Five Brothers and a War

May 10, 1940

The story of the battle at Valkenburg was very similar to the other two. The Germans took the airbase in the morning and later in the afternoon, the Dutch had retaken it. Aside from the human losses on both sides, when the Dutch re-entered the bases, they saw the carnage of aircraft all over the base. The ground was so soft that planes that actually landed had their wheels sink into the earth, and were then unable to move, much less take off again. Of the roughly 60 planes that landed, only 14 appeared not to have been damaged. German losses in the air were profound after one day. They lost 250 aircraft, mostly the transport planes.

the war

Five Brothers and a War

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