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The Netherlands Armed Forces were ill-prepared to resist such an invasion. When Hitler came to power, the Dutch had begun to re-arm, but more slowly than France or Belgium; only in 1936 did the defence budget start to be gradually increased. [11] Successive Dutch governments tended to avoid openly identifying Germany as an acute military threat.
The city of Rotterdam after the German bombing during the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). [1] On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered.
The first German plans to invade the Netherlands were articulated on 9 October 1939, when Hitler ordered, "Preparations should be made for offensive action on the northern flank of the Western Front crossing the area of Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands."
The Dutch army was not considered adequate even at the end of World War I, and it did not improve much during the interwar years. By the time of the German invasion in 1940, only about 166 battalions were operational for the defense of the Netherlands, and most were poorly prepared for combat.
Dutch bombers began dropping bombs on the bridges, and although all of them missed, stray bombs did hit German positions near the bridge, taking out a number of machine gun nests. Another raid followed, but the Luftwaffe responded by means of 12 Messerschmitt Bf 110s patrolling the skies overhead.
Prince Bernhard appointed Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces. [3] Queen Wilhelmina, via Radio Oranje, informs the population in occupied territory that 'liberation is imminent' [3] Commencement of the organized departure of German citizens from the Netherlands [3] 3 to 4 Sep: Start of systematic railway sabotage by the Landelijke Knokploegen [3]
Hitler ordered the Nijmegen bridges to be destroyed, in the hope that supplies and reinforcements to the Allies would be hampered, and to enable a German counterattack to retake the bridgehead. Various attempts at destroying both bridges proved a costly failure, particularly to the Luftwaffe, who launched many sorties – in one day forty-six ...
The Dutch grenadiers managed to recapture the airstrip and to capture many German soldiers in subsequent skirmishes. Four Dutch Fokker T.Vs bombed the Ockenburg airstrip and destroyed idle Junkers Ju 52s. The Dutch troops then followed up with an assault and forced the Germans to retreat. The Dutch still managed to capture several prisoners-of-war.