Talk:Attack on the twentieth convoy

Red Paper?
Can anyone elaborate on the significance of the "red paper" mentioned in the section "The Action of the Resistance"? It is strange to mention it without explanation. Thanks, Doctormatt 18:48, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

The boys put a piece of red paper over a lamp to simulate a red stop sign. I should stress that although this was an act of resistance it was hardly an act of The Resistance. Everybody got to be somewhere! (talk) 15:07, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Convoy or Transport?
I note that it has become standard practice to refer to the deportation trains as Transports rather than Convoys. The term "convoy" comes from the French "Convoi". As it is usually applicable in English to either a column of (army) vehicles or a number of ships travelling together for protection, preference is now given to the term "Transport". You will note that the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance consistently uses Transport rather than Convoy. It may also be noted that in some cases a train consisted of two Transports (eg Transports 14 and 15 were combined into a single train).

In consequence it might be time for the article to be renamed Everybody got to be somewhere! (talk) 15:29, 9 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Agree, a re-name seems obvious. --Paul Pieniezny (talk) 16:07, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

Some precisions in a recent newspaper article
An article in De Morgen (which is a respectable source) dated april 2013 p 8: "De man die 120 levens redde" (the man who saved 120 lives) relates the story of Robert Maistriau. How he got the idea of saving Jews (before the war he had fallen in love with a Jewish girl who fled to America). How other people later managed to escape (they had seen that others were prepared to risk their lives and the German guards were not up to the task).

The article says that after April 19th, the German guards were replaced by Flemish Nationalists of the Flemish Guard (Vlaamse Wacht). Interestingly, the Dutch article also mentions a "wachtdiesnst" (guard service group) and does not mention whether they were German or Flemish. Since the personnel at Breendonk were mainly Flemish, replacing Germans with Germans just for the trip to the border after what happened on April 19th as is stated here seems odd. I will change if no one comes up with a source saying different.--Paul Pieniezny (talk) 16:05, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

New book (2012)
In 2012 a book (Marc Michiels & Mark Van den Wijngaert, Het XXste Transport naar Auschwitz, Uitgeverij Manteau, 2012, 272 p, ISBN 978-90-223-2717-3) about the raid was published. Van den Wijngaert is a professor in Mordern History at the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel. His specialty includes the German occupation of Belgium. The book itself's in Dutch but I added it as a reference. Also, in this book the fates of the three resistance members who executed the raid was described. I added that to the aftermath. In it, it's clear that those three brave men, all three were eventually captured and either executed or sent to concentration camps themselves. -- fdewaele, 4 August 2013, 20:22 (CET)

Title
I'm aware that I moved the article to its current title a few years ago, but the more I think about it the less I think it's appropriate. I'm not sure that temporarily halting a train can be called an "attack", but I honestly can't think of an alternative option. Previous titles ("Twentieth Convoy") also fails to capture the fact that what is important here is not the convoy itself but the...stopping...of it. Anyway, in short, if anyone has any thoughts on a better title, please go ahead. —Brigade Piron (talk) 08:36, 3 September 2016 (UTC)


 * How about "Escape from the twentieth convoy"? or (to incorporate a previous suggestion) "Escape from Transport XX" (or 20 or twenty)? Simon Grant (talk) 20:49, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Zoutleeuw memorial board
Just wondering if this photo I took recently would be an asset to this article? I've added it to Simon Gronowski Simon Grant (talk) 08:15, 8 June 2020 (UTC)