Holland 1940

[John Cook]

This is a useful site for all things Dutch in 1940, including details of arms and equipment.  It wasn't all one-sided, they gave the German fallschirmjager a very rough time around the Hague. 

http://www.waroverholland.nl/

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

They certainly did batter the Falscrimjager (SP)

[steve_holmes_11]

This is a useful site for all things Dutch in 1940, including details of arms and equipment.  It wasn't all one-sided, they gave the German fallschirmjager a very rough time around the Hague. 

http://www.waroverholland.nl/

The campaign features a lot of rather special circumstances.
* The small land mass with relatively few airfields allowed the German airforce to destroy much of the Dutch airforce on the ground.
* The Dutch army had not "enjoyed" the lessons of the first world war, had relatively antiquated equipment, and was mainly set up for static defence lines behind waterways (and on one ridge of hills).
* The Germans had insufficient airlift capacity to drop in force (Some capacity was dedicated to the Belgian campaign), them means small parachute forces attempting to capture airfields, to be reinforced by airlanding troops.
* A land of so many waterways has many bridges. Most were successfully demolished (despite 5th columnist activity). This disrupted German primary plans, but they usually found another usable bridge.
* The Dutch has assigned their few AFVs to airfield defence (I think there are some interesting small scenarios with Dutch reservists and armoured cars fighting the German Paratroops), the defenders generally did a good job containing these.
* The fortification at the east end of the Enclosure dike repelled all German attempts to force the road, they had support of a Naval gunboat which was later sunk while attempting to withdraw to England.
* Goering panicked about his surrounded paratroops and ordered the bombing of Rotterdam to force a surrender. The actual story is a series of blundered negotiations (similar to teh Japanese declaration of war) and a failed recall of the bomber wave.

Two last things.

The Dutch tend to reclaim land, build on it, and only then complete the drainage to lower the water table.
The Germans captured a couple of minor airfields close to the Hague which were "Under construction", and found the wheels of their transports quickly sunk into the marshy soil.

Scope for British intervention "What Ifs".
The Irish Guards were present at Hoek of Holland, where they assited the Royal Navy in evacuating Queen Wilhelmena, and later the Dutch Government.
About 20 miles from the Rotterdam fighting they were held back as this was beyond the scope of their mission.
The Royal Navy also evacuated Crown Brincess Beatrix and family, plus government Bullion and diamond stocks.

And a fair chunk of the Dutch Navy (which had not surrendered with the army) made its way to English ports.

[Leman]

Which Holland: North or South? Do the other provinces of the Netherlands get a look in?

[hammurabi70]

Surely readers will remember the 1940 events mentioned in the film A Bridge Too Far, when it was recalled that the Dutch slaughtered the Germans?

[OldenBUA]

https://www.kazemattenmuseum.nl/en/

The fortifications on the Afsluitdijk are now a museum. Worth a visit if you're in the area.

[steve_holmes_11]

https://www.kazemattenmuseum.nl/en/

The fortifications on the Afsluitdijk are now a museum. Worth a visit if you're in the area.

The Netherlands is a treasure trove for fortifications.

I never got to the far end of the Afsluitdijk (There's a viewing stop half way across, where most Hollanders turn back except lycra boys and scooter clubs doing the Big lake tour).

That end is extremely important since it guards the sea sluices.
It's necessary to control (raise a bit, by letting some sea in) water levels in the big lake so that the flooding portion of the "Fortress Holland" plan can be implemented.

The 1940 campaign was over too quickly to allow this.
I also suspect that nobody wanted to incur the massive flood damage once the inititial fortification lines had broken.