apr 17, 1945
Haarlem – May 8, 1945
The Hague – May 8, 1945
Rotterdam – May 8, 1945
Amsterdam – May 8, 1945

I recommend you watch every video however one of my favourites is the liberation of Zutphen which includes amazing footage of Canadian soldiers hunkering down in an observation post and entering the town on foot, by truck and on motorcycle. I also enjoyed the film documenting the Food Flying Service in Venlo as the quality of the restoration is truly remarkable, so good in fact that it was released in 4K at 60 frames per second.

I’d also like to draw your attention to the brief video entitled “De Bevrijding van Nederland: Viering van de tweede Dodenherdenking in 1947 in kleur! [AI enhanced]“. The last minute of the film shows the commemoration of the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery on May 5, 1947. Note: there is no English narration.

If you enjoyed Rick’s videos please click his YouTube “Like” button and consider commenting and or even subscribing to his channel (I’ve been a subscriber since last year). He has hinted that there may be more films next year so your feedback could help make this happen.

Last but not least, if you recognize your soldier in one of these videos please be sure to let me know as I may create a page dedicated to those that have been identified.