{Sources : Batailles Aériennes #9 (in French), July 1999; This excellent historical site on the Netherlands Battle; And also the tiny W. Green Fighters vol I and III}
The Neutrality: Rules and Price
The Battle of Netherland occurred in Mai 1940, but it appears useful to remind some data explaining how this country was defeated in only 5 days, with 10,000 casualties.
One of the causes of this defeat is the Netherlands chosen to be Neutral.
The Neutrality: Rules and Price
The Battle of Netherland occurred in Mai 1940, but it appears useful to remind some data explaining how this country was defeated in only 5 days, with 10,000 casualties.
One of the causes of this defeat is the Netherlands chosen to be Neutral.
Definition : The Neutrality is the promise of a given country not to use weapons against any country except to defend themselves.
The neutral countries may be inspired by the refusal of the huge spending of money induced by any war.
In some cases of war occurring between neighboring countries, a neutral country could obtain a significant part of the international markets.
Some examples
Some examples
- Sweden, which today is often presented as a model of political virtue (!), used its neutrality. It was clearly enriched during WWII by the business done with the Hitler's Third Reich.
- During the Norwegian Campaign, it played a more than doubtful role when it's trains were transporting voluntarily German troops towards Norway.
- Sweden transported again German forces toward Finland at the very beginning of the Barbarossa operation in 1941, against USSR, it considered as its hereditary enemy, the Russian nation (that Sweden conquered - founded - circa 1,000 years ago...).
- After the Allied victory of 1945, Sweden funded numerous city reconstructions in Norway: Neutral or not, Sweden had a lot to be forgiven...
- When a country proclaims its neutrality, that implies a practical ability to uphold its sovereignty, its independence and its boundaries.
- Otherwise, this country may be annexed by one of its neighbors, implying its citizen will be constraint to obey to the laws of these other countries.
- {The partition of Poland, at the end of the XVIIIth century did not resulted from a will of the rulers of this country to be neutral, contrarywise, it resulted from their indecent warmongering.}
- So, contrarily to the story telling of the usual peace activists, neutrality is a very expensive luxury which may be only achieveded following two complementary axis:
- Military: Creation of a powerful, well trained and highly motivated army.
- Diplomatic: Establish well prepared and discreet alliances.
- In 1940, USA were also neutral: They obtained a lot of impressive orders from all parts of the conflict.
- It is true that, at this times, they had no credible army, because it was devoid of tanks, US skies were protected by really insufficient - in number as in efficiency - fighters (P 36, P 40) but USA had very good long range Boeing B 17 bombers.
- Its powerful Navy was not well led.
- Fortunately for the USA - and for us, too - they were rich of all possible human resources, including excellent generals and admirals as was the exceptional Patton.
- Moreover, as Russia was, is, and will always be, protected by the General Winter, the USA will be always protected by both the Admiral Atlantic and the Admiral Pacific, at the cheapest price. As anti-tank ditchs, one have never done better than these two oceans.
- In 1940, Switzerland and Ireland perfectly illustrated Neutrality.
- The Swiss territory (41,285 km²), in itself with its countless torrents, lakes and very sharp mountains, favors indisputably the own defense of it's inhabitants.
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| The Swiss territory: The boundaries are in white |
- The very famous Swiss banks gave also to their country a lot of powerful financial weapons.
- Moreover, since it's creation, this country gathers a well trained and well equipped army of citizens.
- In 1937 (after the 1937 meeting of Zürich), the Helvetic Confederation chosen the Messerschmitt 109 E for the defense of its own sky (an excellent choice).
- This excellent fighter entered service in 1939 and, since the war was declared between France and Germany, she was efficiently employed against all aircrafts, including especially the German ones.
- Invading Switzerland was by no means an health walk.
- Another example, the Ireland Republic have a territory with a less mountainous than Swiss but still complicated terrain, with very winding roads and a people well accustomed to resist to the Germanic invaders (Vikings, then Englishmen).
- The British government, involved in the WW I against Germany since August 1914, had no interest to attack the Irish Republic leaded by Eamon de Valera.
