Five Brothers and a War

May 10, 1940

As dawn was beginning to break on Friday, May 10, 1940, the Germans began their invasion of Holland. Their plan was to quickly assume control of the nation through the use of ground forces which had amassed on the Dutch border, through the use of the Luftwaffe to inflict damage on a massive scale, and critically, to drop paratroopers behind Dutch defenses in order to both surprise the Dutch and to limit the amount of flooding that could be undertaken through the breaching of the dyke system in low-lying areas. This was the very first use of paratroopers in warfare. This was Blitzkrieg in all of its “glory”. It was all lightning fast. Without Germany declaring war, at 3:55 am (Dutch time—Germany was in a time zone 30 minutes ahead, so it was 4:25 am in Germany), the war in Holland began, and so began almost exactly five years of misery for the nation. The Germans won a critical early victory in a raid against the bridge at Gennep, just 4 km (2.5 miles) from the border. German commandos were disguised as Dutch Military Police who were escorting some supposed German prisoners. They quickly took control of the railway bridge over the River Maas, which in turn allowed for a trainload of an entire German infantry battalion to be transported behind Dutch defenses.

the war

The Gennep railway bridge under German control (left) and the destroyed Roermond bridge in the south.

The German assault was slowed by the destruction of many bridges by Dutch forces, so it was crucial to gain control over as many bridges as possible, and the victory at Gennep was an important one for Germany. While the Germans had sent troops across the border ahead of the 3:55 am start time in order to capture bridges, they were often unsuccessful. This stranded other trainloads of soldiers inside Germany. The province of Limburg, in the extreme south of the country was considered indefensible by the Dutch. In one place, the province is only 5 km (3 miles) wide, tucked between Belgium on the west and Germany on the east, so it took almost nothing to choke off cities and towns to the south, including the ancient and important city of Maastricht. Maastricht had better defenses, though because of the choke-point to the north, those defenses were not sustainable. It is interesting though that in such small confines, and with the Germans initially wearing Dutch military uniforms (which is against the provisions of the Geneva Convention), there was an instance when the Germans were fighting against themselves.

Five Brothers and a War

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