Five Brothers and a War

May 10, 1940

entrance of the base, was a section of a search-light platoon (including an aircraft noise detection device), which assisted the anti-aircraft battery. They had 20 men who had rifles, however, they had only limited ammunition available—no more than 20-30 rounds per man. Unlike the active air force bases, Ockenburgh was not on the alert status. Since it contained no active squadrons or air-defenses, the alert-status telegram that had been sent a few days before, had not included Ockenburgh. As a result, the depot company was not ready when the Germans invaded. The only measures of precaution were the guard posts at the gate and airfield facilities, as well as the two-man posts at the machinegun positions. The balance of the company rested in one of the airfield buildings. The search-light section was on full alert though. All men were available around the position of the light. The obvious attraction to the Germans for capturing the base was its perfect location at the end of the Laan van Meerdervoort , which would lead directly into the heart of the city, and therefore to its government buildings. The plan had been to capture the Queen and the Prime Minister, and then to assume control. To do this, the Germans planned on landing 135 airborne troops by parachute, then an additional 600 by air transport onto the airfield. They did not want to bomb it, as they wanted to use it themselves—initially for 70 transport planes. At about 4:30am, four Dutch planes landed at the base—two Douglas 8Ns and two Fokker D-XXI fighters. They had wanted to land in order to get ammunition and fuel, but shockingly, no fuel was available. Shortly after the planes landed, the German assault began with Messerschmitt Bf-110s strafing the parked planes. The pilots reported back that they experienced no anti-aircraft fire against them. Thereafter, a platoon of airborne troops parachuted into the adjacent dunes. Other airborne troops missed their target landing site at Ockenburgh, landing instead near Hoek van Holland —well to the south of the action. Another group of paratroopers drowned when they landed in the North Sea. But the troops that did land, quickly engaged the meager defenses, and in quick succession, 18 Ju-52 transport planes delivered 250 troops, followed by a further eight planes carrying staff officers and support. By now, the hundreds of Germans had taken total control of the base. But the Dutch were then providing reinforcements in sealing off access to the city, which slowed the Germans considerably. The Germans brought in additional troops as quickly as they could. They had managed to land 47 Ju-52s. By this time, at about 7:30am, the Dutch had gotten three or four Fokker T-Vs bombers into the fray, and they had dropped sufficient bombs to make future landings more difficult. In a somewhat similar outcome to Ypenburg, the Dutch in Ockenburgh were successful in their counterattack. They had managed to completely cut off the remaining German airfield occupation from their main force—which had withdrawn into the dunes

the war

Five Brothers and a War

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