 Navigated a pilot go ahead then coast of Holland just ahead good pilot to Bombardier Open bomb base and prepare to bomb right Bomb doors open Navigated a pilot. We're over the target. There's West Capella There's the great dike pilot to Bombardier target below. She's all yours. I need a little left No, no too much. Give me a little right just a little There steady now hold what you've got That's it hold it Steady Bombs away mission accomplished a long train of bombs hurtles earthward and the great dike at West Capella in Holland is breached The ocean pours through the spreading holes washing over the land drowning out the gun emplacements of the Germans Modern warfare. Well, not exactly modern a Dutchman thought of the same strategy 400 years ago His name was William the silent. He wasn't a silent man at all It is his story we tell tonight His story and the story of another time in history when Holland was fighting for its freedom and the Dutch broke the dikes NBC University of the air presents chapter 7 of we came this way a new historical series for our listeners at home and overseas With John W. Vander Cook as narrator we present chapter 7 a story of how the Dutch broke the dikes in We came this way 1555 Charles the 5th of Spain gave up his throne and retired to a monastery Attired old man swollen with gout and sick of conquest Forget him, but remember his son and success Philip the second by the grace of God King of Spain Caesar Augustus Lord of the earth Absolute dominator in Asia Africa and America Duke of Milan and both the burganties Hereditary sovereign of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands Philip was a medieval man in a world where feudalism was crumbling an autocrat in an age when men were beginning to question authority Philip tried to turn back the clock He wanted to check the reformation build a gigantic Spanish monarchy and reduce his other possessions to vassal states He almost succeeded. He would have succeeded except for one thing William the silent Prince of Orange opposing Philip sent the Duke of Alba to the Netherlands with an army William fled for his life But don't forget William. This is only the prologue to our story Alva rode into the Netherlands on a white horse with 10,000 soldiers He looked around him and he saw the fear on people's faces, but he failed to see the anger at their hearts So he wrote a letter to Philip. I Am here So much is certain whether I am welcome is of little consequence I have tamed men of iron in my day. Shall I not easily crush these men of butter Violence is the only way with these people. I shall act accordingly Alva's first act was to establish the Council of Blood three months later. He wrote again. I Would that all the heads of all his majesty's enemies or upon a single neck so that I might strike them off with one blow To date I have had killed 1800 heretics But even Alba was too slow for Philip in February 1568. He had the inquisition passed sentence upon the Netherlands Let it be made known That through this holy office all inhabitants of the Netherlands With the few exceptions noted below are herewith condemned to death as heretics And let it be further known that this sentence is to be carried out immediately Without regard to age sex or condition Never before or since was a whole nation sentenced to death Even children went to the stake the whole population of the Netherlands might have been swallowed up in one vast grave William the silent had been a different kind of man But he was what he was so in exile by almost superhuman effort he assembled an army Then he came back to the Netherlands to liberate the people to fight for what he valued more than his life But William fought for was something new in the world. It was an idea Freedom of conscience and it is being fought for even today Yes, I came back There is a time I think in every man's life when he must choose between inaction and struggle I Came back to lead the people against the Duke of Alba and the greatest army in Europe My army was a people's army a ragged undisciplined, but savagely loyal force We called ourselves beggars Or beggars was the name the king's region had given us years before when we had gone to petition against Alba's coming For two years we fought a losing fight. I Saw my three younger brothers killed in battle Saw Antwerp ravages saw Zutphen fall Harlem Then When I lay ill of fever at dealt and powerless to stop them I saw the Spaniards under Valdez march on the city of Leiden and Holland If Leiden surrendered always lost The people of the Netherlands could stand no more defeat What at Leiden where General Valdez was proposing terms of surrender to the stubborn fool I am offering the people of Leiden pardon and mercy if you surrender the city at once Pardon and mercy. Do you understand? I Understand general Valdez at the flute sound sweet when the Fowler blew as the bird We know what happened at Harlem when they surrendered Spanish mercy Spanish fury, you know the alternative to surrender. Yes. Yes, we know very well The arrangement suits us admirably We lay siege We wait outside the walls while you starve inside the Spanish army has no other engagements You are cool now Burger Master But you will change or two. I Tell you that Leiden will be taken If I fall in the siege my son will come and take my place If he falls my second son will take his place And if he falls that my wife will come from Spain to take his place and Who will take your wife's place general Valdez? My name is Peter van der Veer. I Was the burger master of Leiden and I do not want you to think that I was a brave man. I Did what I did because sometimes a man has but one choice We had lived for five years under Alva Nothing worse could happen to us after that So the Spanish army waited outside Leiden for us to starve inside and We waited for the prince to send us aid Two months went by and every day there was a little less food than the day before Then one day Yes, Anna the boy outside says his name is Dirk van zeal He has two pigeons in a cage pigeons Tell him to come in Anna. I'll tell him Burger master. I had to see you. What is it