- Hitler, in 1939, was unable to obtain an Irish alliance. And a landing on the Irish coast was much more complicated than on the British ones...
The Defense of the Netherlands: The problems of a flat and wet country
The Neutrality of the Netherlands was completely different. In 1940, this country gathered 8.8 millions of inhabitants.
The territory, which area totaled 41,500 km², a bit more than Switzerland, included a large proportion of liquid areas (almost 1/5 of the territory (the Zuiderzee totaling 5,000 km²).
The territory, which area totaled 41,500 km², a bit more than Switzerland, included a large proportion of liquid areas (almost 1/5 of the territory (the Zuiderzee totaling 5,000 km²).
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| Map of the Netherlands (maximum altitude: 320 m = circa 1,000 ft) (to be compared with the Swiss one!) |
That territory is the exact opposite of the Swiss one, as a significant part of the land is at a negative altitude (= under the level of the sea).
From the other hand, one may not consider the Netherlands of 1940 to be only constituted by its European territory.
The ambitious maritime tradition of this country led it, at the time of the Grand Admiral Michiel De Ruyter (1607-1676), to have an important war fleet which accessed to the absolute mastering of the seas.
So, this country obtained a huge colonial empire whose flagship was Indonesia which allowed, 3 centuries later, a free and independent access to petrol resources (Royal Dutch Shell).
So, this country was extremely rich. Alas, rich may, sometimes, agree with stingy.
One may also take into account that the Dutchs never accepted the Belgian Revolution of 1832 - which sparked because the permanent Dutch bigotry and led to the independence of Belgium - under the joint aegis of France and England.
So, the Dutch kept a grudge against these three countries.
During WW I, if the Netherlands claimed its neutrality, one Dutch citizen, Antony Fokker, gave his great engineer skill to the armies of Wilhelm II, giving him a mastering of the sky since May 1915 (in exchange of a huge amount of gold).
After the defeat of Germany, the Dutch government gave to the fallen German Wilhelm II Emperor a comfortable and safe residence.
So, Dutch had a very pro-German government until the German offensive of May 10, 1940.
As a logical consequence:
When the WW II was seen as inevitable (1936), it was too late for the Dutch to obtain decisive weapons (heavy or anti-tanks guns, tanks and so on).
As the Germans knew all their future war objectives, they want not to deliver armaments to the Dutchs, but they don't say that to them.
That deterred Dutchs to buy some cannons from France or USA, and the USSR, which was able to fulfill such fair heavy military equipments, was not recognized at all.
There was also real possibilities with Italia, Sweden, Switzerland or Denmark, but none was concluded.
That may explain the Germans were not convinced Netherlands was a real country!
The famous German war plan, established by Herr von Schlieffen in 1905 to defeat France, involved the capability to path through the South-East of the Netherlands.
Hitler seemed to want the complete disposal of all the European coasts for his armies.
However, the Netherlands, which may be seen as a gigantic water table, are not completely simple for motorized armies which must only follow the existing roads.
The territories of the Netherlands is meshed with numerous rivers, swampy areas and channels very close together.
It was not the best kind of terrain to maneuver tanks, as Marshal B. Montgomery finally understood it (too late), 4 years later and after having launched his offensive on Arnhem in September 1944.
Unable to use armoured divisions which were the key of his offensive against the French forces, the best way for Hitler to attack the Netherlands was to use of paratroopers.
His war plan was a bit sophisticated in order to achieve as fast as possible a real victory.
The Wehrmacht attacked by launching troops to 3 points :
The German military deciders, knowing that most of the Allied counterparts as, also, the Dutch generals, would be unable to anticipate (and thereby to withstand) such kind of attack.
Nevertheless, since 1936, the Dutch generals had created a real defense.
They had inherited a ridiculously weak Air Force:
For the end of the 30's, the new objective will be :
From the other hand, one may not consider the Netherlands of 1940 to be only constituted by its European territory.
The ambitious maritime tradition of this country led it, at the time of the Grand Admiral Michiel De Ruyter (1607-1676), to have an important war fleet which accessed to the absolute mastering of the seas.
