= DEFENCE AND WW2 =

The almost forgotten story behind the lion from Rotterdam.

2010-12-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

On the 16 th of december 2010 this Lion was moved to a new location with a special ceremony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxyAzTutaU0

But what is so special about this Lion ?

This Lion was a gift from the city of Rotterdam to the Signal units from the Royal Dutch Army which fought bravely in the defence of Rotterdam and his bridges in 1940 against the invading Germans.

The Lion is one of four lions which where part of the pre-war Four Lion bridge at Rotterdam.

On the 10 th of may 1940 the Germans invaded the neutral Netherlands and due to terrible budget cuts our defence was at a low level.

"We are not prepared " from the famous Fritz Behrendt.

After the First World War which ended in 1918 , a lot of people believed that this war ended all wars and the believe in peace and the deep economic depression in the twenty's and thirties made investments in a strong military defence impopular. Symbolic for the peace movement was the broken rifle.

In the late thirties the Dutch government was not blind for the dangers of Nazi Germany.

But is was to late, for a solid and strong defence you need years and years of investment , and intensive training.

And when a little country is not part of an international defence alliance like the NATO today, you are on your own.

Although we had not sufficient numbers and quality in weapons and ammo, the soldiers from the Dutch Army tried to resist the Nazi invader as good as it could get.

This story is published by Lt. Col. Eppo Brongers in his triology

"Advance to Rotterdam "

In Dutch : Opmars naar Rotterdam, deel 1 De Luchtlanding

ISBN 90 6045 288 7.

From this quality publication , internet sources and the official military history publications i found the following story of heroism.

In 1940 the Signal Units where part of the Engineers which made bridges, cleared minefields and worked with explosives to blow bridges.

The egineers at work with a bridge.

The signal units (Dutch : Verbindingstroepen) where active in sending messages.

This soldier is working with the field telephone.

He is armed with the Carbine M95.

The Carbine M95.

The helmet M 1934.

A soldier from a signal unit (two crossed flags on the left arm)

with telephone cables in the field.

The badge from the Signal Unit.

Field equipment for telephone line communication.

The German attack 10 th may 1940.

For the Germans the city of Rotterdam was inportant because it was the southern part of the stonghold Holland (Vesting Holland) today called Randstad , the area between Rotterdam, The Hague (Den Haag), Amsterdam and Utrecht. The troops landed on airfield Waalhaven and tank units from the south (area Moerdijk) needed to join for a further attack

in the heart of the Dutch defence.

In the german planning the deployment of paratroopers was rejected because of the density of buildings in the area around the Willems bridge and the Four Lions bridge.

Therefore the Germans used waterplanes from the type Heinkel HE-59.

The Heinkel HE59 was able to land on water

and was armed with machineguns

positioned in front of the first seat.

The Four Lions bridge marked in the circle.

For the defence of Rotterdam the Colonel Scharroo (engineer)
had no impressive fighting force under his command.

The Colonel Scharroo was an intelligent vigorous and

charasmatic officer

One guard company was spread over the different locations in Rotterdam with his logisitc importance.
There where training depots from the Navy, Air Force and
the Army Egineers, most conscripts with a little basic training
or just arrived from civillian life.
The greatest in number was the training depot from the Signal troops : 1500 men with just basic training or less.
The Infantry batalion (III-39 R.I.) had guard troops and was spread over the whole harbor and city ,guarding important locations.

But dont think that the men from III-39 R.I could not fight !
The soldier N.W. Boontjes from this unit was decorated after he was killed in action against German Airborne troopers with a high medal for bravery :
(de bronzen leeuw)

He was armed with the heavy machine gun Schwarsloze :

A serious fighting force where the Professional soldiers from the Royal Dutch Marines, hundred of them where higly trained and 200 where just for 3 or 7 months in active duty.

Officer and N.C.O from the Royal Marines.

The fight from this Marines on the nearby Willemsbrug is also famous.

The Germans called them the black devils.

This painting gives a good impression of the fight in Rotterdam harbour by the Marines.

In the middle, the Lewis machine gun is used.

The lewis machine gun, the magazine on top gave troubles

with jamming parts during low maintenance.

In the early morning on the 10 th of may 1940 Captain Duhoux went to the commandpost from Colonel Scharroo after he had send out patrols to give him information about the enemy airplanes and the shooting of the Dutch anti aircraft guns.

Modern 2 cm Oerlikon anti aircraft gun.

The 2 th Lieutenant H.A. Rodrigo (Signal unit) was send out with ten recruts to the 4 Lions bridge, to clear it from enemy troops and capture the bridge.

Captain J.T. Dohma ( 3 th Cie Signal troops) received orders to recapture the Maas railway station with 80 soldiers. In his plan he attacked from three sides. The enemy was suprised and retreated to the 4 Lions Bridge.

The 2 th Lieutenant Rodrigo reached the bridge and saw that the enemy hold strong defence possitions and was armed with machine guns. A frontal attack with his 10 recruts whith no combat expirimence would be fatal.

The Lieutenant made a smart plan to use the houses near the bridge and Hotel Weimar as fire position.

The went with his unit to the back of this houses and asked the owners politely if he could use the roof as fire position for his soldiers.

With 5 men he went to the roof.

