Bergse Maas

Damming of the river Meuse (light blue = Afgedamde Maas ) of the Waal 1904 flood protection reasons, the creation of Berg's Maas

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Bergsche Maas, also Bergse Maas, is an artificial river section of the river Meuse between the community well and the city Geertruidenberg in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is 24.5 km long, has a width of 180 meters and an average depth of 5.95 meters.

The Bergsche Meuse formed the southern boundary of the Land van Heusden en Altena region, an area in the northern part of the Dutch province of North Brabant and announced earlier this historic region into two halves.

History

The course of the Meuse was 1273-1904 Andel at Heusden in a northwesterly direction Woudrichem. There she led as ( according to the Aare ) the second largest tributary of the Rhine in the Hauptmündungsarm, which changes its name there Waal in Merwede.

Since flood the Waal often penetrated into the Meuse and there led to flooding, was on January 26, 1883 a law de Maasmondwet decided, according to the new bed of the river Meuse, the Bergse Maas was dug. Between 1888 and 1904 the Meuse has been blocked after plans by the hydraulic engineer Cornelis Lely at Andel and connected via the new river bed with the Amer at Geertruidenberg and the Hollands Diep.

The new Maas course roughly follows an already long abandoned Maas bed; Today the parallel flowing Oude Maasje still dates from this period. Two villages, Gansoijen and Hagoort, had to make way for the construction of the Bergsche Maas.

From the town of Heusden, the Heusdensch Kanaal connect to the dammed river Meuse ( Maas Afgedamde ). From the south flows at Geertruidenberg the Donge in the Bergsche Maas, which merges into the Amer from there.

The Bergsche Maas has two bridges, one at Keizersveer ( Raamdonksveer ) and one at Heusden. For the crossing there are ferries at Dussen, Drongelen and Herpt

In December 1944 and January 1945, the Battle of the Kapelsche Veer took place on Kapelsche Veer. The German Wehrmacht held at this time there a beachhead.