So, this country obtained a huge colonial empire whose flagship was Indonesia which allowed, 3 centuries later, a free and independent access to petrol resources (Royal Dutch Shell).
So, this country was extremely rich. Alas, rich may, sometimes, agree with stingy.
One may also take into account that the Dutchs never accepted the Belgian Revolution of 1832 - which sparked because the permanent Dutch bigotry and led to the independence of Belgium - under the joint aegis of France and England.
So, the Dutch kept a grudge against these three countries.
During WW I, if the Netherlands claimed its neutrality, one Dutch citizen, Antony Fokker, gave his great engineer skill to the armies of Wilhelm II, giving him a mastering of the sky since May 1915 (in exchange of a huge amount of gold).
After the defeat of Germany, the Dutch government gave to the fallen German Wilhelm II Emperor a comfortable and safe residence.
So, Dutch had a very pro-German government until the German offensive of May 10, 1940.
As a logical consequence:
- They bought especially German cannons (not the best ones, unfortunately for them).
- They experienced, on their own submarines, the German Schnorchel device, used later against all the Allied navies.
If a new war broke out in Europe, the Dutch government would have following again the same rewarding path than the one used during WW I, the Neutrality.
It was all the more logical than the standard of the armament of the Dutch forces was, technically, not as good as the one of the belligerents of 1918 (En Wikipedia of December 2014)!
Nevertheless, the seizure of power by Adolph Hitler was seen as a great danger by some Dutch high ranking generals, but their rulers were reluctant to draw the logical consequences of this danger, especially regarding the Allies, because they hated the Allies and the Belgians.
These politicians did not understood that an alliance cannot be seen only as a single Kriegspiel.
That need much more than some hours of discussion between generals: The mutual help between countries impose a good knowing of the real condition of combat in each part of the future front.
The French soldiers successfully helped Italia from the end of 1916 to the final victory of 1918 (the link is to my post [in my blog in French] on this part of the WW I seen by my grand father André Delpey) were not in a abnormal situation.
But, in May 1940, the Netherlands was a completely different world which would appear to French soldiers as a Water Planet, necessarily inducing a complete change regarding the design of blockhaus and the organisation of the troops movements.
It was all the more logical than the standard of the armament of the Dutch forces was, technically, not as good as the one of the belligerents of 1918 (En Wikipedia of December 2014)!
Nevertheless, the seizure of power by Adolph Hitler was seen as a great danger by some Dutch high ranking generals, but their rulers were reluctant to draw the logical consequences of this danger, especially regarding the Allies, because they hated the Allies and the Belgians.
These politicians did not understood that an alliance cannot be seen only as a single Kriegspiel.
That need much more than some hours of discussion between generals: The mutual help between countries impose a good knowing of the real condition of combat in each part of the future front.
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| Dutch soldiers in situ in 1939! An unthinkable situation for French soldiers, never trained, at that times, for sustaining a fighting in similar conditions. |
The French soldiers successfully helped Italia from the end of 1916 to the final victory of 1918 (the link is to my post [in my blog in French] on this part of the WW I seen by my grand father André Delpey) were not in a abnormal situation.
But, in May 1940, the Netherlands was a completely different world which would appear to French soldiers as a Water Planet, necessarily inducing a complete change regarding the design of blockhaus and the organisation of the troops movements.
As the Germans knew all their future war objectives, they want not to deliver armaments to the Dutchs, but they don't say that to them.
That deterred Dutchs to buy some cannons from France or USA, and the USSR, which was able to fulfill such fair heavy military equipments, was not recognized at all.
There was also real possibilities with Italia, Sweden, Switzerland or Denmark, but none was concluded.
That may explain the Germans were not convinced Netherlands was a real country!
Go through the roof, especially when there is none !
The famous German war plan, established by Herr von Schlieffen in 1905 to defeat France, involved the capability to path through the South-East of the Netherlands.
Hitler seemed to want the complete disposal of all the European coasts for his armies.
However, the Netherlands, which may be seen as a gigantic water table, are not completely simple for motorized armies which must only follow the existing roads.