When he was on the roof he realised that they had a perfect fire possition and he ordered to open fire on the Germans on the bridge.

His men hesitated, not used to war conditions.

The lieutenant took one carbine and opened fire, this was

enough to bring the other soldiers on the roof in action.

The Germans from the 11 th cie from the 16 th Airborne regiment under command of Oberleutant Schrader where suprised.

Oberleutant Schrader and his men.

Schrader did not survive the war, he was killed in 1943 near Sebastopol.

The Germans thougth that the five men on the ground had opened fire and gave fire in that direction. This had no effect because the fire came from the roof. This situation gave panic to the Germans and they went back to the place called Bolwerk near the bridge and made a new fire position behind car opstacles.

The fire position (filled black cirkle) from the Dutch and the retread

of the Germans to the Bolwerk.

After the German retread the Captain L. van Waegeningh ( 2 th. cie. signal troops) arrived from the direction Haringvliet and Oosterkade with 90 men.

They possitioned themselve after receiving heavy fire near the Four Lions bridge and Oosterkade.

The deffencive possitions at the Oosterkade (near the river) near the

Four Lions bridge.

After this action the Germans retreated from the barricade at the Bolwerk and left there anti tank rifle behind.

German 7.92 mm Panzerbusche.

This anti tank rifle was recaptured with 20 rounds by two vollonteers the soldier Van der Werff and the sergeant Verver. And they could use it against the Germans when they went back to their own possioton at the Oosterkade.

The forces from Capt. Van Waegeningh had just one light machinegun but Lieutenant Rodrigo had also captured two German light machine guns from the Heinkel airplanes in the harbour.

A young officer cadet F.C. de Boer from the first Cie. Signal troops was send with a few men to the White house which had a great view on the surroundings.

The White house with perfect firing positions to all sides.

Below the Willems bridge and right the Four Lions bridge.

Into the White House this unit could open fire on German troops which came from the north and wanted to capture the Jan Kuiten bridge.

The firing position on the Jan Kuitenbridge.

But with the light carbines it was not possible to fire on the Willems bridge.

With the help of the Marines with machine guns this problem was solved.

I hope this story gave you a good impression about the fight of the Signal Units around the Four Lions bridge in Rotterdam 1940.

One Lion is now a Regimental Lion and a iconic symbol for

the fighting spirit of these days.

With great respect we will remember all the men who died in this war and the missions after the Second World War. There names are on copper plates near the Regimental Lion.

Today the three remaining lions from the Four Lions bridge have a new destination since 1964 at the Maas boulevard near the Lion apartments.

Let us never forget what happened at Rotterdam in 1940.

Marked on the Regimental standard from the Signal Troops :

Rotterdam 1940.

Today's badge with blue/white background.

Nunsius Transmitendus !

The message most come trough !

And with the fighting spirit from the Signal troops during the

Second World War in our mind, today every soldier

is also a rifleman.

_____________________________________________

__________________________________

2010-11-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

You can talk about the political side of the story, who's right and who is wrong.

You can discuss how long you must stay with your mission.

You can have a dissent about local corruption.

You may think that we must look to the other side or go home as soon as possible.

But let us never forget that this is a story which goes about people.

Men women and children who want to live a normal live without terror and political or religious pression.

This great picture which i received from a Dutch Lebanon Veteran tells

the story about a little girl in Afghanistan which survived an attack by rebels

which wanted to kill the whole family.

All died, she survived.

The nurses told that the little girl could only sleep in the arms

of John Gebhardt, he took her in his arms in this chair for 4 nights

to calm her and give her a comfortable rest.

I think that a lot of fathers like me think about the time

their children were little baby's when they see this picture.

And think about the nights they gave comfort to their child.

John Gebhardt, you are a great man !

With deep respect.

Two books and a stack of mysterious pictures.

2010-11-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

In 1985 after my grandfather died

i received two books and

a stack of mysterious

pictures.

Two books about The Great War

written by Dr. A . Zijp.

The content of the two books was in its original form a magazine with news from The Great War (1914-1918) and later compiled in a book.

With this two books came a stack of original pictures with date marks, stamps and discribtions on the backside.

What was the meaning of this combination ?

The pictures series follows the different regional news on various fronts like the Polish Legion in the Carpathian mountians, the Turkish front, etc.

Are the pictures the left overs after they published the book ?

What i realised in later years after some research in books and files is the fact that a few pictures are very special.

The first picture is about the German wing adjutant of the German Emperor Count Estdorf in a meeting with a delegation of Greek Officers.

Note the envelope with the seal.

What's the meaning of this meeting and what's in the

sealed envelope ?

Has this something to do with the neutral position of Greece ?

The Prime Minister Venizelos was on the side of the Western Allies but King Constatin was on the side of the Germans and promissed strict neutrality to Germany by his pro-German Minister for Foreign affairs Streit.

The following serie is from a German oficer during the First World War (1914-1918), but who was this officer and why did he receive so much medals and such an impressive funeral ?

After some research i found out that this is a original picture from the greatest German aviator ever, Oswald Boelcke.

Not the German type war crime nazi from what we later called the Second World War but a very intelligent and nobel man who was the founding father of what's now called Dog fight. The basic rules, organisation and tactics for air combat.

