On the early morning of 10 May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands.
Five days later the Dutch army command signed the unconditional surrender.
Hitler, however, had expected that the invasion of the Netherlands would take just one day.
What went wrong?
That place: the Grebbeberg.
In this video you'll learn about the German invasion of the Netherlands, also known as
the Battle of the Netherlands (1940).
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Just like at the beginning of WW 1 the Dutch government took a position of neutrality with
the international tensions mounting up during the 1930s.
Most people of the Netherlands were convinced that if another war would break out, their
country would remain unaffected.
The Dutch high command was not so sure about it.
See, the original Von Schlieffenplan from before WW 1 would include an invasion of the
Netherlands.
The German diviated from the plan.
One of the reasons the Germans did not launch an attack later, would be because the war
transformed into a dragging stalemate in Flandres and Nothern France.
Dutch general Reijnders was convinced his country wouldn't be so lucky if another war
would break out.
The Dutch army was lacking professional staff, trained and war material.
Reijnders proposed some draconic plans to reinforce the army with the purchase of artillery,
anti aircraft guns, anti tank guns, air planes, tanks and panzer wagons.
Years of budget cuts made it hard to carry out these plans.
On 28th of August, a few days before the German invasion of Poland, the Dutch army officially
mobilized.
Chef of general staf Reijnders got supreme command of land and sea force.
Even before this nomination Reijnders argued with other commanders and the Dutch minister
of defense on how to make a descent preperation.
Several lines of defence had to be reinforces.
There was the Ijssel Line, Grebbe Line and the Nieuw Holland Water Line.
On 31th of Januari 1940 Reijnders resigned and was replaced by General Winkelman.
With the limited resources he had, he choose the Grebbe Line as main line of defence.
The areas in front of the line were inundated, which meanth flooded.
The water would be too deep for the enemy to cross with vehicles but too shallow to
cross by boat.
Only the area of the Grebbeberg, which was higher ground, would be exposed to a German
ground attack.
Winkelman, he knew this.
When he left his office by midnight, on the 9th of May, he said to his college: “Now
they [the Germans] can come, we have done what we could.
I'm going home to catch some hours of sleep”
Four hours later the fist German troops set foot on Dutch land.
The first German troops that crossed the border were troops in disguise.
They worn Dutch uniforms with fabricated helmets.
Their goal was to get to the Ijssel bridges and dismantle the bombs that were places underneath.
Some of these patrols were intercepted by Dutch border troops.
Other patrols made to to the bridges, only to see them blown up in front of them.
In one occasion the infiltrators were on the bridge already, when it got blown up.
German panzer trains that made their way to the Ijssel could not carry on.
Some skirmishes took place after which Dutch defenders, according to plan, retreated to
the Grebbe Line.
In the south of the Netherlands, in the province of Noord-Brabant, panzer trains smashed to
the Dutch lines.
A Dutch major who was stationed there couldn't believe a) the war had broken out and b) the
war was at their very spot.
When the train rushed by he said to his men: “Does our army has these type of trains?”
He wasn't be able to finished his words when German submachine bullets flew by and he had
to take cover.
This proves many Dutch soldier did not expect a war on their ground.
The Germans pushed through.
Meanwhile on the Grebbeberg the German onslaught was nigh.
Till the very last moment Dutch defenders improving their positions by laying telephone
cables and cutting down trees to create a clear line of fire.
A Dutch sergeant noted: “Together with an officer I was cutting down trees.
It was ludicrous we still hadn't done that up to this point”
On the 11th of May the Germans attacked the Grebbeberg.
With the help of SS troops they first overran the outpost line.
The next day they took the Front Line.
One iconic moment that proves the chaotic communication on the side of the defenders
is the moment when Major Jacometti, thinking some smaller German units had broke through,
drew his sword and spoke the words: “We shall throw them out and do this with the
blank sable”.
His self initiated counterattack came first under fire by his own troops that were not
aware of such of thing and second by the German attackers who by now had dug in their new
positions.
Jacometti was killed in action.
Now the frontline had fallen.
Their was one last resort: the Stop Line.
Dutch high command knew a proper counterattack had to be undertaken.
Watch this video till the end to find out what happened.
Let's first take a look at the German troops that came from the air.
These air attacks were carried out in two ways.
The German made use of paratroopers, so-called Fallshirmjäger, and of airlanding troops.
The paratroopers came jumping from the air.
