It was later revealed that the red flares were never meant to signal that the Dutch had surrendered but rather they were sent up to tell the bombers where the German positions were. Even with little to no means, the Dutch managed to delay the German advances in such way that the German high command resorted to terror tactics. Also, after the battle for the Netherlands, Germany has rarely used paratroopers anymore.
Two things: First: I've never heard that the flares were to tell where the Germans were, so please do you have a source for that. It was very clear for days that they were on Noorder Eiland and just a small group on the other side, were the Dutch line was. Second: The Germans last big paratrooper operation was at Crete - Greece and a small one in the Battle of the Bulge
Excellent video detailing how quickly The Netherlands were overwhelmed by the combination of German tactics and overwhelming air superiority. Thanks for creating such excellent content! I did notice one small discrepancy, but I'm guessing it must be a limitation of the gaming software. The German paratroops are depicted holding onto a pair of risers, which is what allows parachutists to guide their descent somewhat. From all the footage I've seen, early war German paratroops had virtually no control over their descent, because their parachutes were attached to a single point on the back of their harness, thus they had no risers to steer with, or to help "spill" the air from the parachute after landing. Still, bloody good work on your part, and I thank you very much for your efforts. I only recently discovered your channel, but I'll definitely keep watching!
The best book on the Fallschirmjäger actions early war is without a doubt Karl Heinz Golla's book "The German Fallschirmtruppe 1936-1941. Its genenis and employment in the first campaigns of the Wehrmacht." Get the revised edition that also covers the landings in Holland in great detail.
Nice video, but what not many people know is that the Dutch planes (Fokker D.XXI and G.I) shot down hundreds of enemies, when the paratroopers crossed the Dutch border 50 of the 70 of the German planes were shot down or damaged so hard that they had to return. Also in multiple dogfights the Dutch planes showed it's worth. On a day during this 4 days a Dutch squadron encountered a German one. After the dogfight only 1 Dutch plane was shot down. At the German side 1 plane was shot down and 2 more were damaged. Also the German bombers were hit hard. Mostly because the Fokker D.XXI was one of the few planes that time that was agile enough to follow a Stuka (Ju87) in its dive. Together with AA defences this leaded to that 300-500 German planes were shot down, including at least the half (!) of its transport planes during the invasion. The Dutch army also won two battles (Battle for The Hague, where the German paratroopers failed to conquer the Dutch government immediately. The Dutch also won the Battle of the Afsuitdijk, this was the only place during the whole Battle of France where the Blitzkrieg FAILED.) But unfortunately the most Dutch planes were destroyed while being on the ground. Conclusion: the Dutch planes were stronger (the Fokker G.I had 9 machineguns) and more agile then the German planes, leading to massive losses for the German airforce in the Battle for France. The only reason I know this is because I'm Dutch (now you also know why my English could be kinda bad sometimes) and in other countries nobody will ever know this (probably). The most people (outside the Netherlands) thinks that the Dutch army was worthless (it was btw) but in reality the AIRFORCE and the NAVY were stronger then the most of other nations and the Dutch at least won two battles and heavily damaged the German army during the Battle for Mill. Extra Information: -Fokker was a Dutch company (not German as many people think) -Fokker had only stronger projects (Fokker D.23 and Fokker T.9, but they were never finished) PS: don't worry I also learned things I didn't yet from this video, like the paratroopers that landed at Moerdijk and Ypenburg.
Wow thanks for the information. In my research for this video I discovered this too and I would have loved to include the contribution of the Dutch Airforce. However, the game does not have the Dutch fighter planes, and I decided not to use a stand in aircraft. Since learning of this event, I have admired the Dutch for their tenacity and success in the face of overwhelming odds.