Together with his commerade Max Immelmann they transformed military aviation with most reconnaissance flights and observer tasks into fighting units.

This started with a copied and improved design from the Morane-Saulnier and

Anthony Fokker the Dutch pilot and producer of airplanes in Germany build with the Morane in his mind the Fokker E1. The special thing about this design is its capability to fire the machinegun with a synchronised desgin meganism in front of the pilots face and through the propeller blades without damage for the propeller.

This was a big advantage in air combat and a novelty these days.

But what's so nobel about Oswald Boelcke ?

The first thing is that he rescued a boy from the water in occupied France and saved the life of this 11 years old boy.

The second thing is that he had a positive attitude against his opponent when a pilot survived after being shot down.

As one of the first German pilots Boelcke and Immelmann both received the highest German award, The Blue Max, The Pour Le Merite.

The German version of a Pilots wing

on the uniform.

An artist impression of air combat.

In october 1916 in a fatal accident in the air Oswald Boelcke did not survive.

He received an inmpressive funeral.

The following pictures are from my grandfathers collection :

On the site from Gaston Graf about Jagdstaffel 2 "Boelcke"i found this picture of his grave.

Even today the name of Oswald Boelcke lives on

in the modern German Fighterbomber wing 31 Boelcke in Norvenich.

The end of World War One 11-11-1918, 92 years ago.

2010-11-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

The last Commonwealth

soldier killed in action :

11 th november 1918 at 10:58 Hrs.

Cease fire : 11 th november 1918 at 11:00 Hrs.

Private George Laurence Price member of the 28th Bn Canadian Infantry Saskatchewan Regiment killed in action at Ville sur Haine, east of Bergen in Belgium.

Armed with his Lewis gun and not aware of the comming cease fire he crossed a bridge and just outside the second house he went in he received his shot wound in the brest from a German sniper at 10:50 Hrs. Despite the help he received, his wound was fatal ( near to his heart ) and he died at 10:58 Hrs, just 2 minutes before the cease fire was effective and The Great War ended.

The Lewis machine gun.

The grave from George Laurence Price in Mons Belgium.

In 1968 his comerades placed this plate in remembrance.

Later the plate was replaced and they used the bricks from the old house where private Price was killed.

When its 10:58 Hrs on 11-11-2010 , please remember what happened 92 years ago in the madness of war just one man on the wrong time in the wrong place.

It could happen to you...

Think about this for just 2 minutes.

Just 2 minutes can be the difference between life and dead..

Collages

2010-11-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

The distruction and killing in Oradour sur Glane France 10 june 1944.

2010-10-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oradour sur Glane

France 10 june 1944.

The distruction and massacre by the German SS.

When i was on a vacation in France in the area between the citys Limoges and Angouleme i searched for historical places related to the second world war.

In even the smalest village you will find statues which refer to the first or second word war.

What i found in Oradour sur Glane had a great impact on me and it helps me to try to understand the cruelty of the warcrimes and terror by the German SS during World War 2.

What happened there on that tragic day

on the 10 th of june 1944 ?

Oradour sur Glane was just a small village near to the city Limoges from where the people came to enjoy the countryside and spent some time with fishing in the river Glane or walking in nature.

It seems that the war was far away and the German army had no permanent troops or guards in the village.

Untill today we are not sure about the reason why the German SS came to this village but some say that it was a retalliation for some action from the resistance in the area near to Oradour sur Glane.

What we know for sure is the fact that the men, women and children from Oradour sur Glane had no part in this actions and were innocent.

Two German halftrack vehicles type Sd. Kfz. 251,

Halftrack type Sd. Kfz. 251.

came into the village to bring in the troops from the SS panzer Div. Das Reich.
And with them other trucks and vehicles loaded with German SS troops.
They stopped at different stategic places to seal off the area and block the roads.

A re-enactment picture to show you the
typical SS camouflage uniforms and
other equipment.

After that all citizens are ordered to go to the central market place.
To turn up the speed soldiers pushed the people and screamed schnell !!, schnell !! (quick,quick).
When all the men, women and children were on the marketplace the SS started to sepperate the women and children from the men.

The women and children are chased to the church.

The church before the massacre.

The church in 2009.

The men are chased to 7 different buildings in the village.

About 16:00 hours the SS started to shoot down the men and after that they burned the bodies, but not everybody had died immediate after the shooting...

Meanwhile the women and children in the church heard the shooting and wondered if somebody would survive this massacre...

Then the Germans came in with explosives, placed it in the middle of the church and left. Almost direct a terrible explosion filled the church and surviving women and children tried to escape.

But the Germans started shooting through the windows and doors.

Only one women was able to escape from the church, behind the altar she found a window and jumped three meters down. She was able to hide behind the church and survived.

642 men,women and children died

only a few survived.

When you walk around through the streets with the burned ruins after visiting the underground memorial you get a deep and impressive view of what happened here. Its like you can smell the remains of burned wood and you can feel the destructive power of terror. If these walls could talk...

Every year about 300.000 people visit this ruins in remembrance of he vistims.

In 1945 after the liberation General de Gaulle decided that everything must stay in place as it was to make the place a national monument and accusation against warcrimes and terror.

General de Gaulle.

General de Gaulle visiting Oradour sur Glane in 1945,
and made the place a national monument
of remembrance.