The airlanding troops were positioned in planes that landed in the Netherlands, for example
on airstrips, and hopped out to carry out their mission.
Ideally the plane would then take off to fly back to get another batch of soldiers.
The German war aims were to seize the bridges near Dordrecht and in Rotterdam to make sure
the German panzer units that came rushing through the south of the Netherlands – the
province of Noord-Brabant – would easily acces the hearth of the Netherlands.
Their most ambitious plan had to be carried out by the German air troops that landed near
The Hague.
They had to make their way to the govermental city and capture the queen, army high command
and the goverment.
A checkmate as it were.
Now not everything went according to plan.
In Dordrecht the German troops suffered some losses but managed to seize the bridges, mostly
because the Dutch soldiers was taken by surprise.
In Rotterdam German paratroopers made their way to the bridges but were then pinned down
by Dutch infantry and marines.
Around The Hague the situation was utterly chaotic.
Germans paratroopers and airlanding troops landed near the airport of Ypenburg.
However surprised the Dutch soldiers rushed to their machine guns, destroying many German
landing vehicles.
In no-time the whole air strip was filled with burning wreckages.
Soon, new German landing planes could not land on the strip, so they had to land in
nearby grasslands.
The attackers were scattered all around the air field.
They did manage to take control of Ypenburg, but were soon driven back by a counterattack
from the defenders.
The same happened at the other airfields Valkenburg and Ockenburg.
Over 1000 German troops got captured.
The remaining German units, led by general Hans Von Sponech, fled and managed to avoid
capture until the Dutch army surrendered.
And most important: the defenders managed to block the way to The Hague.
The ambitious German plan had failed.
Meanwhile the fight on the Grebbeberg continued.
The first and second line of defence were broken.
The third line, the Stop Line, was the last resort of the defenders.
On the 13th of May a counterattack was undertaken to retake the second line.
However this attack was doomed from the start: their was de lack of men; the soldiers that
were available were fairly old (in their 30s) and not the best troops for an attack; the
soldiers hadn't had proper rest or food the passed few days; proper maps of the terrain
were not available and aerial support was minimal.
Reluctantly the soldiers carried on and then ran into SS troops.
After some fighting the defenders pulled back.
Because of panick this retreat became more of a rout.
The Germans mopped up the remaining defences.
The next day it was decided the defenders pulled back to the New Holland Water Line.
This looked grim, since this line was barely prepared for defence...
However it got worse.
See, however succesfull the Germans were behind scedule.
In the north the attackers were not be able to break through; I get to that in a second.
The defenders at the Grebbeline caused some significant delay and also the fighting in
Rotterdam had continued for some days now.
German troops were pinned down at the bridges.
That resistance needed to be broken down.
Then the Germans came with a paper request demanding the unconditional surrender of the
city of Rotterdam or face demolition by bombing.
This request was not signed however.
Dutch commander colonel Scharroo argued Rotterdam couldn't be given up by in unsigned request.
Rotterdam Major Pieter Oud said that the faith of the country was of higher value then the
fate of Rotterdam.
However, if strategically seemed the fate of the country was already sealed, Rotterdam
needed to be speared.
Dutch supreme commander Winkelman agreed with Scharroo.
Scharroo therefore demanded for a signed request and a new ultimatium.
By that time German bombing planes were on their way.
Flares would've been fired as a sign to stop the bombing but because of a miscommunication
these weren't fired.
And so, the historical city centre of Rotterdam was bombed.
Around 800 Dutch civilians died.
One place the Germans did not managed to get through was the Afsluitdijk in the north.
There a small Dutch garrison managed to fend off several German attacks.
When the news of the surrender reached them, the soldiers were in shock and awe.
When the Dutch commander surrendered to the German commander he stated: 'Understand, the
only reason for laying down the arms is because of orders from high command, not because of
any given strategic circumstances.
You're still outside my position and without orders from high command you would remain
to do so for many days'.
On the 15th of May the Dutch supreme command signed the unconditional surrender.
The Dutch royal family as well as the government had made their way to England.
For the Dutch people the Occupation had begun.
There are much more interesting aspects of the Battle of the Netherlands not mentioned
so feel free to comment additional information below.
I am considering to shoot seperate episodes about the several battles that took place
in the Netherlands during the German invasion.
If you are interested in this, please, let me know in a comment below.
In 2015 I already shot one of these episodes in Rotterdam.
Check it out.
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Patreon.
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Until next time!