and the southern hole wide and deep. No one was killed as the polder slowly submerged again (the inhabitants had been warned), but the high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade. Buildings were not generally badly damaged by the flooding, but by the storms later. As civilians left the flooding polder through the military checkpoints, the Resistance member , of Wieringermeer, was captured and then shot whilst trying to escape. Reconstruction Reconstruction followed quickly after the German retreat; by the end of 1945, the polder was declared drained again. The floodwater was fresh water, so the land did not have to be desalinated again. Rebuilding of roads and bridges, houses and farms, was greatly facilitated by the experience of building them the first time. Some building materials were re-used: three million roof tiles were salvaged, many by removing them from the roofs of flooded buildings, also lightening the load on their weakened structures. The pits remain today, with areas of and . Owing to their size and the infill needed, the dyke was not restored to its original line, passing through where the two flooded pits are, but now went outside this by and with the perimeter road inside them. The replacement dyke was also built to a simpler standard than the original: when first built, this had been a sea dyke protecting from the sea of the Zuider Zee. After the construction of the Afsluitdijk, this was now just the calmer water of the IJsselmeer. See also Inundation of Walcheren References Sources J. J. Bosman and P. C. Bosman, De polder onder water, het verslag van de onderwaterzetting van de Wieringermeerpolder in 1945, Free Media, 1995 1945 in the Netherlands Hollands Kroon April 1945 events in Europe Germany–Netherlands military relations