23-05-1977.
9 moluccan youths hijjacked a train near the Punt in Drenthe , Netherlands.
This action was a shock to the Dutch, it was the second time this happened.
2 years earlier at Wijster another train was hijacked, these hijackers surrendered themselves to the authorities.
They killed 3 hostages, the traindriver, a soldier of the Dutch army and another passenger, and got away with a 15 years prison sentence.
After 3 weeks of negotiations the authorities, afraid for more killings among the hostages again, ordered the relieve of the prisoners.
Several years ago the Dutch marines had formed a new type unit, based upon the German commandoteam.
In 1975 they had to watch in anger and stood helpless when the terrorists killed 3 hostages.
Even when they had a chance to kill all 6 hijackers , they were not allowed to do so.
But this time it was different, the marines had 3 weeks to train for the action.
And that paid off, when the green light was given they were ready to storm the train.
The group consisted of 9 hijackers.
6 Of them were in the last compartment when the marines stormed the train.
Their exact locations were known because of the use of thermal imaging.
The marines shot this compartment with 7.62 and .50 cal weapons to make sure the terrorists could not reach the hostages.
Unfortunately they hit one of the hostages too, an 18 year old girl.
At the same time the commandoforce ran to the train, F104 starfighters flew low over the train with afterburners on.
This gave the marines the time to blow the doors out and enter the train.
The Mg fire stopped at that moment.
During a brief firefight the remaining hijackers were put out of action too.
The result was that 6 hijackers and 2 of the hostages got killed.
In the link you see 2 of the official Dutch journals.
First is about the first day and covers the news for the train and the school in Bovensmilde.
The second movie deals with action against the train and its hostagetakers.
Unfortunately its in Dutch only.
Day 1
The end.......
henk
