The German Invasion of the Netherlands - May 1940

Discussion in '1940' started by stolpi, Feb 1, 2020.

  1. SausageRoll

    SausageRoll New Member

    The Sonderstaffel Schwilben was formed solely for this mission, and then disbanded. There is available record of any of the codes for these aircraft. As how the Eben-Emael gliders were flown without codes, and the photos of the Heinkels both on the river, and the salvaged wreckage of the 2 sunk aircraft, clearly show the German crosses but have no discernible traces of codes ...

    Is it sensible to consider that the aircraft were all rendered anonymous by having the identification codes painted over for this mission?
     
  2. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

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  3. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Some other 'recent' publications (in Dutch) which also are worthwhile re the battle for the Netherlands are:

    Nach Holland.jpg Grebbeberg.jpg

    Though in Dutch they contain lots of photographs. Especially the former which is filled with pictures taken by the invading German soldiers themselves.

    Available over here: https://www.bol.com/nl/p/nach-holland/9200000084586833/?bltg=itm_event=click&mmt_id=Xw6VpE3qJlxO-v5oORbeiQAAAVY&slt_type=recommendations&pg_nm=pdp&slt_id=prd_reco&slt_nm=product_recommendations&slt_pos=C1&slt_owner=ccs&itm_type=product&itm_lp=3&itm_id=9200000084586833&bltgh=qOznImrMnr4tlEeHXzdPag.1_8_9.12.ProductImage
    resp. https://www.bol.com/nl/p/slag-om-grebbeberg-strijd-om-wageningen-rhenen-in-mei-1940/9200000039855108/?bltg=itm_event=click&mmt_id=Xw6VpE3qJlxO-v5oORbeiQAAAVY&slt_type=recommendations&pg_nm=pdp&slt_id=prd_reco&slt_nm=product_recommendations&slt_pos=C1&slt_owner=ccs&itm_type=product&itm_lp=6&itm_id=9200000039855108&bltgh=qOznImrMnr4tlEeHXzdPag.1_8_9.15.ProductImage

    Two recent (Dutch) publications, which I have yet to read are from AMA Goossens:
    Untitled.jpg Untitled 1.jpg
    They describe the battles near Nijmegen where the invading German troops tried to grab bridges across the Meuse (south-east of the town) and the Maas-Waalkanaal (west of Nijmegen), the latter waterway will sound most familiar to the Market-Garden fans. In this sector the attempts by the special units of the Brandenburg command division and the committed SS-Aufklärungsabteilung were thwarted by the poorly equipped Dutch.

    Goossens is known from his excellent website War over Holland: The author [War over Holland - May 1940: the Dutch struggle]
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2020
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  4. Hi all,

    New member, so hope I do this right...

    Re: "

    The film is not that well-known as it was released in 1959 and is never shown on TV (not even in UK). Someone put it on YouTube a couple of months back, but unfortunately the whole account has been discontinued. It's not bad as a matinee type film, but seeing as it's an exaggeration of an already fictionalised tale (An Adventure in Diamonds by David Esdaile Walker), shouldn't be taken as historical resource for so many reasons; one part of the film, set in the countryside along a dyke, i.e. "the drive back to the coast" from the film precis, I actually drive past myself every work day.

    The recovery of diamonds from Amsterdam in May 1940 is something I am researching (see my contribution to here Diamonds, for example), among other things I am looking at in those five mad May days that may have a British tint.

    The linked "Operation Amsterdam" WW2Talk thread (I suspect the "operation" got it's name from the film, rather than the other way around) suggests a Welsh Guards Major was the British officer who went across. I will look into that, but conventional wisdom to now is that it was a certain Lt. Col. Montague Reaney Chidson, especially given his DSO citation, one of the very few British documentary resources on this expedition (reproduced below, Recommendation for Award for Chidson, Montague Reaney Rank: Lieutenant Colonel ... | The National Archives). He was a much storied man whose connections with NL date back to WW1 and an SIS posting in the late 1930s; his successor was captured at Venlo in November 1939. In May 1940, Chidson was part of Section D, MI6/SIS.

    [​IMG]

    Hope you find this of interest. If anybody has any leads or similar on this story, please by all means pass them on.

    Darron (in NL)
     
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  5. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Came across a Dutch video yesterday (2nd link) and looking today the author has several on the 1940 invasion see: https://www.youtube.com/c/HistoryHustleNL/videos The one I viewed was on an episode I'd never heard of The Battle of Zeeland (1940) – The Dutch and French Fight on during WWII in the Netherlands:
     
  6. Vant Sant

    Vant Sant New Member




    Whilst I was researching my family tree I found out that my grandad had escaped from Waalhaven, Rotterdam airfield in May 1940 and reached England to join the RAF (a spitfire reconnaissance pilot). His first mission was to fly over Rotterdam in 1942, two years after it had been flattened by German bombs, I cannot imagine how shocking this would been to see the devastation of the city, from 20,000 feet.

    His other relatives were not so lucky and they were punished for their resistance activities (one was shot by the Gestapo and another was sent to Belsen).

    During my research about the German attacks on Rotterdam, I discovered how poorly equipped and trained the Dutch army were. They were using Austrian rifles from 1890, they had no tanks, no grenades and relatively small number of fighter planes. The Germans launched (at the time) the biggest airborne invasion ever) and they were still surprised by the level of resistance they received, but ultimately they had been preparing for 6 years so a swift victory was inevitable.

    My novel is based on true events "Five Days in May" (by Gary S Smith) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08GVJ6HWC, the e-book is around £1 GBP pound/ 1Euro.

    To be fair, other books I enjoyed on the subject of Dutch resistance are
    "Winter Wartime" by Terlouw
    "Grey Goose of Arnhem" by Leo Heaps.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Vant Sant

    Vant Sant New Member


    There is surprisingly very limited publications after the invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. On 10th May 1940, The German's launched the largest airborne invasion in history (up to that point) against strategic targets in the Netherlands. One of these strategic targets was Waalhaven airfield, Rotterdam where my Grandad was based. The scale of the air attacks launched at this location was immense in terms of the numbers of paratroopers dropped and the number of German aircraft mobilised. The Dutch had around 12 Fokker fighter planes serviceable to fights against hundreds of German aircraft, and the airforce was attached to the army which was woefully under equipped (No tanks, no grenades and ...Austrian rifles from 1890), and poorly trained. The ammunition supplies were stored at the airbase, along with the aircraft factory, so It was easy for the Germans to knock out these resources in close proximity. There were desertions but this is not surprising considering the lack of training and leadership. Many of the defenders had never fired a rifle before. Despite all this the Dutch fought bravely and the pockets of fierce resistance surprised the Germans who had planned the invasion meticulously....Due to my relatives being involved I did quite a lot of research on the invasion of Waalhaven, and my relatives who subsequently joined the resistance and my Grandad who escaped to England to join the RAF.
     

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