The exact number of downed German aircraft is 352. Of those, 223 are permanent write-offs, the others were repaired. The G-1 was an excellent aircraft, but only more manoeuvrable than the Bf-109 in certain flight areas. The D-21 was extremely manoeuvrable, and it's wooden/canvas frame made cannonfire completely useless. Most German losses were incurred by AAA-fire, as the Dutch government in the last few years before the war had allowed major companies to arrange to buy their own anti-aircraft guns, failing to do so themselves because of an extreme low defence budget, lack of time, and a rearmament program that came too late. The Dutch Navy certainly was not as modern as you project it to be. In fact, it was rather large for such a small nation, as required it to be in order to be able to protect the colonies of the Dutch East-Indies, but it was still much too small, lacked capital ships, and -mkst importantly- even the few ships built in the thirties lacked all kinds of modern equipment and innovations, only because the funds to incorporate those never were put forward. In essence, the Navy was for the most part, and certainly for its most important vessels, hopelessly outdated. More importantly, proper training of crews was in the same precarious state. This goes for most of the Dutch Armed Forces in 1939-1940. The only reason why Dutch pilots performed so well, is that most of those came from wealthy families, putting in their own money to buy more fuel in order to make more flying hours. But this did not make the equipment better. The engines of both the G-1 and the D-21 were righed, but unreliable. The machineguns even more so. But they had to make do: all major armament producers were totally filled up with orders scrambling in from all over the world. Apart from the G-1 and the D-21, worth mentioning are the T-5 medium bomber. Outdated from the start. But more importantly; in May 1940 only 2 (out of a total of 9...) of them had been outfitted with bomb racks as already requested and ordered in 1937- there simply werent any available. The Dutch Luchtvaartafdeeling had a total of about 135 planes available in May 1940. Of those, about half could be described as more or less modern and capable planes. The rest was outdated from the start. On May 10 alone, about 80 planes were destroyed, and of those, about 20 were repaired for service on May 11 or May 12. On May 14, only 30 planes were still combat ready, and most of those were the outdated kind.
Technically, no the city had not surrendered, but peace negotiations were in the process of being discussed. As such, the city had surrendered all but in writing, so the Luftwaffe raid was unnecessary and brutal.
@@TimDutch Here is an extract from a similar source I used for the video: warfarehistorynetwork.com/2019/03/22/dutch-debacle/ The attack was set for 3 pm. At 10:40, in a last-ditch attempt to avoid it, a pair of German officers crossed the lines under a white flag with an ultimatum from German General Rudolf Schmidt, commander of ground forces poised to strike Rotterdam, for the Dutch commander, Colonel Phillip Scharoo. It was almost pleading in tone for surrender, warning that his order and continued resistance “could result in the complete destruction of the city. I beg you, as a man with a sense of responsibility, to take the necessary steps to prevent this.” Blindfolded, the Germans were driven by circuitous route to Scharoo’s underground headquarters. “We had a long and agonizing wait,” one remembered, “well aware that precious time was ticking away.” Scharoo took two hours to see them. Saying he required authorization from Commander-in-Chief Winkelman at The Hague, he sent them back to report he would send his own emissary at 2 pm. Ten minutes early, a Dutch captain appeared to confer with von Choltitz in an ice cream parlor. But Winkelman and Scharoo were confident they were holding Rotterdam, and to buy time they replied to the Germans that Schmidt’s communication had been incorrectly made out. “Before such proposal can be seriously considered,” was the Dutch response, “it must carry your name, rank, and signature.” When Schmidt received this nonresponse, it was already 2:15, though as far as he knew the bombing mission had been postponed. He dutifully redid his ultimatum by hand, not bothering to have it typed, closing, “I am compelled to negotiate swiftly and must insist that your decision is in my hands in three hours.” But unknown to Schmidt, it was already too late. His message for postponement had been held up by the communication problems Kesselring was worried about. On schedule, at 2 pm, 100 Heinkel He-111 bombers of the 54th Bomber Group, Luftflotte 2, had taken off for the hour-long, 200-mile flight for Rotterdam.