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| Geography of the Netherlands |
The territories of the Netherlands is meshed with numerous rivers, swampy areas and channels very close together.
It was not the best kind of terrain to maneuver tanks, as Marshal B. Montgomery finally understood it (too late), 4 years later and after having launched his offensive on Arnhem in September 1944.
Unable to use armoured divisions which were the key of his offensive against the French forces, the best way for Hitler to attack the Netherlands was to use of paratroopers.
His war plan was a bit sophisticated in order to achieve as fast as possible a real victory.
The Wehrmacht attacked by launching troops to 3 points :
- At the North, to the Afsluitdijke which closes the Ijselmeer,
- At the Center, to Arnhem and Wageningen,
- At the South, to Tilburg.
Dutch aerial materials
The German military deciders, knowing that most of the Allied counterparts as, also, the Dutch generals, would be unable to anticipate (and thereby to withstand) such kind of attack.
Nevertheless, since 1936, the Dutch generals had created a real defense.
They had inherited a ridiculously weak Air Force:
- One squadron of fighters (theoretically 12 aircrafts, in fact: only 11),
- One squadron of Strategical (?!) Reconnaissance,
- One squadron of Tactical Reconnaissance ,
For the end of the 30's, the new objective will be :
- 8 fighter squadrons, circa 100 fighters,
- 6 Reconnaissance squadrons,
- 3 Bombing squadrons.
- All the aircrafts were monoplanes;
- Most of their landing gears were retractable;
- All aircrafts used of fair radio emitter-receivers
- For each aircraft, the amount of machine-guns were increased by 100%;
- True bombers were built, even they were seen as aerial cruisers, like General Douhet wanted it.
- The A.A. Artillery, entirely modernized.
- The Fighter Command, which included a participation of the French and British fighters.
Unfortunately, these 2 purely Dutch parts had been created very late (from 1938), so you can understand easily why the regiment numbers could not be supplemented in time for the May 10, 1940.
The Dutch Fighter Command totaled about sixty fighters, among them 36 D XXI Fokker single seat fighters as also an equal number of twin-engined fighter G I among them, unfortunately, a great number of G1 fighters were weaponless...
The D XXI Fokker was a minimal (but very serious) fighter (= easy to maintain and using only low cost materials) to obtain an order from a totally blind government, unable to detect the exponential increase of the nazi warmongering.
The fuselage of this fighter followed the then classical concepts (steel tubes and fabric covered structure), the wings were made of wood and fabric covered doped with bakelite (= an early plastic polymer) and the landing gear was a fixed one.
The fairly streamlined engine cowling, surrounded a 9 cylinders, air cooled radial Bristol Mercury VIII engine delivering 830 Cv at 4,250 m (quit identical to the one used on the Gloster Gladiator).
The D XXI weighted 1,600 kg empty and 2,000 kg for take off.
The wingspan was 11 m and the wing area totaled 16.2 m², giving a wing loading of 121 kg/m², ensuring a very good maneuverability.
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| Fokker D XXI with the 1940 markings |
The top speed achieved 460 kph at an altitude of 5,100 m.
The cruising speed at 82 % of the power was 430 kph.
At 340 kph (40 % of the power), the total range was close to 1,000 km.
The top indicated air speed in dive was 700 kph, a very good value.
The climb times were excellent (quite identical to those of the Messerschmitt 109 E) :
- 3, 000 m in 3' 25",
- 6,000 m in 7' 30".
The service ceiling was 10,000 m.
Another decisive tactical asset was the relatively low weight of this fighter which was able to land on the wet soils of her country for refueling and completing the ammo before to take off again easily.
The armament of four 7.92 mm machine-guns, with 300 cartridges per gun, was identical to those used by Bloch 151 or Caudron 714 Cyclone fighters.
Following the sources, the machine-guns of the D XXI were either modern Browning ones with a muzzle velocity of 840 m/s, or old Vickers with a muzzle velocity of 740 m/s, which was insufficient.
{The Fokker D XXI was not very different from the Nakajima Ki 27 fighter but the Japanese fighter was 15 kph faster at altitude and more nimble because her wing area was 2 m² larger and her metallic monocoque structure was 200 kg lighter.}
The good results of the trials triggered an order for - alas - only 36 fighters from the Dutch government (in 1937), followed by Danemark, Finland as also by Spain Republic.
