Chapter 7: Operation: Hunting for Eagles
March 1942 – January 1943
Boston, March 21st 1942, 2am – An alarm sounds throughout the base where two garrison divisions are stationed. 2 Minutes before the alarm a messenger handed over a note to the base commander. The note stated:
To commander Carter.
Large amount of Dutch transport ships spotted along the coast north of Boston.
Estimated amount of troops 5,000.
Need assistance fast.
Sincerely,
Watcher McNally
With the information provided, commander Carter send out only one of his divisions to the north and prepared the base with the other division in the hopes of holding on to the harbour long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Immediately he picked up the phone and called the Pentagon - A small part of the building was already finished and used right away – alarming US HQ about the attack and that reinforcements were needed.
The Pentagon in 1941, on the left side of the picture you can see the part that was finished
The estimated amount provided by McNally proved to be horribly wrong. Twice the amount of soldiers disembarked from the transport ships and charged the badly trained division. The Americans expected not that many troops to come off the ships and fled after a very short battle. The Dutch forces informed Dutch US HQ about the succesfull landing and that they were ready to move towards Boston to secure the harbour. The transports turned around after the last men left the ships and moved back as fast as they could to Newfoundland to pick up the next corps that was waiting for transport to the mainland.
Response from HQ and the US army was slow, too slow. They kept to themselves they were prepared and aparently intell from across the Atlantic was misguided. President Roosevelt was told the Dutch army was still too small to be effective on US soil and a landing was not to be expected. Chances of an invasion from the west by Japan would pose more of a threat, or at least that’s what the Presidents advisor said.
1st Army had no problem taking Boston and it’s harbour. Only a 2 day battle was what it took before the US garrison division fled the city and for the Dutch to take over. Soon after the city was taken the transports arrived to disembark another corps of infantry.
By the time the first divisions arrived the Netherlands captured New York. For the first time since 1664, New York was in Dutch hands again. Prince Bernhard was thrilled with this moral victory for the Netherlands.
In May a second front was opened in Florida. From the Bahama’s 2nd Army embarked on the new landing crafts and set sail for the southern state. After capturing Florida the advance was halted and the 1e Marine Korps embarked again on the landing crafts to open up a new front near New Orleans. Though this landing succeeded, the front would not move westwards anytime soon.
In June the Dutch were fighting on 3 fronts and the US was defending on 3 fronts. The 3rd front did offer the other southern front the opportunity to break through the defenses and advance rapidly. While the plan was to isolate the US army in the south, reality was more divisions were coming in from the west ensuring that the initial plan could not succeed. It was halfway August when the southern fronts merged.
In the meantime, the Fuhrer was looking towards the Netherlands with envy. While he was winning minor battles and conquering minor countries, the Netherlands – and their much smaller army – celebrated one success after another. On August 31st the Fuhrer probably made his biggest mistake. Although the Dutch were seen as the leaders of the Axis, the Germans were still the former leader. As such, the Fuhrer invited Romania into the Axis hoping they would help Germany in defeating the Soviet Union. Little did they know that the Soviets were waiting for such an opportunity along the Romanion-Soviet border. As an immediate response the Netherlands declared war on the Czech Republic and Poland. This way the Soviets would not benefit from pushing onwards through Romania into the rest of Europe. They would face a long strechted front alone while the Germans would have a few (minor) allies to assist them.
The Dutch advance was going smoothly and they were aiming to end the war in the US in the spring of 1943 or the summer at the latest. The US army was forced to move back almost on a daily basis and at the end of November the north and south front merged.
September 1942
November 12th, 1942
November 25th, 1942
Next Chapter: Operation: Hunting for Eagles - 1943-1944
