Five Brothers and a War

Operation Manna/Chowhound

The story then goes on to say that General Smith looked at Seyß-Inquart and said, “Well, in any case, you will be shot!” The Reichskommissar said, “That leaves me cold” meaning that he was not impressed. General Smith's final words were, “It will.” In a similar vein, when General Plocher contacted General Blaskowitz to seek his direction, Blaskowitz had a question for the Allies that he wanted answered: was he on the War Criminal List? This was another tip-off to the Allies that surrender was very near. Interestingly, the Soviets did put Blaskowitz on the list, and he was prosecuted, although the grounds for doing so were at best tenuous. During his 1948 trial at Nürnberg, he broke free from his guards long enough to throw himself over a balcony onto a courtyard below, killing himself instantly on impact. The meeting that day did result in the agreement of ten aircraft drop zones for the food supplies. It also was agreed that food could be brought in via ships beginning May 4, through the port of Rotterdam, although only three ships at a time were to be permitted. Additionally, the road running from Wageningen (in the Canadian-controlled area) to Rhenen (in the German-controlled area) would be open at 7:00 am daily, beginning May 2 in order to allow 1,000 tons of food at a time through. The Dutch would be in control of the distribution facility in Rhenen, and the Allies would provide 200 trucks to the Dutch to allow for distribution. The Germans did not give the needed assurances regarding the safety of barge traffic through Holland's extensive canal system, so that section of the overall plan was put on hold. As the Achterveld meeting broke up, German-born, but now Dutch Prins Bernhard pointed out the Mercedes to Seyß-Inquart. True to form, the chief administrative Nazi was unflappable, and calmly said that he had long wanted to get a bigger car anyway. And so the monumental task of feeding the Dutch had begun.

the war

Five Brothers and a War

Page 592