There was talk for sending all these fighters to Indonesia because the Japanese expansion in China was approaching French Indochina and therefore Malaisia, the last step to land in Java or Sumatra (for oil).
Fortunately, the increasing tension between Hitler and his neighbors cancelled this stupid project.
But this fighter could have been even more efficient if fitted with more powerful engines (e.g. the PW 1830), two 12.7 MG and a retractable landing gear.
As it occurs in every country, single seat fighters were of absolutely not interest for the Dutch politicians of the moment.
So, as usual, they were pinching pennies by sacrificing in fashion "all in one".
Fokker company needed orders and gave them the Fokker G 1, a heavy fighter, fitted with 2 radial air cooled engines introducing a formula which culminated (aerodynamically speaking) with the Lockheed P 38 Lightning.
The Dutch fighter was 10.89 m long, weighted 3,300 kg empty and 4,800 kg for take off.
The wingspan was 17 m and the wing area was 38 m² (wing loading = 126 kg/m²).
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| Fokker G 1 in her marking of May 1940 |
The armament consisted in 9 riffle-caliber machine-guns (8 in the nose and only 1 for the rear gunner).
It was also possible to carry and launch eight 50 kg bombs (as was the Fairey Battle or the Bristol Blenheim).
The Mercury VIII engines of the Fokker delivered 830 hp (versus the 690 hp of the Gnome & Rhône 14 Mars) but a cross section area of 1.33 m² for each motor cowling against 0.66 m² on a Bréguet 693.
From the other hand, the heaviness of this aircraft was a serious shortcoming during any emergency landing: The wheels got stuck in the Dutch wet meadows or on sand beaches.
The claimed top speed was 475 kph at 5,000 m (with the Mercury engines).
The excellent Batailles Aériennes #9 (July 1999, in French) published for her a top speed of 435 kph which is consistent with the climbing times:
- 3,000 m in 5 minutes,
- 6,000 m in 12 minutes (the 9 minutes found in certain sources for 6,000 m cannot be seen as a serious data).
The turning maneuverability is proved by ancient videos, but the rolling rate needed a very strong pilot, at a time when no servo drive existed.
Louis Bonte, in his Histoire des Essais en Vol (in French), acknowledged the fair flying qualities of the G1.
Nevertheless, as a fighter, she was completely outclassed by the Messerschmitt 109 E.
Another fighter was used for Battle of Netherlands: The Fokker D XVII, a biplane fighter which flew first in 1932.
Weighting 1,500 kg, her wing totaling an area of 20 m², her wing loading never exceed 75 kg/m², allowing her an outstanding maneuverability.
Her top speed of 360 kph at 4,000 m was rather good, as also the total range of 800 km.
The armament gathered only 2 riffle caliber MGs; Only 11 fighters have been ordered!
When Hitler sent his Junkers 52, the Mai 10, 1940, the 7 surviving Fokker D XVII were not immediately put into action, the decidedly very naive Dutch rulers preferring to use them for advanced training, as if they still have time for this!
Obviously, the Ju 52 (270 kph) have no escape way against such fighters.
It was not until the next day that 6 of these old fighters came into action.
With a little hindsight, we understand that these fighters could easily contributed to the destruction of the Junkers 52 carrying paratroopers at a decisive moment.
At last, the Netherlands Air Force had a modern bomber, the Fokker T V, first designed as an Air Cruiser, following the concept published by Giulio Douhet at the end of the 20's.
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| Fokker T. V - |
She was 16 m long and weighted 4,650 kg empty and 7,250 kg (7,600 kg overloaded) for take off. (She was a rather lightweight bomber if we compare her with the less efficient Bristol Blenheim)
Her wingspan was 21 m and the wing area totaled 66 m².
The wing loading did not exceed 110 to 115 kg/m².
With two Bristol Pegasus engines delivering 925 Cv, her top speed was close to 420 kph (Wikipedia in German language gives also 445 kph if fitted with G&R 14 N0/N1 engines).