The link at the end of this article shows you a clip from the visit of General de Gaulle in 1945 :

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE86003015/le-general-de-gaulle-a-limoges-et-a-oradour-sur-glane.fr.html

Educational projects.

2010-10-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

Educational projects.

World War Two

In the classroom.

In combination with a full time job in logistics i am active in two educational projects. The first project is part of my interest in the history of the Second World War and this interest started when i was a kid from about the age of twelve.

After my visit to Normandy in 2007 and after reading a lot of books and viewing lot's of DVD's with films and documentary's i desided that the Normandy beaches would be my speciality in the future.

Its important for the young generation that they know that todays freedom is something special and presious and that others had paid with their lives or suffered injuries by liberating our country from German occupation and nazi terror .

Both pictures from Normandy

France, Omaha Beach.

For young kids i use in the classroom different methodes

to make this clear and understandable.

I refer to the oxygen in the air and their birthday.

Freedom and oxygen.

To explain what freedom is i explain that they need oxygen every day, but its so common that we have accept it as a automatic daily routine.

Only in a filled up classroom with the windows closed and after a long time we are missing the fresh air and enough oxygen.

At that moment we realise that we need it badly.

Its the same with freedom, we don't realise this gift on a daily

basis, but its hurds when you are missing it.

A kids birthday and impotant moments in history.

To explain what the impact is of moments in history and a date like

6 june 1944 (The landing in Normandie on D-Day) i refer

to their birthday.

When you stand up in the morning on your birthday and nobody

realises that its your birthday, no pressents and

nobody say's congratulations it can give you a bad feeling.

Its the same for a WO2 veteran , visiting the country

he has liberated after a long time and nobody

knows what had happened...

In front of the map of our liberation

i thank a WO2 veteran for what he did

for our freedom.

After something about 15 minutes i make a change in my presentation

and i shift from talking to a DVD presentation.

I use fragments from the movie The Longest Day to explain

the situation on the beaches in Normandy, the expectations from the Germans, the impact of weather conditions on the operations and at last the landing itself (suitable for kids).

After the interview in the veteran magazine Checkpoint , where i told about the school project and my interest in WW2 i received a call from somebody who wants to speak with me.

It was the widow from a man who took a leading part in a resistance group in the netherlands.

She is a strong women , about 90 years old and when i met her she was looking back on her live and told some impressive story's about the war and about the terrible suffering in the winter 1944-1945.

She had some special gifts for my school projects.

She and her man lived for 20 years in Normandie France and in the sixties they found some special items on the Normandie beaches.

The first item is an exploded navy artillery shell fired from a navy ship.

The remains of this artillery shell are found on the beach in front of the so called "Pluskat bunker ".

The second item is whats left from a Garand rifle found in the sand of the Normandie landing beaches.

When you bring in this items in the classroom you can see and feel that its important to bring history allive, items to touch and feel speek more than 1000 words.

After i explained the working of a British entrenching tool

the boys are focused on the different parts.

THE BEST MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARYS ON DVD.

2010-10-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

If your main interest is in defence

and ww2 you have to search

through a great selection.

But what's to buy and

what's to forget ?

To help you to make the right choise with spending your money i made a selection with ratings, comments and clips.

About the rating : 5 stars is the maximum rating (*****).

The movie Das Boot directed by Wolfgang Petersen and produced by columbia tristar home video is a real first class quality production. There are a few reasons for this. At first its based on true historicaly events like the battle for the Atlantic Ocean and the German Wulf packs (a group of hunting submarines). This fight and the great lossses when the anti submarine strategy from the allied naval forces improved are shown in this movie.

The director is a master when it becomes to the atmosphere

and claustrofobic submarine conditions when the fight is at his breaking point and can also show you the boring daily routine and the social tension when there is simply nothing to do.

Its a long movie which tells you the story from the beginning, the glory, the daily routine and the catastrofic end.

This movie shows you also the madness of warefare in a well ballanced story about submarine U-96.

This movie received 6 Oscar nominations in 1984.

Rating : ***** .

Movie trailer on You Tube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNMhyl3t0fU

__________________________________________________________________________________

From the cold and deep waters from the Atlantic Ocean we go to the hot air above Britain in 1940. The classic movie The Battle of Britain is the story of the brave pilots who fought against the Germans in a battle which changed history. This movie from the MGM studios directed by Guy Hamilton in 1969 has attracted a fine selection of top actors.

But this crew of actors by itself does not make a great movie.

The best example for this fact is the movie The Battle of the Bulge, about

the battle around the Belgium city of Bastogne during the German Ardenne offensive.

This movie is the most terrible war movie i have ever seen.

Its a true waste of money and even for free its a punishment to see the movie from the start untill the end.

The historicaly incorrect use of tanks (M47 Patton tanks with a German cross as marking) and the terrible story line and unrealistic battle conditions and suffering makes this movie a shamefull production and waste of time.

But let's go back to a fine piece of movie art.

With this movie i was suprissed by the realistic air battle with the famous Spifires, Hawker Hurricanes and German Messerschmitt's.

Its storyline shows clearly how close the Royal Air Force was to the point on which the battle was lost because of a lack of trained pilots and proper fighter planes due to the terrible losses during the air battle.