led? What do you want to save Leiden sir? save Leiden How will you save Leiden? Isn't it true sir that you've been trying to get a message to the prince to send us help? Yes, it's true and that both couriers you sent were captured by the Spanish and tortured I could get to doubt sir You I know the road like the palm of my hand. I could do it blindfolded. Yes But the Spanish would not be blindfolded. I could slip out at night I know where there's a hole in the wall grown over with weeds only a boy could get through I could slip past the sentry and Suppose they saw you I'd run I'd hide under the bank of the canal Or I'd lie flat in the water with my nose out. I tell you sir. I could get to doubt How old are you led? 16 but what you need for the trip is a boy sir not a slow old man fat with drinking too much beer But if you did manage to sneak out of the city and get to the prince with a message You'd never be able to get back in with the princess answer I'd not try to return sir Yeah, but the object of the trip is to bring back word from the prince. I wouldn't come back sir But my pigeons would you see sir their homing pigeons? Tell me more of Leiden Well The food is almost gone sir and some talk of surrender. They say Well They say that you have deserted us no lad The fair mate of Harland has had many suitors, but she chose me above all others. I'll not desert her Send an army to help us if I had an army. I'd have sent it long ago It was cut to pieces at Mukerheider The only force I've left is the fleet The sea beggars but Leiden's not on the sea. How could you send the sea beggars to Leiden? I Sending the sea What's that sir? the dykes were broken The whole lowland between here and Leiden would be flooded Of course the dykes I'd never thought of it Then why not break the dyke sir? I would have long ago Wanted to from the minute Leiden was besieged then why? The estates general They won't agree to it. No not yet But they must decide and what about Leiden sir will we be left to starve to the last man? No lad. I've not given up Tomorrow I go back to Rotterdam to meet with the estates once more And may God in his mercy give me the wisdom to make them see The princess proposal to break the dice was fantastic when he made it two months ago. It is still Fantastic centuries are people of labor to push back the sea is all their work to be destroyed now If the dice are broken it will flood the Rhine land the Delft land the ski land all the adjoining just I myself stand to lose many Thousand guilders by the flooding of the land We will now hear from his excellency the prince gentlemen I Make my last appeal to you If Leiden falls Then Holland will be caught in two With Leiden will collapse our last hope The Netherlands Will once more be at the mercy of the tyrant you know what this means You have seen the streets of your cities running with blood You have shuddered in your homes And waited for the knock on the door that would drag you off to the gals If you have escaped and Thousands of your countrymen have died died for a simple thing a God-given thing a Thing that men should enjoy as freely as they breathe fresh air The freedom to worship God as the conscience directs Think not of your purses now, but of that freedom Not of a parcel of land But of those who will come after you to inherit that for which we fight Do this thing I ask of you empower me to break the dykes and send the ocean to Leiden and I tell you What you do here today? Will be remembered all Generations to come We'll call you Blessed the estates general yielded and on the third day of August 15 74 I Stood on the great outer dyke near Rotterdam with my chief engineer It was an ordinary summer day daisies in the meadows crows in the grainfields a lazy wind turning the windmills a Crowd had gathered and we bowed our heads for a moment God grant us to succeed in this undertaking God bless Harlan. Are you ready now your Excellency? Yes, I'm ready At the sound of the cannon let the work go forward Let the dyke be pierced and the ocean come in ready set fire The dyke was broken all the patient effort of five centuries destroyed as Skeetam and Rotterdam the floodgates were opened and the water leaped forward washing over the orchards the grainfields in the meadows Where fat cows had grazed Was now the bottom of the sea But even as men watched their earthly possessions vanish. They knew a great exaltation Afterwards they might carp and haggle and criticize But for the moment their vision was pure Unobstructed they looked upon the desolation and saw something else the waters of freedom Washing over the lowlands the boys pigeon came back to Leiden with the message that the dykes had been broken and We were wild with relief and hope It was a foolish thing. I did but the end seemed so near I Gave the order Burger master Rations of food will be doubled is on its way to Leiden The last of our food was eaten and still the ocean did not come The plague came instead Plague and famine worked silently together The church bells told a thousand dead the first week the second week passed Dogs cats rats everything that lived but man was killed and eaten Another thousand died Still there was no sign of the water The third week People were chewing on old shoe leather eating the bark of trees the roots and swelling up and dying An inch or two of water but no more had crept feebly across the meadows about Leiden and Spanish soldiers stood below the city walls and mocked us at the end of the fourth week 7,000 were dead of the famine and pesterance My wife Anna was one of them No one could bear to hear the church bells toll any longer so I Ordered them to cease and that was how it was with Leiden when General Valdez Unbuckled his sword and paid me What is it you would have of me now General Valdez I've come for the last time to offer you pardon and mercy If you will surrender you had your answer four months ago four months ago. You had hope The faint hope that your prince might send you help But now you have nothing you lie a month ago the dikes were cut But did the water come to Leiden? No, senior Even God marks you He has made the wind stop