The armament comprised one 20 mm cannon firing forward and 5 rifle caliber MG.
At a cruise speed of 350 kph, the total range was 1 550 km.
The maximum bomb load was 1,000 kg.
Unfortunately, only 16 were ordered...
The Five-Day War
The May 9, 1940 evening, the Dutch, well informed about the German offensive, put all their armies on alert.
The airbase of De Kooy, at 3,500 m to the South of the Den Helder Harbor entrance, was the first in action in the early morning of the May 10.
The 1 Ja. V.A. (fighter squadron), using eleven Fokker D XXI, took the air at 04:00.
{This day, the Dutch reaction was the best of all the Allied ones.}
The formation gathered three patrols of 3 fighters and one of 2.
The first patrol downed quickly a Heinkel 111, while another pilot had caught up a Junkers 88 bomber and shot her down.
Another patrol was called back to De Kooy, where Bf 110 were strafing the base.
Unfortunately, one of the Dutch pilots preferred to attack two He 111, whose two gunners downed him.
The D XXIs, quickly called back to De Kooy, were attacked by five Bf 109.
One of the pilots was able to perform an emergency landing just before his fighter caught fire (with no injury for him).
His colleagues used of the excellent maneuverability of the D XXI to down two Bf 109 E.
When all these battles were over, eight Fokker D XXI landed on their airfield, all bearing the traces of the fight.
Four of them, quickly repaired, take off again during the following hours and three more during the after-noon (with, apparently, no results).
At Schiphol, nine D XXI took off at the precise moment of the German attack.
One Junkers 88 was downed. Two Fokker must land for repair.
In a fight with a Bf 109, a Fokker was downed, her pilot KIA.
Five among the Fokker XXI downed a Junkers 52 whose paratroopers were made POW.
The 6 remaining D XXI were reconditioned. They escorted 3 bombers Fokker T. V at
12:15.
They were attacked by 10 Bf 109.
These German fighters downed one D XXI fighter and damaged one other, but they lamented 3 losses of their own.
At Waalhaven (South of the Rotterdam harbor), the Dutch crews of the eleven G1 fighters (of the 3e Ja VA) were not all present at the time of the first German bombing involving twenty seven Heinkel 111.
So, 3 Fokker G 1 were already destroyed on the ground but the remaining 8 took off.
One G 1, devoid of gunner (killed by bombs), was quickly downed and her pilot was killed.
An identical scenario involved another G 1.
The fourth twin-engined fighter, with Lieutenant G. Sonderman, Fokker test pilot, downed one Ju 52 and two Messerschmitt 109 before landing on a beach, by lack of fuel.
Such a record (3 victories and, among them, two Bf 109 E) was exceptional for the G 1 and must be associated with the exceptional skill of her pilot.
One other pilot land his G1 on the same beach.
The fifth G 1 downed a Ju 52 and 1 Messerschmitt before to land also on the same beach.
The sixth Fokker destroyed 2 bombers but, damaged by German fighter, had to land.
All these heavy fighters were caught or destroyed without being able to take off again.
Only one G1 survived these fights. A very bad record for the very first mission of the type.
{The 4ème Ja. V. A. - also equipped in G1 Fokker - was unfortunately annihilated from the first moment of the bombing.}
The main result for the Fokker G 1 was 11 victories, mainly obtained against multi-engined aircrafts, at the expense of 6 aircrafts captured, 3 fighters destroyed on the ground and only one destroyed in fight, totaling 9 losses.
The G 1 victories are clearly correlated with her armament, twice as powerful than the one of the Fokker D XXI.
However, the amount of G1 fighters unable to take off is clearly associated with the important size of this fighter, favoring its visual detection and its aiming by the German gunners.
They had lost a lot of fuel during the battles and, even replenished, they cannot take off again, demonstrating that no experiment had never be done previously to test such unusual take off.
The worst was, therefore, the G 1 fighters appeared only as one shot fighters.
The Fokker D XXI had clearly better records, with losses of only 3 fighters destroyed in action the May 10 and 2 fighters damaged, they achieved 9 victories.