@@airwarchronicles It's good you tried to research it but i can tell you that's not a good source. You can see this video for more information surrounding the bombing of Rotterdam: ruclips.net/video/2B5OeSpf4PM/видео.html And see these websites for more information surrounding the battle: www.grebbeberg.nl/ www.zuidfront-holland1940.nl/
Great the effort you put into this mostly ignored part of military history. In fact the attack of Putin on Kiev (Kiyf I can't remember how to spell it) and Ukraine was in the same intention. Seriously ranking the opposing forces as so inferior that such bold actions would work. Around The Hague as in Kiev the plan to quickly end the game by grabbing the leadership failed. At high losses to both in the Dutch context. Due to bombing strafing and by airborn assault the Dutch air arm was mostly incapacitated from the outset. Not putting the troops near the bridges in Moerdijk up to Rotterdam was a stupid error of the Dutch top brass. The Germans succeeded where the allies failed in 1944 in Arnhem. That is too painful still. Simply land near the bridges if need be by flying boat. We tend to forget that it takes time to train and organise an army and get the population and industry in war gear. In seven years Hitler got his forces to outperform the not ready. The military top brass of all allies and politicians with few exceptions were to blame for too little too late, as we Dutch also were. Mostly a mindset problem. At high cost the Nazis knocked our forces out of the war.
You know you’ll have a good time when Lemsip makes a Ju-52 video.
Another greatly well composed historical video. Loved it.
It was later revealed that the red flares were never meant to signal that the Dutch had surrendered but rather they were sent up to tell the bombers where the German positions were. Even with little to no means, the Dutch managed to delay the German advances in such way that the German high command resorted to terror tactics. Also, after the battle for the Netherlands, Germany has rarely used paratroopers anymore.
Thankyou for that information, very interesting
Two things: First: I've never heard that the flares were to tell where the Germans were, so please do you have a source for that. It was very clear for days that they were on Noorder Eiland and just a small group on the other side, were the Dutch line was. Second: The Germans last big paratrooper operation was at Crete - Greece and a small one in the Battle of the Bulge
@@harcovanhees394 Volgensmij kan je gewoon Nederlands met RICHARD praten.
Always enjoy these historical videos, keep it coming
Excellent video detailing how quickly The Netherlands were overwhelmed by the combination of German tactics and overwhelming air superiority. Thanks for creating such excellent content!
I did notice one small discrepancy, but I'm guessing it must be a limitation of the gaming software. The German paratroops are depicted holding onto a pair of risers, which is what allows parachutists to guide their descent somewhat. From all the footage I've seen, early war German paratroops had virtually no control over their descent, because their parachutes were attached to a single point on the back of their harness, thus they had no risers to steer with, or to help "spill" the air from the parachute after landing.
Still, bloody good work on your part, and I thank you very much for your efforts. I only recently discovered your channel, but I'll definitely keep watching!
8:28 Rotterdam* devastated*
The best book on the Fallschirmjäger actions early war is without a doubt Karl Heinz Golla's book "The German Fallschirmtruppe 1936-1941. Its genenis and employment in the first campaigns of the Wehrmacht." Get the revised edition that also covers the landings in Holland in great detail.
Hell yeah I love these paradrop videos!
Well you'll be happy to know I plan more of these :)
i really enjoy these, ever thought about operation stösser?
It's one of my next videos :). It'll be done in a few weeks/months
Hello, I just saw your comment again and I hope you've seen my new video on Operation Stosser ruclips.net/video/BRT93pna17I/видео.html
Nice video, but what not many people know is that the Dutch planes (Fokker D.XXI and G.I) shot down hundreds of enemies, when the paratroopers crossed the Dutch border 50 of the 70 of the German planes were shot down or damaged so hard that they had to return. Also in multiple dogfights the Dutch planes showed it's worth. On a day during this 4 days a Dutch squadron encountered a German one. After the dogfight only 1 Dutch plane was shot down. At the German side 1 plane was shot down and 2 more were damaged. Also the German bombers were hit hard. Mostly because the Fokker D.XXI was one of the few planes that time that was agile enough to follow a Stuka (Ju87) in its dive. Together with AA defences this leaded to that 300-500 German planes were shot down, including at least the half (!) of its transport planes during the invasion. The Dutch army also won two battles (Battle for The Hague, where the German paratroopers failed to conquer the Dutch government immediately. The Dutch also won the Battle of the Afsuitdijk, this was the only place during the whole Battle of France where the Blitzkrieg FAILED.) But unfortunately the most Dutch planes were destroyed while being on the ground. Conclusion: the Dutch planes were stronger (the Fokker G.I had 9 machineguns) and more agile then the German planes, leading to massive losses for the German airforce in the Battle for France.
