Vlijmen, like every village in De Langstraat, is characterised by its ribbon development. From east to west, the village is over 2 kilometres long, from south to north it is at most a few hundred metres at the time of the war. The street names in ‘the centre’ refer to Vlijmen's agricultural background: De Akker (field/acre), Akkerstraat and Akkerpad. The current village square does not exist yet.

After Vlijmen was liberated on 5 November 1944, the danger of war was not over. Germany is deploying its latest weapon: the V-1  flying bomb. The port of Antwerp is one of the main targets. Launching sites are set up in Overijssel, from where V-1’s are fired at Antwerp. However, the bombs are poorly constructed and rarely function as intended. A mechanical device switching off the engine often cuts in halfway to Antwerp causing the V-1 to crash prematurely. The inhabitants of the villages in the Langstraat recognise the sound of a faltering V-1 engine and mumble a prayer to the Virgin Mary, when they sense that a disaster might be about to occur: ‘Dear Lady, give him another push’.

In four instances, the short prayers do not really help Vlijmen and a V-1 came down. On 21 December 1944, the Vlijmense Dijk is hit, 14 dead. On 2 January 1945, fate strikes the Akkerpad, resulting in 13 deaths. On 14 February 1945, it is the turn of the vicarage; no casualties because the V-1 turns out to be filled with newspaper, probably a successful act of sabotage by an enforced labourer. Finally, on 4 March, De Akker is hit. There is only one death, but the resulting crater is huge. 

After the war, the Vlijmen municipal council decides not to rebuild the residential area, which was swept away by the V-1’s, but to turn this area into a village square with shops. On 5 November 2002, a monument is unveiled in the shape of a ‘V’ with a poem by Cees Akerboom as its central theme.