Neutrality Interrupted by Invasion
At dawn on May 10, 1940, German troops crossed the Dutch border and bombed airfields and other targets. In a telegram sent at 5 a.m. that day, George Gordon, the American minister to the Netherlands, recorded that the Dutch Foreign Ministry had announced a state of war between the two countries and appealed to France and Britain for assistance. Antiaircraft and machine-gun fire had sounded in The Hague shortly after 4 a.m. This contemporary account marks the moment when the Netherlands moved from maintaining neutrality to resisting invasion.
The Dutch military's existing responsibilities included both maintaining neutrality along the borders and defending the country. The lengthy frontier could not be held everywhere, so defense concentrated on the densely populated western region and its cities, with rivers, canals, and planned inundation zones forming defensive lines. Ground obstacles, however, could not prevent aircraft from crossing the front and carrying attacking troops directly into the rear.
Airfields and Bridges as Airborne Objectives
The German airborne operation was coordinated by the Second Air Fleet, with Kurt Student in tactical command. The 7th Air Division and 22nd Infantry Division supplied parachute and airlanding forces respectively. Their objectives included the Moerdijk bridges, Rotterdam's airport, and airfields around The Hague. The operational aim was to seize transport junctions and hold bridgeheads until ground forces arrived, rather than have airborne troops conquer the entire country on their own.
The operation around The Hague did not develop as planned. A postwar study written by German officers for the U.S. Army acknowledged the failure of the 22nd Division's mission and identified shortcomings in parachute troop strength, coordination with transport aviation, training, and communications. Dutch troops recaptured airfields near The Hague, making it difficult for the Germans to turn their initial airborne penetration into sustained expansion. The German positions around Rotterdam and Moerdijk, however, continued to threaten the southern side of the Dutch defensive area.
Pressure on the Eastern Defenses and the Southern Corridor
The German Eighteenth Army advanced into the Netherlands, with developments along the southern corridor and the eastern Grebbe Line affecting one another. Although French troops entered North Brabant, they failed to keep the Germans away from Rotterdam. Dutch forces had to deal with airborne troops in their rear while holding their eastern positions, limiting the reserves available for redeployment.
On May 13, Dutch forces launched a counterattack near Rhenen but failed to recover the breached positions and subsequently withdrew to the eastern defenses of Fortress Holland. Meanwhile, German armored units linked up with airborne troops along the southern bridge corridor. Queen Wilhelmina and the government left the homeland for Britain, leaving Commander-in-Chief Henri Winkelman responsible for continuing the fighting and deciding when to end resistance.
From the Bombing of Rotterdam to Military Surrender
On May 14, German aircraft attacked Rotterdam, setting the city center ablaze. Utrecht also faced the threat of aerial attack. After consulting his principal commanders, Winkelman ordered troops to lay down their arms that afternoon. In a radio broadcast, he cited German air superiority and the danger facing urban civilians as important reasons for ending the fighting.
On May 15, Winkelman signed the surrender documents at Rijsoord with Georg von Küchler, commander of the German Eighteenth Army. The agreement made an exception for the garrison in Zeeland, where Dutch and French troops continued to resist. The decision to end resistance on May 14, the signing of the documents on May 15, and the subsequent fighting in Zeeland were therefore connected but distinct stages.
Overseas Administration and Trade Continued
The campaign did not cause all Dutch state institutions to disappear along with the surrender of the forces in the homeland. On the day of the invasion, Loudon, the Dutch minister to the United States, informed the American secretary of state that, whatever fate befell the European homeland, the administrations of the Netherlands East Indies, Suriname, and Curaçao retained the authority to govern and reject outside interference.
The note also asked the United States not to sever commercial and financial ties with unoccupied territories. The overseas authorities, meanwhile, intended to prohibit such dealings with the German-occupied portions of the homeland. Dutch diplomatic and consular institutions continued to operate outside Germany and the territories it occupied. Overseas territories were authorized to issue instructions to diplomatic and consular posts on their own affairs. These arrangements translated the continuity of government into specific administrative powers, corporate relocations, and financial and commercial connections.
References: [5]
From Military Occupation to Control of Society
Residents of the homeland faced a Nazi occupation regime. After Arthur Seyss-Inquart became commissioner for the German-occupied Netherlands, the occupying authorities took control of economic institutions, plundered public and private property, and pursued economic exploitation through regulations. Labor migration to Germany was initially presented as voluntary but was accompanied by economic and administrative coercion; compulsory labor was introduced in 1942.
The Nuremberg Tribunal's judgment also established that the occupation authorities compelled police and judicial institutions to participate in repression and subjected Jews to economic discrimination, registration, segregation, and mass deportation. The roughly five days of major fighting in the homeland thus opened a much longer period of institutional violence. The tribunal ultimately found Seyss-Inquart responsible for participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity, demonstrating how deeply the consequences of military defeat affected residents' property, labor, and physical safety.
References: [6]