The only reason I know this is because I'm Dutch (now you also know why my English could be kinda bad sometimes) and in other countries nobody will ever know this (probably). The most people (outside the Netherlands) thinks that the Dutch army was worthless (it was btw) but in reality the AIRFORCE and the NAVY were stronger then the most of other nations and the Dutch at least won two battles and heavily damaged the German army during the Battle for Mill.
Extra Information:
-Fokker was a Dutch company (not German as many people think)
-Fokker had only stronger projects (Fokker D.23 and Fokker T.9, but they were never finished)
PS: don't worry I also learned things I didn't yet from this video, like the paratroopers that landed at Moerdijk and Ypenburg.
Wow thanks for the information. In my research for this video I discovered this too and I would have loved to include the contribution of the Dutch Airforce. However, the game does not have the Dutch fighter planes, and I decided not to use a stand in aircraft. Since learning of this event, I have admired the Dutch for their tenacity and success in the face of overwhelming odds.
The exact number of downed German aircraft is 352. Of those, 223 are permanent write-offs, the others were repaired.
The G-1 was an excellent aircraft, but only more manoeuvrable than the Bf-109 in certain flight areas. The D-21 was extremely manoeuvrable, and it's wooden/canvas frame made cannonfire completely useless.
Most German losses were incurred by AAA-fire, as the Dutch government in the last few years before the war had allowed major companies to arrange to buy their own anti-aircraft guns, failing to do so themselves because of an extreme low defence budget, lack of time, and a rearmament program that came too late.
The Dutch Navy certainly was not as modern as you project it to be. In fact, it was rather large for such a small nation, as required it to be in order to be able to protect the colonies of the Dutch East-Indies, but it was still much too small, lacked capital ships, and -mkst importantly- even the few ships built in the thirties lacked all kinds of modern equipment and innovations, only because the funds to incorporate those never were put forward. In essence, the Navy was for the most part, and certainly for its most important vessels, hopelessly outdated. More importantly, proper training of crews was in the same precarious state.
This goes for most of the Dutch Armed Forces in 1939-1940. The only reason why Dutch pilots performed so well, is that most of those came from wealthy families, putting in their own money to buy more fuel in order to make more flying hours.
But this did not make the equipment better. The engines of both the G-1 and the D-21 were righed, but unreliable. The machineguns even more so. But they had to make do: all major armament producers were totally filled up with orders scrambling in from all over the world.
Apart from the G-1 and the D-21, worth mentioning are the T-5 medium bomber. Outdated from the start. But more importantly; in May 1940 only 2 (out of a total of 9...) of them had been outfitted with bomb racks as already requested and ordered in 1937- there simply werent any available.
The Dutch Luchtvaartafdeeling had a total of about 135 planes available in May 1940. Of those, about half could be described as more or less modern and capable planes. The rest was outdated from the start.
On May 10 alone, about 80 planes were destroyed, and of those, about 20 were repaired for service on May 11 or May 12.
On May 14, only 30 planes were still combat ready, and most of those were the outdated kind.
@@Keizerdraak Ok I was trying to type a reaction but YT threw me out and I don't wanna start again...
@@kachelpijper Hey Eize, als je een keer tijd hebt, ben ik heel benieuwd 😊. Hoe dan ook, fijn weekend!
@@Keizerdraak Bedankt!
Outstanding...So much better than chopped and purposfully blurred British or American film reels of German Forces spearheading modern tactics. 👍🇩🇪😎
very nice videos from history
Bf-110's were not bombers at that time.
WELL DONE. +1 subscriber...
Too bad there's no Dutch planes in IL-2 to make it even better but oh well
My thoughts exactly
actually the city of Rotterdam had not surrendered when the bombings took place. negotiations where still underway. What was your source for this?
