For instance, on the night of 25th June 1943, one of the many passing Allied bombers was shot down by a German night fighter. The pilot managed to escape the aircraft and parachuted into a bean field near Rilland. A farmer and his son discovered him the next day and tended to his sprained ankle. A few weeks later, with the help of a resistance fighter from Goes, the pilot was smuggled into Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Accompanied by many other brave but anonymous resistance fighters, he made his way back to England via France and Spain in November 1943.

Things did not end so well for the courageous Beveland farmer. He was betrayed and, along with his son, arrested by the German occupiers in September 1943. Displaying great bravery, he made a partial confession, which resulted in his wife and son's lives being spared. He endured the horrors of Nazi prisons and survived until his liberation in May 1945. However, he died ten years later after being attmitted to an institution in Vlissingen. The inhumane treatment he had endured during his imprisonment had caused irreparable mental damage.

In the months leading up to the liberation, aircraft activity over the Beveland polders increased sharply. To hinder the evacuation of the German army from Flushing to Bergen op Zoom, the Allied air force conducted regular patrols over the Rijksweg and the railway line in September 1944. The roar of aircraft engines could be heard continuously for miles around. Any form of transport, military or civilian, that came within sight of the pilots was attacked mercilessly.

On three occasions, the region was directly threatened by aerial attacks, as Allied bombers targeted the Kreekrakdam. On both the 12th and 13th of September 1944, medium-weight B-25 Mitchell and Boston bombers launched attacks on this narrow land bridge. The planes dropped around 600 bombs. The Allied fighter escorts did not have to engage, as there was no opposition from German aircraft. Anti-aircraft fire over the target area was also minimal. In the early evening of Saturday, 16th September, around 50 US B-26 Marauders, armed with 1,000-pound bombs, attacked the Kreekrakdam once again. Around 40 Boston bombers also participated in the assault. While the bombers encountered no anti-aircraft fire above the target, they were fired upon by enemy naval vessels in the Oosterschelde as they approached and departed.

The bombing left the surface of the Kreekrakdam riddled with deep craters. The local population was forced by the occupying forces to assist in repair efforts. A German officer addressed the civilians, warning that anyone who left their work without permission would be shot without mercy. That evening, a bright light appeared in the sky near Rilland, as a flare slowly descended by parachute. An aircraft then swooped low over the heads of the labourers. Despite the earlier warning, all the workers fled into the polder. It took considerable effort for the Germans to gather the forced labourers and compel them to resume work. Nevertheless, the damage was repaired swiftly, and by the next day, traffic was able to pass over the Kreekrakdam once more.