Chapter 3: Bastion of Democracy
Cut Off: September - November 1940
Initially General Winkelman managed to use the French and British units to hold a strip of land south, sometimes even pushing the Germans back. However, things soon turned bad: German reinforcements put great pressure on the British and French units east of The Hague, eventually pushing them back to the city itself.
The Successful Defence of The Hague(The last line of text was clearly a perverse example of German propaganda, so Winkelman took the liberty to correct it)
Unfortunately the Germans managed to break trough the Belgian and French lines south of The Hague, which cut off The Netherlands from the French. Winkelman desperately ordered the French units southwards to make them defend their own homeland. France falling would spell disaster.
Vile Germans smile at an abandoned French tank after most of the French divisions in the Netherlands retreated to their homeland. They will not be so happy any more once being ordered to attack the formidable defences of Fortress Holland, though.
Alas, at the beginning of November the Germans had broken trough the Maginot line to the east and managed to crush the French lines just south of Belgium. France was lost. The Dutch navy managed to save some British and French divisions trapped in Calais as a result of the German offensive. This however, was the only bright news in this month.
The Dutch navy saves trapped allied troops.
France fell in late November. As a result, Den Haag had to be abandoned because the French troops defending it lost all sense of order. The fall of their homeland had been a hard hit on the men's morale. Another negative effect of the Fall of France was that Mussolini now felt confident enough to declare war on our ally, Greece. During the course of the fighting in The Netherlands the Greeks had send several divisions to Amsterdam as expeditionary forces. They had not seen battle yet, and were transported back to Athens immediately.
Abandoning Den Haag, and Mussolini's act of aggression against our Greek allies.
Victory against the Kriegsmarine: November 1940
The Dutch navy had been very active in the war. Dutch submarines had destroyed German shipping, and the Dutch cruisers and destroyers protected allied transports against German raiders. Together with the British we severely damaged two famous German ships. Our submarines scored several hits with their torpedoes. Commander Bussemaker was responsible for this victory. Although he begged the fleet department for funds to research new submarine tactics and material, Winkelman successfully managed to persuade the staff that air defence was more important during this stage of the war.
The victorious battle of Silverpit
Royal Highness Princess Juliana thanks the crew of a Dutch submarine which participated in The Battle of Silverpit, damaging KMS Bismarck and KMS Tirpitz badly.
The Winter Battles of Den Helder: November - December 1940
During the months of November and December, Den Helder still suffered constant German attacks. Winkelman effectively shifted the Dutch and New Zealand divisions, to give the men some rest during the constant German attacks. However, all German attacks on Den Helder ended in Dutch victories.
One thing was made clear during these battles: The Dutch Army needed protection against air attack.
The defences in the south would only see minor probing attacks by the Germans, which got repelled easily by our defenders. The Dutch survived the year 1940 against the German onslaught. Will Winkelman be able to successfully defend against the fascists for another year?
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