The Grebbeberg is a 52-meter high

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

located east of

Rhenen Rhenen () is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. The municipality also includes the villages of Achterberg, Remmerden, Elst and Laareind. The town lies at a geographically interesting location, namely on the southernmost par ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the province of Utrecht. It forms the southeastern tip of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

. Due to its strategic location with a view of the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); al ...

and the

Betuwe Batavia (; , ) is a historical and geographical region in the Netherlands, forming large fertile islands in the river delta formed by the waters of the Rhine (Dutch: ''Rijn'') and Meuse (Dutch: ''Maas'') rivers. During the Roman empire, it was an ...

, this hill was historically of great importance. The Grebbe Line was constructed from here in the 18th century. The hill is best known for the Battle of the Grebbeberg in May 1940. On the Grebbeberg is the

Grebbeberg War Cemetery Grebbeberg War Cemetery ( nl, Militair Ereveld Grebbeberg) is a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located on the Grebbeberg, a hill east of Rhenen the Netherlands. The cemetery contains 799 military personnel and one civilian who died ...

where Dutch soldiers are buried.

History

Fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

were located on the Grebbeberg early on. The

ring wall A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town. Ancient fortifications Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical ...

with dry moat, the so-called , probably dates from the seventh century and has been restored several times. The original function is not clear; it may be a defense work of the

Frisians The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, ...

against the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, but also the other way around. After 1620, the exiled Winter King,

Frederick V of the Palatinate Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both r ...

, had his hunting ground here, where he held hunting feasts on a plateau above the Rhine, the so-called King's Table.

World War II

In May 1940, Dutch soldiers fought a German assault army on the Grebbeberg, including Waffen-SS units. Remnants of fortifications still stand as a symbol of the battle. The

is the first official one in the Netherlands. Since 1946, Dutch soldiers who fell elsewhere have also been buried here. The plot has almost 850 graves. A monument has been placed at the honorary cemetery where the dead from the Second World War are commemorated every year on May 4.

Nature

The Grebbeberg was originally covered with plantations of coppice oak. Since the plantations have lost their purpose, an upright

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

forest has been able to develop. In 2002 the Grebbeberg was connected to the nature reserve in the floodplains. This allows the free-living herds of Konik horses and

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

cattle to seek the safety of the mountain at high tide. On the Grebbeberg itself, Het Utrechts Landschap owns 66 hectares, mainly forest. The Grebbeberg has steep to very steep slopes, especially on the river side, locally almost like a

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

, which entails special environmental conditions for the Netherlands. This includes erosion and also, partly because of its location on the south, an extra warm

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

. As a result, a special flora occurs locally, as is the case on the

Wageningse Berg The Wageningse Berg () is the southernmost part of the Utrechse Heuvelrug (Utrecht Hill Ridge), a range of hills reaching an altitude of 52m that originated as a glacial moraine. It lies just north of the Nederrijn and to the east of the town of ...

. The rare can be found in a few places on the path under the Grebbeberg. As a result of the erosive effect of the river system of the Rhine, the originally existing connection between the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and the moraine of Ede -

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many t ...

has been broken. The very steep slopes of the Grebbeberg are the visible result of this process. The Grebbeberg is a geologically valuable area. The southern flank of the Grebbeberg was the first geological monument designated by the province of Utrecht.

Topography

The name Grebbeberg is derived from the or ''Grebbe'', a historic canal and predecessor of the that opened into the Lower Rhine at the foot of the Grebbeberg. The northern part of the Grebbeberg is called and is often seen as a separate hill. Here is an area of 80 ha. owned by Het Utrechts Landschap. The is also located on this part of the Grebbeberg.

Cycling

The eastern slope of the Grebbeberg is popular with sports cyclists because of its

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

. With a maximum gradient of 7% and a gradient of more than 5% for half a kilometer, it is one of the steeper slopes of the Heuvelrug. The west side (over a hundred meters) does not exceed 3% and is much shallower.

References

External links

*
Informatie over de Grebbeberg
{{Utrecht Province Utrecht (province)