blowing the water sinks instead of rising The prince's fleet my courier tells me is stuck in the mud two miles from where it started You see senior Your last hope is gone. No general Valdez. You are wrong We live and As long as we live we have hope pardon me senior, but we Spanish are not fools We know you have nothing between you in starvation, but a few mangy dogs and cats Then as long as you hear a dog bark Or a cat mew know that Leiden holds out You wait like vultures to pick our bones, but know this general Valdez When our last hour comes and we can fight no more We will set fire to the city and die in the flames Nothing will be left for you. Nothing What's that? In God's name, where's that music coming from from the people general The people of Leiden whom you say are beaten Today we celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Orange. May God forgive the bogey master that lie It was not my birthday He had ordered the town musicians out and the people to parade so that Valdez would not know their desperation I was desperate to I had counted on wind and tide to carry the seawater to Leiden But for weeks not a breath of air had stirred The sea beggars were founded in a sea of mud on the night of October 1st. I stood on the dyke The dyke I had breached with so much hope With me was the boy duke van zeel Waters like a mirror. I Never saw it so still. Do you believe in miracles lad? Yes, sir. I think I do good They say they only happen to those who believe in them Oh It would be a miracle wouldn't it sir if the wind should suddenly rise and blow the ocean to Leiden You think that would be asking too much. Oh, no, sir God has willed it. It will happen. I see you are good Calvinist. Yes, sir What is it? Taking cold sir. No, it's nothing nothing did you say listen It's the wind The wind has changed and the sea is moving There were three feet of water in the meadows about Leiden by October 4 And another of dirks pigeons had returned with the message that the fleet the sea beggars were on their way to save us I Kept watch till almost daybreak Then dropped off to sleep. I was awakened I'm coming. I'm coming What is it men the city wall is falling? No, no it can't be but it's true Sir the wall between the cowgate and the Tower of Burgundy has fallen and the Spaniards have mined it They mean to attack us before the fleet comes they'll be in the city before it is light What are we to do Burger Master do? We fight them of course Listen the captain of the God is calling out our men Every man woman and child in Leiden who is not too weak to stand Lined up in orderly array before the fallen wall The home guard had guns The rest had pikes axes hammers hay forks the women had their kitchen knives A few held lighted torches We knew what we would do As long as we could we would fight the Spaniards off Then we would set fire to the city and die in the flames While we waited for dawn and for the enemy to attack We prayed were in the noise some pestilence I'll shalt not be afraid of the terror by night Or the arrow that flyeth by day Nor of the pestilence that walketh in darkness Nor of the destruction that wasted that noonday a Thousand shall fall at thy side and 10,000 at thy right hand But it shall not come naive The Lord is my light in my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life Of whom shall I be afraid? Wait on the Lord Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart Wait I say on the Lord Listen the cockroach in the Spanish camp is growing light in the east people of Leiden The Spaniards will come now remember our oath death, but no surrender Look, they're coming. Well, they are creeping through the mist. There's one of them wait Hold hold are we fire? He's Dutch. Who is it? Who goes there? What are you doing coming from the Spanish lines The Spaniards are gone gone. Where they went toward the hang they wrote past me as I came in then Why do they mind the wall? Maybe they didn't sir Maybe the sea that's bringing the fleet undermined the wall and the fleet is coming of course Why do you think the Spaniards fled listen my listen that's the fleet now the beggars Go ahead then coast of Holland just ahead good pilot to Bombardier open bomb base and prepare to bomb right Bomb doors open Navigated to pilot we're over the target There's West Capella There's the Great Dyke pilot to Bombardier target below. She's all yours. I need a little left No, no too much. Give me a little ride Just a little once again the dykes are broken to drive an enemy from the land And now we who share in this work should remember that we had a stake in that other victory too We you and I were saved at Leiden That was the city where 35 years after the siege that Holland broke a little band of Englishmen driven out of their own country Because of their religion took refuge Our pilgrim fathers found refuge there because Leiden held and remain free From Leiden to Plymouth Rock was the way we came NBC University of the Air has brought you chapter 7 of the new historical series. We came this way Next week we came this way will present the story of the Puritan revolution in England a Handbook containing background information with suggestions for further reading is now in publication We shall be happy to send you at cost of mailing this valuable. We came this way handbook especially written for the current series Send 25 cents to cover the cost of printing and mailing to we came this way post office 30 station J New York 27, New York This program is presented by the NBC University of the Air not only for listeners in this country But also for our service men and women overseas be transmitted to them wherever they're stationed through the armed forces radio service Tonight's script was written by Frank Wells and directed by Ira Avery The original music was composed by Leo Kempinski and conducted by Milton Catems Each arose were played by Lon Clark Rock Rogers Owen Jordan and Ruth Amos the narrator was John W. Vandercook This series is presented as a public service of the national broadcasting company and its affiliated independent stations This is the national broadcasting company