I only have one point to make on which the moviemakers made a mistake.

That's when they use the wrong wehicles when they show some German action on the ground to prepare for the invasion of Britain with groundtroops loaded in ships. But this small mistake is nothing when you look at the total picture.

A detail which is often forgotten when we think about this air battle is the fact that there where a lot of pilots from other nationalitys like the Polish, active in the RAF and this movie shows clearly the communication problems and also their killer instincts when it comes to action.

Rating : *****.

In remebrance of those who fought

for our freedom.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After the cold waters and the hot air we will stand with both feet on the ground when we have a look at an other war movie classic :

A bridge too far.

This quality production from MGM and directed by Richard Attenborough

in 1977 is based on the book from Cornelius Ryan and tells the tragic story about the operation Market Garden. In september 1944 Montgommery made a plan to end the war before christmas.

It was a combined air/ground offensive, the Market part was the air assault with British and American paratroopers near strategically bridges and the Garden part was the groundoffensive from the Belgium border along a small road (Hells Highway) to the captured bridges.

The last bridge at Arnhem (today called the John Frost Bridge) was never reached by this groundoffensive and after a tragic battle the British and Polish paratroopers where no longer able to keep the Germans away.

The story in the movie follows all the steps in the operations and preparations and make you understand why some things which are great on paper does not work in the hard reality of war.

The tragic story also makes clear what whisfull thinking and ignoring important intelligence information on a high level can mean for the soldier in battle.

The only point on which the movie makers made a mistake is again the use of vehicles which are not historicaly correct. We see this again and this mistake is made a lot of times in war movies from the sixties and seventies.

At least they tried to camouflage the details to make look a likes.

But this error does not effect the good overall impression.

Rating : *****.

The You Tube trailer :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDC8aF_X9Fg

More updates to come !

Leopoldsburg Belgium re-enactment

2010-10-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Camp Leopoldsburg

Belgium.

Re-enactment.

Impressive warning from concentrationcamp survivor Don Bamberg.

2010-10-03T03:20:00.000-07:00

After surviving 11 German concentrationcamps
Don Bamberg received a letter, written in a camp
during the Second World War.

PUTTEN

Remembrance of the deportation

Hundreds of people young and old came
to the remembrance park with the statue
The widow of Putten.

On 2 oct 1944 the Germans arrested 600 men in the village Putten after a attack by resistance fighters on German soldiers.

552 of them did not survive.

On saturday 2 oct 2010 i was invited to this remembrance in the small village of Putten and was suprised by the enormous number of people, young and old, which came to this remembrance in the rain.

It was very impressive and this shows that the interest for our history is allive, which is important to learn from the mistakes from the past and to remember the victims from war and terror.

After the remembrance the concentrationcamp survivor Don Bamberg signed his new book.

The room was crowded with hundreds of people.

First there was a speech from a ex-Whermacht soldier which fought east of Berlin in

the Second Wolrd War and told that he was wrong during the war and was ashamed of himselve and asked for forgivving. He is now active in an initiative to remember the victims from the KZ Engehafe in Germany, where also people from Putten died.

Carl Osterwald

Ex-Wehrmacht soldier asked

for forgivving.

Its important for the youngest generation after the war to learn about the past and the mistakes which where made. The impressive words from Carl Osterwald are important to understand what happened.

Let us forgive but never forget.

The presentation of the book :
Don Bamberg Dossier NN.
Lost in Hitlers Third Reich.

In the speech from Don Bamberg was a important message to be heard :
It can happen again !
If a great man which survived 11 concentration camps during the Second World War warns us, we must be on alert !
He sees connections in times from the past and what is happening now.
He gave us a quote from Bertholt Brecht :
Der Schoss ist fruchtbar noch, aus dem das kroch !

With lots of thoughts on my mind i drove home in my car after an impressive evening starting with the remembrance and finished with historical words from a great man, and with me the book he wrote signed with his name.

On the left the old book from 1985 (incompleet version).

On the right the new compleet version.

SS Concentrationcamp Vught Netherlands.

2010-09-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

SS - Concentrationcamp

Vught.

During the Second World War, the German SS had one concentrationcamp outside Germany under direct supervision from the ss headquarter in Oranienburg.

The Concentrationcamp Vught.

Netherlands

The Germans called it :

Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch.

Guard tower with double electrified fense.

In januari 1943 the first prisoners came and were ordered to do construction work to finish the buildings and fenses from the camp.

The bad conditions, lack of food and proper clothing and torture from the sadistic guards hundreds of the new prisoners died.

Inside a reconstructed barack, at the end
the primitive sleeping facilities.

With 2 persons in one "bed", in overcrowded
barack without proper heating.

In the period jan. 1943 and sept. 1944 a total of 31.000 people lived in this camp. With 12.000 Jew's there are also arrested members of the resistance ,gipsy's, homosexuals, etc.

421 children, women, men died in the camp.

329 prisoners were executed outside the camp.

On 6 and 7 june 1943 a total of 1269 jewish

children with one of their parents were

transported to deadcamps.

They died in the gas chambers in Sobibor Poland.

The monument for the children on transport to the gas chambers.

For burning the dead body's in the camp.

Outside the oven, where the ash was dumped.

