II Deventer has seen few military engagements throughout its long history, although it was a garrison city of the Dutch cavalry. The IJssel bridge area and harbour were bombed heavily during World War II. The city centre has been largely spared, but many Allied bombs, meant to shell the IJssel railway bridge, came down on buildings in the city centre. The Deventer railway bridge was considered strategically important, being a part of the main railway connection between Amsterdam and the German city of Osnabrück, leading from there to either Berlin, Hamburg or Bremen. The railway bridge, constructed of steel, was difficult to hit. Many bombs were bounced down into the river or its banks, exploding in the areas around the bridge or failing to explode at all. The three heaviest of about 15 attacks were on October 28, 1944, causing 35 mortalities, on December 15, 1944, killing 33 people, and on February 6, 1945, causing the death of 61 people. In the aftermath of this last bombardment, the German occupying forces committed a war crime. The German army used a cool warehouse in Deventer for its military food supplies. In the city centre, the retirement home of the United Foundations, originally dating back as far as the 13th century, caught fire by the shellings, as well as the army food warehouse. The Germans allowed local fire fighters only to extinguish the fire in the cool warehouse. The retirement home burnt down as good as totally. Over twenty of the elderly living there perished in the flames. The Jewish poet and writer Etty Hillesum lived in Deventer during the war before being deported to Auschwitz. In Schalkhaar, a village only 2 km northeast of the city centre, barracks were used by the German occupying forces to train Nazi policemen. The compound is now a centre for asylum seekers. In a forested area between Lettele and Okkenbroek, about 10 kilometres east of Deventer, the Germans operated a V-1 flying bomb launching ramp. It was used from December, 1944, until March, 1945. Some of the 400 V-1 missiles launched there hit already liberated Belgium, including the city of Antwerp, killing many people. A war monument in the village of Lettele consists of concrete blocks from this launching site, that is a war monument itself as well. Deventer has been somewhat popular with the film industry. During the production of the 1977 film A