Guest
In this fifth and final episode of this series we take a look at the devastations of the Eastern part of the Netherlands towards the end of WW-II. Arnhem was the well know scene of Operation Market garden, the failed attempt by the allies to capture the Rhine bridge. The 700 year old capital of the Dutch province of Gelderland was involved in a number of battles and was robbed to the bone by the Germans. Near Arnhem two Bailey emergency bridges were constructed to re-enable traffic. On 22 February 1944 Nijmegen suffered a severe bombardement by the allied forces, especially by the Americans. Till this day the jury is still out whether this was an accidental bombardement due to a navigation mistake or deliberate. 800 people were killed. Arnhem was also hit by this raid as well as Enschede. These bombers were on their way back from an aborted mission to Gotha in Germany and just looked for convenient targets to get rid of their bombs. Not far from Arnhem and Nijmegen to the West lies the Betuwe. This very fertile area between the three Dutch main rivers is well known for its fruit growers. Annually heaps of tourist used to flock to the Betuwe in May to see the beautiful blossoms on these trees. After the war hardly anything Was left. All that remained was a barren landscape as can be seen here around the town of Tiel. Many areas became totally unusable because of the millions of deployed land mines. Clearing the mines is a dangerous job and caused many fatalities. Other parts in the east of the Netherlands did not escape from the war onslaught either. Zutphen and Deventer were severely damaged. The city of Groningen in the North East of the country did not escape from the spoils of war either. If you have watched all five episodes in this series it should become apparent how severely The Netherlands suffered from the German occupation. The once splended Dutch harbours were transformed into heaps of rubble and twisted steel. Before the war the country had one of the most modern electrified railway networks in the world that served all Dutch cities, towns and villages. At the end of the war this rail network had become almost totally unusable. On their retreat the Germans destroyed many trains and also stole a large portion of the rolling stock. Before the war the railways posessed 30000 carriages and nearly 900 engines. This graph shows how much of that was left. Families used to consume 3000 calories per head. This fell back to on average only 400 calories and can be directly linked to the great famine in the winter of 1944/1945. Large areas of fertile land in Zeeland and the Wieringermeer were innundated by both the Germans and bombings by the allies as shown in earlier episodes. It would take many years before the soil could be used again to produce food. The reputation of the Dutch cattle and meat produce stood at a very high level. The export of dairy products was one of the pillars of the Dutch economy. It would take years before the poultry production would reach its pre-war levels. A graph shows the effects of the war on these sectors. The production of coal before the war was sufficient to support the entire country but dropped to around 25% causing the Dutch to rely largely on coal supplies by the allies. To sum up, the minority of the Dutch who supported the Germans when they entered the country in May 1940 soon learned that they had betted on the wrong horse. The initial smiles were soon wiped off their faces once they learned of the real intentions and objectives of the Germans. The economy fell flat on its face, Jews never returned from the concentration camps and the country was plundered to the bone. Almost to the day the Dutch suffered 5 years of hardship, cruelty, death and destruction, poverty, abuse, oppression, suppression, plundering and even a terrible famine. To those who have made ignorent comments under my video titled “Dutch Heroes, Collaborators and Traitors during WWII“, suggesting that almost the whole country supported the German invaders, all that can be said is “shame on you!“ Watch that video and this series to better understand what really happened and to conclude that only a small percentage of the population really collaborated in an active manner. The remaining majority had no other choice than to make the best of the situation and to place oneself in survival mode. On 13 March 1945 Queen Wilhelmina returned from het exile in London to make a tour through the liberated South of The Netherlands. She did not stay but went back to London some days later. Her definite return to the Netherlands was on the 2nd of May. On 28 of June she was honored with a “welcome back“ parade on the Dam in Amsterdam as seen here. Gradually life in the Netherlands returned almost to how it used to be. On one thing everybody agreed after these terrible 5 years: “Never again“! Music: Trevor Kowalski Source: Beeld En Geluid.