The fast reappearance of numerous D XXI fighters claimed downed by the German Jagdwaffe displayed the outstanding maintenance qualities of this excellent Fokker: They were authentic war fighters.
After this intense first fighting day, sixteen D XXI Fokker fighter (among the twenty initially available = 80%) survived versus only one G 1 Fokker among eight (= 12.5%).
The T. V. Fokker crews had to defend themselves from the start: Confronted to a German bomber formation, they downed 2 of them with their powerful 20 mm cannon.
Later, they were used to bomb military objectives. When such missions were flown without escort, the losses were on the high side.
Moreover, an abnormally weak proportion of hits was observed.
One hypothesis to explain such a result could lie in the very low wing loading, needed for the good maneuverability (they effectively demonstrated) which had an adverse effect in turbulent atmosphere.
The May 13, all T. V bombers have been downed.
The Battle of the Netherlands was over the May 15, after the capitulation of the Dutch Army, as the consequence of the terrorist German bombing of Rotterdam.
The German aerial losses were 530 aircrafts crashed on the Dutch soil.
If the Zeeland Battle remained active a couple of day, the records did not change significantly.
Most of the German losses regard the aircrafts carrying paratroopers and other infantrymen.
This fleet gathered 430 Junkers 52, each carrying 17 soldiers, the first batch totaling more that 7,000 men. Some of the Ju 52, which had landed in the Dutch air base were able to go back to finish their work.
This armada was escorted by numerous Messerschmitt 109 fighters which missed seriously to the German bombers attacking the French airbases at the same instant.
The Dutch AA fire gathered 270 up-to-date cannons.
One must add 450 light machine-guns taken to the German troops fleeing the Allied ones in 1918.
The aerial warning was only based on human observers or on acoustical devices (it is also said that 2 prototypes of radar was used).
The combination of these various means was responsible of more than hundred victories, especially at the expense of the Junkers 52 which flew at low altitude to land and disembark the soldiers they carried.
It is possible that some of these victories was the executions of aircraft previously damaged by Dutch or Allied fighters.
We know, today, the Fokker facility had to repair more than hundred Junkers 52 during the months following that battle. A lot among the others were definitely lost (circa 150).
Conclusion for the IIIrd Reich
About one half of the German aerial transport capabilities have been disabled of destroyed during this first efficient aerial offensive in History.
It's very likely these Junkers 52 missed to Hitler for the following steps of the WW II (the Crete in 1941, Stalingrad in 1943, etc).
But it's exactly the rules of the Game of any War: All the human and the material resources created to the early beginning of the war is most likely to result in a shortage of equipment.
Yes, Hitler missed equipment since the end of 1942.
Yes, his logistics was perfect to defeat France, after the North European countries.
But, for the inevitable continuation of the operations, the same logistics was totally insufficient.
It remains that the daring German aerial operation used in May 1940 to submit the Netherlands, pave the way to a lot of similar operations in the World since.
Conclusion for the Netherlands
Despite a number of shortcomings, all related to the Dutch politicians, and a very well planed and well executed German attack, the Dutch army defended its country rather well.
Doing that, it was threatening to make the battle last twice as long as expected by the OKW.
If some actions could been decided more early, they would have positives consequences:
- Creation of an armored division in order to counter attack any invasion;
- Enhancing the strength of the artillery;
- create a more numerous aerial top cover: The 72 ordered fighters were totally insufficient. More than 200 fighters was the minimum amount needed.
- Inside the Dutch Fighter Command, favoring the lightest fighters - the Fokker D XXI and the aircrafts which were developed from her concepts.
In such case, the bombing of Rotterdam could had been avoided, because the paratroopers might not be trapped in this city.
Once more time, like many others, the Dutch politicians chosen to be blind about the interest of their own country and they lacked courage and far-sighting (later, they chosen the suicide-fighter F 104, and more recently, again, they chosen the poor F 35 JSF).
From the other hand, all the Dutch and Allied soldiers demonstrated their great courage, but they were overwhelmed by the German ones who were perfectly trained for such very innovative form of war.
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