Meeting and interview with Holocaust survivors.
Very impressive to meet and talk with them.

Let us never forget what happened here.

In remembrance of the victims

and with deep respect

for the survivors.

THE M1 CARBINE .30 inch. HISTORY AND USE .

2010-09-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

Top : sharpshooter Karabijn Dutch Army.
The star is lower classed for first class shooting (Dutch Army)

With 6.332.000 produced Carbines, the M1

was one of the most succesfull hand

weapons in use during the

Second World War.

What made this Carbine so usefull and popular ?

The carbine design was intended to fill the gap between the pistol and the heavy rifle for second-line troops like drivers and mechanics.

But after time it was also popular with front-line troops.

It all started in 1940, the Winchester design was the winner of a competition with the idea of a gas operated self loading carbine in the calibre

7.62 mm, 0.30 inch with a firing range of 100 m. The ammunition was half pistol and half rifle design but had one main drawback, it proved to be underpowered.

This lack of stopping power was popular in later use by the policeforce in dense area's like airports and city centres with low risks for people near the target when the cartridge was fired.

Dutch national police (Rijkspolitie) with M1 Carbine.
Also used for firing teargas rifle grenades
with special equipment.

The M1 Carbine was light (2.36 kg) and easy to handle. Just what a tired soldier needs when he travels true the jungle, here the name jungle carbine came in use.

The Germans also liked the carbine and they used captured weapons with their troops and gave it the name Selbstladekarabiner 455(a).

High quality parts which are easy to change.

After the Second World War the carbine was not long in use with frontline troops, but with the Dutch 543 Signal Bat. it was in use untill 1993.

Fire exercise at 100 m. shooting range Gilze Rijen

Special versions :

M1A1 = Folding stock for Airborne use.

M2 = Automatic version with fire switch and 30 rounds magazine.

(the M1 basic had a 15 rounds magazine).

M3 = Night vision version (infra red) only 2000 build.

A strong combination with both the same 0.30 inch ammunition.
Top : M1 Carbine with 30 rounds magazine.
Low : Ruger Blackhawk
For civillian use.

World War Two Re-enactment, THE BEST PICTURES.

2010-09-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

WORLD WAR TWO

RE-ENACTMENT

THE BEST PICTURES.

In most cases the playing like soldiers

is not my cup of tea.

But sometimes when specialists

come in action it gets

my attention !

When the re-enactment is placed in a important historical background on the same place as the historical events happened in the past and you can see that every detail is carefully managed then you can see that its

living history at its best !

The M.W.O the highest medal
for bravery in action.

On the 10 th. of may 1940 the young 2d. Lieutenant Georg Maduro deserved the highest military order for his brave action against the invading German Paratroopers which landed near The Hague. Near to the military airport Ypenburg he orginised the local defence and made a plan to attack the German paratroopers.
His action had a great succes and this story was the format for a serious re-enactment at the place where it all happened, the landing paratroopers in the fields and the counter attack on the villa Dorrepaal.

The brave Maduro died on 09-02-1945

in the concentrationcamp

Dachau.

The landing German paratroopers near Ypenburg
military airport.

German paratroopers in action.

German paratroopers taking cover.

Back garden villa Dorrepaal.

German occupation of the villa Dorrepaal.

Taking care of the wounded.

The Dutch counterattack.

A Dutch NCO.

The Dutch on the move.

The villa is back in our hands

Disarming the prisoners.

German P.O.W

Sending the prisoners away.

Military vehicles World War Two. THE BEST PICTURES SELECTION.

2010-09-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

THE BEST PICTURES

With a massive phote archive after lots of Military shows, re-enactment, etc there are

always the best of the best .

In this selection my choise.

Do you agree ?

M 36 Landsverk from 1936 with Daimler Benz petrol engine.
Duth army : battle for Ypenburg 1940.

Rare Dodge WC 53 with postwar fire brigade modification
Military event Assen.

T 34 at Leopoldsburg Belgium.

Sherman tank at Leopoldsburg Belgium.

German Kubelwagen at Leopoldsburg Belgium.

Ford M8 armored car.

White M3 Halftrack

Dodge WC54 ambulance.

M24 Chaffee light tank.

Dodge WC53.

GMC 2-1/2 ton DUKW.

Diamond T Wrecker with winch.

Churchill tank at Overloon.

British Cromwell tank near Pegasus Bridge Normandie France

White scout car.

The best Sherman picture ever seen !

From the facebook page

of Frank Mottoulle

Thanks Frank !!

Militracks Overloon may 2011 UPDATE :

LEOPOLDSBURG BELGIUM 2011 UPDATE :

That's all, did you enjoy

this selection ?

Feel free to add your
comment, tips, etc.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1945.

2010-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1945.

During the liberation of Holland in 1945 the British Army liberated great parts of our country from German occupation.

The British information service from the Army printed a brochure in the Dutch language to inform the liberated Dutch people.

The Armored Division in formation on the move.

The brochure had the intention to inform the people about the daily live and work in the British Army starting with basic training, the different units and there tasks and the way it fights. Its an interesting piece of history with a combination of photo's and drawings (artist impression).

THE INFANTRY

On two pictures we can see how an easy target changed into a well camouflaged

rifleman. Before camouflage in the

black and white picture and with camouflage in

the collored picture.

