Rare footage of the dutch army in WW2

Rare footage of the dutch army in WW2

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Tags:

• world
• war
• WW2
• dutch
• army
• Netherlands
• Holland
• infantry
• gun

[Change6609]

In numbers, the Dutch army was much bigger than the attacking German forces. Besides that our army in many (but not all) respects was under equipped (for example Mauser rifles and artillery dating back to before WW1, the army largely consisted on conscripts that were ill trained. Lage "war exercises" like they're nowadays often pracitised, were only seldom practised. Us Dutch thought we were safe through many fortresses and water flooding areas, but forgot that planes could fly over them

[GulleGelderlander]

@vangestelwijnen Totally agree on that. I think the best conclusion we can made is that the Dutch soldiers fought fiercely as lions, even with old equipment and outdated tactics. There wasn't much they could do about the invasion. Perhaps if Rotterdam wasn't bombed and the fighting went on, we could have won some time for British or the French. But just look how quickly France was overrun, we stood no chance, though we fought as lions, well my ancestors then.

[vangestelwijnen]

@GulleGelderlander Exactly. Although only the Fokker G-1's were considered modern at the time, the D-21's were less sophisticated but could turn quickly. The rest were bombers and bi-planes. Even with the old bi-planes some successes were made. Bombing Rotterdam was a warcrime, like bombing Warsaw, Coventry, London and, imho, Dresden. Making casualties was the only thing on the minds of both Goering as 'Bomber' Harris.

[GulleGelderlander]

@vangestelwijnen That is correct. And that is exactly the cause of the Rotterdam bombardment: the fierce fighting of the Dutch troops. The German supreme command counted the invasion of the Netherlands to last 1 day, like in Denmark. It all didn't go that well, so they decided to bomb Rotterdam. What I meant to say is that the Dutch couldn't do much to stop the bombardment. Rotterdam didn't have airdefences. The Dutch had a proper airforce, but most of the planes were destroyed before take-off.

[valo1994]

we did took down al large part of the luftwaffe, so even though we didn't last we did help the English a lot.

[vangestelwijnen]

@GulleGelderlander The situation wasn't that bad. The Dutch army was able to fight back at some locations, forcing the Germans to retreat. Anti-aircraft guns downed hundreds of Ju-52's. There were a few occasions where the Dutch, with rare modern warfare, surprised the Germans. On 95% of the other places, the Dutch army indeed was outnumbered and outpowered. When an army needs to get antique cannons from musea, you know it is all lost soon.

[GulleGelderlander]

@yankobutt Well probably not much. The Dutch just didn't believe those attack plans. We remained neutral during WWI, although you can detect a small preference for Germany in that war. They didn't expect the Germans to break the traditional friendship untill it was too late. Holland didn't fight a war since the 1830's and didn't expect a war. The army was bad equiped. The only thing they could do was to win some time for the English. But they were as warry for the English as for the Germans.

[yankobutt]

@GulleGelderlander Thats interesting I was not aware of that but even if the Dutch didn't ignore it what could the Dutch military do?

[GulleGelderlander]

@MiloDaemon The Germand did declare war to the Netherlands. A German count and ambasador Julius von Zech-Burkersroda delivered the declaration. He was in tears and couldn't speak, he was ashamed of his country. Though the Germans moved very quickly, they were already in Rotterdam before the Dutch could react to it.

[GulleGelderlander]

@yankobutt Not true. The Belgians intelligence discovered German attack plans in a crashed German plane. They quickly warned the Dutch intelligence but the Dutch ignored it. Hitler asured that he would never hurt the traditional Dutch-German friendship (those of before the war) and that he would never attack the Netherlands and Belgium. Well we all saw that he kept his promise....