BattleoftheNetherlands

The Battle of Netherlands was part of a German

military operation dubbed Fall Gelb through which
Hitler conquered the Netherlands, Belgium, and
Luxembourg. During
World War II
, seizing these
lands ensured that Germany would have a buffer
zone against Britain and France. Historical records
state that it took the German defense forces a
period of about seven days (from May 10 to May
17, 1940) to occupy all key cities of the
Netherlands.
DutchNeutrality
The Netherlands under the leadership of
Hendrikus Colijin maintained a
neutral stance
.
It viewed Germany as one of its strategic trade
partners and did not want to destroy its mutual
trade through war.
Germany wanted
to protect
one of its vital regions, the Ruhr Area, against
attacks
by the Allied forces and the only way to minimize threats of unanticipated attacks was
t
o invade
the Lower countries, Netherlands included.
TheLowCountriesTargeted
The three countries
known
as the Low Countries were strategically located between
France and Germany, making them a logical route for either of the two enemies to
launch an offensive. In a radio speech,
Winston Churchill
addressed their
governments, urging them to secure their
border
s against imminent attacks by the
Germans. However, they ignored this advice, choosing to retain their middle ground
stance in the conflict as they had done in the past.
TheDutchArmy
The Dutch army had not
expanded
much since the First
World War. Its lack of a sufficiently trained manpower
base meant that they were
ill prepared
for any form of
attack.
There were just eight infantry divisions and just enough
artillery equipment for the larger units. In total, the
Dutch forces consisted of 22 infantry battalions and 48
regiments for strategic border defense. Its fellow
middle-ground ally, Belgium, had only 22 regiments and
30 infantry battalions.
In late 1939, efforts were made to strengthen the force but
due to delays on the supplier side very little progress was
made. On the 10th of May in 1940, the force was clearly in
shortage of armor and had poor telecommunication
devices despite Netherlands being the seat of Phillips.

TheAirDivision
The Air Force division of the Dutch force was a department of the larger army and it
only had 155 aircrafts. Another forty aircrafts served the naval force. It is argued that
the full
potential
of the Dutch air military power was under-exploited due to budget
limitations.
Some historical accounts claim that the Dutch defense force was not only
underequipped but also undertrained. Individual soldiers lacked many of the
necessary war skills. By 1940 only 1,206 professional military officers were present in
the army.
It is said that Hitler and his tacticians had a low
opinion
of the Netherlands military
and expected to take over the core areas of the country in no more than 5 days.
TheBattle
The battle
started
on the early hours of May
10, 1940 when the Germans commenced
operation Fall Gelb taking the Lower Countries
by surprise. German military choppers made
their way into the Dutch airspace engaging in
numerous bombardments before landing in
various airfields. A scheduled attack of The
Hague at first seemed to end in
failure
when
the forces failed to capture strategic areas of
the city. Meanwhile, by the evening of the
same day, the French forces had started
arriving
on the Dutch border in readiness for
battle.
Days after the invasion of the Netherlands by the Germans, the Dutch forces
surrendered
, leaving the Germans with control of all the key areas of the country.
Defeated
The Battle
ended
soon after devastating
bombings
by the German Luftwaffe
in
Rotterdam
,
paralyzing all military and economic reins held by the Dutch
Government. Subsequent threats to bomb more cities in the Netherlands might have
led to the surrender of the Dutch forces. Following this invasion, the Dutch
government established a government-in-exile in Britain.