Its clear that the enemy can't see him,

but can he see the enemy ?

Also interesting are the pictures which look like a basic training in streetfight, with covering fire from the other side of the street.

The Bren Gun in action.

On the following spectaculair view
we see the basics from
fire and manouvre
with 3 sections.

THE AIRBORNE TROOPS.

The Tetrarch tank which is driving out of the Hamilcar glider was not the best they had. The light tank was easy to transport by air but on the ground it was to light armered and the gun had a caliber which was to small.

The paratroopers where the elite fighting force.

An other elite fighting force are the Green barrets called Commandos.

Operating in small units they where able to fight in difficult situations with minimal logistic support.

THE ARTILLERY.

The main task for the artillery is to suport the other fighting units like the infantry. The artillery can fire a barrage which is aimed at targets just in front of the own troops.

When the infantrie goes forward, the artillery stops firing

and the barrage goes also forward looking for

new targets, like enemy positions.

The battery with 5.5 inch canons.

The main cannon is the 25 pounder.

A special detail is the plate on the ground which

makes turns to the left or right easy.

First you see the 25 pdr. in action and

in the second picture you see the

details from the ground plate.

A special place, the John Frost bridge at Arnhem.

From the movie a Bridge to far.

(Operation Market Garden)

The groundplate for the 25 pdr.

In the mountains you need a light piece of artillery

which can be transported in heavy terrain in

parts. The 3.7 inch mountain canon

is the one you need.

The 3.7 inch mountain canon.

When you have time and place and a good infrastructure

like railroads ,you can use the heavy equipment.

Have a look at the 18 inch railway canon

18 meter long with a firing range of 32 km.

KOREA AND THE DUTCH UN DETACHMENT.

2010-09-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

THE KOREAN WAR

AND THE DUTCH UN DETACHMENT.

On 25 june 1950 the communists from North Korea invaded South Korea.
The American troops in the south under command of the famous General Mac-Arthur landed at Inchon and puched the invaders back till the 38 parallel.
The United Nations asked for military assistance from its members and the Dutch responded by sending a torpedo destroyer, the Hr. Ms. Evertsen.

The Royal Dutch Navy was active with in total 4 rotating ships during the period 1950 till 1953 as part of the 7 Th. Fleet.

On 23 november 1950 the Dutch UN Detachment arrived in Pusan. Battle hardend Dutch Indies veterans were very capable with handeling the US equipment and weapons. The Dutch were a part of the famous 2Nd. Indianhead Division. About 100 Korean Army Troops US Army supported the Dutch detachment.

The battle was hard and the artic weather conditions made it worse. I saw in a documentary that the US soldiers complained about there weapons and equipment which was mainly based on World War Two equipment. The North Koreans received weapons from the USSR and the T34 tank had a very good reputation. The rockets from the American bazookas could not penetrade the armor from this tanks. The same problem was the lack of winter uniforms.

On 30 september 1954 the Dutch Detachment ended a long periode of action.

They received 1 Presidential Unit Citation, 2 Distinguised Unit Citations, 14 Silver Stars and 100 Bronze Stars. In totall 5.268 men served in this unit and 122 were killed in action, 3 missed in action.

With deep respect to the last veterans from this almost forgotten war.

The Cold War.

2010-09-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

THE COLD WAR.

When i was in front of a classroom with kids from the age about 16 years during my young veteran presentation about my mission in the Middle East i was suprised by the lack of knowledge about our recent history. My story always begins with 1985, the time when i was 18 and entering the military service (draft).

I always explain that the situation then was totaly different from the situation now.

The end of World War Two divided centrall Europe in two parts.

The free and democratic Western part and the communist eastern part. It was the time when the western countrys secured there freedom with the NATO membership. An attack on one of them was an attack on all of them. The communists kept their borders closed because the people from the east wanted to go to the free and democratic west.

To keep the people in they created the Berlin wall and on a greater scale the Iron curtain armed with border gards which fired on people which wanted to escape.

In the millitary there was a continious threat of nuclear attacks, both sides kept great numbers of weapons, called the arms race.

A nuclear explosion

Civil Defence, shelter at home.

To protect civilian targets most governments gave instructions to the people how they could protect themselve (Civil Defence), in Holland there was the BB organisations which had a image problem which was linked to Dads Amry (old men in silly outfits).

Soldiers learned how they could identifie the enemy with pictures in their handbook .

The frontpage from a USSR defence news paper.

A typical Cold War tank was the German build Leopard main battle tank, no modern elctronics these days which ables a modern tank to drive and fire at the same time. enjoy the clip.

The reality with tension between east and west.

The iron curtain and the Berlin wall .

To stop the outgoing flow of people which wanted to live in the democratic west and wanted to escape from the supressing Communist one party system in the DDR, the DDR build a wall in the eastern part of Berlin and later this was a part of what Churchill called an Iron curtain from the Baltic to the Adriatic (see the map above).

The guards at the wall had permission to shoot and they posted two men on a watchtower which came from different parts of the DDR. In this way they tried to hold them in and the communist system had a secret service (Stasi) which build up massive archives about all the details from the men and women in the DDR.

But thousends of people tried to escape from this system.

A world famous escape is from Conrad Schumann.