Technically, no the city had not surrendered, but peace negotiations were in the process of being discussed. As such, the city had surrendered all but in writing, so the Luftwaffe raid was unnecessary and brutal.
@@airwarchronicles Scharroo was not planning to surrender the city. He was stalling time. So saying that Rotterdam had surrendered would be false.
@@TimDutch Here is an extract from a similar source I used for the video:
warfarehistorynetwork.com/2019/03/22/dutch-debacle/
The attack was set for 3 pm. At 10:40, in a last-ditch attempt to avoid it, a pair of German officers crossed the lines under a white flag with an ultimatum from German General Rudolf Schmidt, commander of ground forces poised to strike Rotterdam, for the Dutch commander, Colonel Phillip Scharoo. It was almost pleading in tone for surrender, warning that his order and continued resistance “could result in the complete destruction of the city. I beg you, as a man with a sense of responsibility, to take the necessary steps to prevent this.”
Blindfolded, the Germans were driven by circuitous route to Scharoo’s underground headquarters. “We had a long and agonizing wait,” one remembered, “well aware that precious time was ticking away.”
Scharoo took two hours to see them. Saying he required authorization from Commander-in-Chief Winkelman at The Hague, he sent them back to report he would send his own emissary at 2 pm.
Ten minutes early, a Dutch captain appeared to confer with von Choltitz in an ice cream parlor. But Winkelman and Scharoo were confident they were holding Rotterdam, and to buy time they replied to the Germans that Schmidt’s communication had been incorrectly made out. “Before such proposal can be seriously considered,” was the Dutch response, “it must carry your name, rank, and signature.”
When Schmidt received this nonresponse, it was already 2:15, though as far as he knew the bombing mission had been postponed. He dutifully redid his ultimatum by hand, not bothering to have it typed, closing, “I am compelled to negotiate swiftly and must insist that your decision is in my hands in three hours.”
But unknown to Schmidt, it was already too late. His message for postponement had been held up by the communication problems Kesselring was worried about. On schedule, at 2 pm, 100 Heinkel He-111 bombers of the 54th Bomber Group, Luftflotte 2, had taken off for the hour-long, 200-mile flight for Rotterdam.
@@airwarchronicles It's good you tried to research it but i can tell you that's not a good source. You can see this video for more information surrounding the bombing of Rotterdam: ruclips.net/video/2B5OeSpf4PM/видео.html
And see these websites for more information surrounding the battle:
www.grebbeberg.nl/
www.zuidfront-holland1940.nl/
As always even these 3 sources are not perfect but you can't be asked to research dozens of sources as i did :)
Thanks
Thanks for the effort. Nice video. Well, as a tiny country we did our best to defend our land but the nazi brutality was just too much.
Thankyou, it was an admirable stand against German aggression. These stories must be remembered.
so sad how they ruined so much of hollands old building and scammed so much when they were not a war type country
Круто. Nice
German may have won the objectives and it is costly. By the end of 1945, German lost lots of men and materials. What a waste
Great the effort you put into this mostly ignored part of military history.
In fact the attack of Putin on Kiev (Kiyf I can't remember how to spell it) and Ukraine was in the same intention.
Seriously ranking the opposing forces as so inferior that such bold actions would work.
Around The Hague as in Kiev the plan to quickly end the game by grabbing the leadership failed. At high losses to both in the Dutch context. Due to bombing strafing and by airborn assault the Dutch air arm was mostly incapacitated from the outset.
Not putting the troops near the bridges in Moerdijk up to Rotterdam was a stupid error of the Dutch top brass.
The Germans succeeded where the allies failed in 1944 in Arnhem.
That is too painful still.
Simply land near the bridges if need be by flying boat.
We tend to forget that it takes time to train and organise an army and get the population and industry in war gear.
In seven years Hitler got his forces to outperform the not ready.
The military top brass of all allies and politicians with few exceptions were to blame for too little too late, as we Dutch also were. Mostly a mindset problem.
At high cost the Nazis knocked our forces out of the war.
Bf 110 not bombeiros 😡
Its a shame for a german
Where are the fokker d21,s
They dont exist in this game
@@airwarchronicles rip