Steenbergen (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈsteːmbɛrɣə(n)]ⓘ) is a municipality and a town in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The municipality had a population of 24,310 in 2021 and covers an area of 159.14 km2 (61.44 sq mi) of which 12.71 km2 (4.91 sq mi) is water. The municipality is mainly agricultural including a strongly growing greenhouse sector, but Steenbergen and the nearby town of Dinteloord also contain some light industry. A new stretch of A4 motorway under construction is expected to further increase the municipality's attractiveness, allowing easy connections with the large cities of Rotterdam to the north and the Belgian city of Antwerp to the south. The connection with the nearby city of Bergen op Zoom will also be improved as a result.
Graves of RAF Wing Commanders Guy Gibson and Jim Warwick
Guy Gibson, Wing Commander and the first CO of the RAF's 617 Squadron which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, crashed with his Mosquito aircraft in this municipality. Having returned to operational duties in 1944 after pestering Bomber Command, 26-year-old Gibson was killed along with his navigator, Sqn Ldr Jim Warwick, on a bombing raid on Rheydt (nowadays a borough of Mönchengladbach) operating as a PathfinderMaster Bomber based at RAF Coningsby, when his de Havilland Mosquito XX, KB267, crashed near Steenbergen on 19 September 1944. It was assumed for years that he had been shot down, but following the discovery of the wreckage it was found that a fault with the fuel tank selector possibly meant the aircraft simply ran out of fuel.[5] An eye-witness account detailed how his aircraft circled Steenbergen and heard its engines 'splutter and stop'.[6] In 2011 it was revealed the Mosquito may also have been shot down in a friendly fire incident.[7] The graves are in the RC cemetery of Steenbergen. Streets have been named for both Gibson and Warwick, and one of the aircraft's propellers is located in the city park as a memorial.
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