Five Brothers and a War

May 10, 1940

Bridge destroyed by the Dutch in Maastricht, with the Germans being forced to paddle across the Maas in rubber dinghies. German soldiers amassing behind the river, waiting to cross.

Just as the southern province of Limburg was considered indefensible, the three northern provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe were considered to be strategically unimportant, so their defenses were far lighter than those in the center of the country. The Germans overran the north quickly, but not as quickly as they could have done considering the light resistance they encountered. The attack was focused on the all-important central Holland, mainly comprising Noord Holland, Zuid Holland and Utrecht, as the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, and of course Utrecht were in those provinces. Around Den Haag, the main attention of the Germans was concentrated on the three airfields in close proximity—Ypenburg (9 km/5 miles from Margrietstraat), Valkenburg (16 km/10 miles) and Ockenburgh (1.25 km/.8 miles—almost around the corner from the Margrietstraat). With the takeoff and/or landing patterns, the aerial action was often overhead of the home. Of the three fields, only Ypenburg was somewhat ready for an attack.

the war

Five Brothers and a War

Page 288