Conrad Schumann jumped on 15 aug 1961 three days after the DDR started with "the anti fashist barrier to protect the DDR".

In the propaganda from the East the barrier was promoted as a victory.

But Conrad knew better and jumped to the free West.

This picture has become iconic for the Cold War and a divided Europe in a free Western part and a Communist Eastern part.

The picture was made by Peter Leibing with an East German (!) Exakta camera.

The picture was made on the junction Bernauer Stasse and

Ruppiner Strasse.

Conrad Schumann after the jump. (19 years old)

Its sad that his mother reported his letters to the East German secret service after he jumped to the West.

Conrad suffered also from depressions and hanged himself at the age of 56 in 1998.

In remembrence of the jump in 1961 this silver soldier was made

and placed in Berlin in 2009.

____________________________________________

Today at the Military Event in Assen, DDR army vehicle GAZ.

The borderguard with license to shoot

________________________________________________________________________________

Cold War Civil Defense (Dutch BB) with Magirus air cooled
diesel engine, the tools and equipment truck.

Dads Army ?

The fuction from a person in a city was
visable near to the front door of a house

__________________________________________________________________________________

THE NAVY.

The Navy flag from the Sovjet fleet.

The Royal Dutch navy.
The impressive HNMS. battleship De Ruyter.

HNMS De Ruyter (C801) with his impressive looks which are linked to the great battleships of World War Two has a history which goes back to 1939.

They started the building of this impressive ship in 1939 but it was not finished because of the German invasion in 1940.

The lessons from World War Two made it necessary to change

the design and in 1953 this ship was ready for action.

The black and white pictures are from the information

publication from the Royal Dutch Navy (1969)

Published by De Alk N.V. Alkmaar Holland.

Showing the flag.
If you want to make a point : send the Navy !

The Royal Dutch navy had two of this impressive Battleships.
The C 802, HNMS. De Zeven Provincien
was upgraded with support from the USA
during the mutual assistance programme with
a anti aircraft Terrier rocket installation
on the backside deck.

The Terrier anti aircraft installation.

Launching the rocket.

An other important task during

the cold war was the anti submarine

action with special ships, and

with operations from the air.

Two long distance Navy airplanes which where very capable for this anti submarine task where (left) the Lockheed Neptune and the Breguet Atlantic (right), build in cooperation with the NATO members France, West-Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands.

For the short distance the Grumman Trackers where available, very well known on US Aircraft carriers for a lot of years.

Grumman S-2A Tracker in action.

_______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Static defence works

We can still find traces of Cold War history in the field.

In the northern part of Holland you can find an impressive bunker

complex restored by the foundation Kornwerderzand.

The building of this complex started in 1931 as part of the

waterdefence works, therfore they could use the best materials

and modern design.

With the German attack in may 1940 this defence works
could stop the attack in cooperation with navy canons
from ships north of the complex.

During the German occupation, the Germans used this
complex for their defence against a Allied atack
and made some modifications.
This bunker with the rare camouflage patern was build
for a anti tank canon.

After the Second World War this complex was still in use

for the defence against the Russian bear from the east

during the Cold War.

Sherman tank turrets where used

to improve firepower.

United in the service for peace (Multinational Force and Observers Sinai)

2010-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

In 1989 i served in the Dutch military as Corporal first class in a Signal unit to take part in a peace mission in Egypt. In the Sinai desert the Multinational Force and Observers was stationed with one headquarter in El Arish (north) a subcamp in the south (Sharm el Sheik) and several sector control centers (SCC's) and Observation points. Our main Job was to maintain stable communication networks 24/7 to provide radio (HF-VHF), telex and telephone communication.

With 11 nations they needed the Dutch military because we are famous for our knowledge of languages. On school the most learned at least the basics in German and French and English is our second language. While working with the Coastal Patrol Unit from the Italian navy we found out that it was the best option to solve communication errors to learn some Italian basics.

With respect for each other and a smile you can learn how you can cooperate for a common goal : peace in the Middle East. Even today in my work as planner in logitcs for IKEA i learned some Russian language to help the drivers from Eastern Europe, Spasiba Doswidania ! By visiting Eastern Jeruzalem i wass impressed by the fact that so much religians could live together in such a small and historical old city.

Let us never forget what two brave men learned us : Anwar Sadat (Egypt) and Menagem Begin (Israel) signed for peace in Camp David and ended a bloody period of war and bloodshet.

Left The Sinai desert

Right : Sadat-Carter-Begin

The remains of war
in the desert.

Mortar bombs
Tank shells

Mines

After this view of the former war area i will show you something which give you an inpression about the daily work in the Multinational Peace Force.

Transall C 160

The Vietnam veteran helicopter HUEY

The Twin Otter.

For transport there were services from the fixt wing avaition unit from France, the helicopter pilots came from the Canadian detachment. The Transall C160 was for transporting personell and equipment between the two camps and the Twin Otter was used for the trips with personell to Cairo.

101 Airborne on SCC guard post

Today i am active in a Veteran school project. I tell the children something about the military live, different tasks, and my job for 6 months in the Sinai desert. I try to explaine that with respect for each other we can work together for a better world in peace. But we must always maintain a strong defence for the worst case . let us never forget where the veterans from the second world war fought for : our precious FREEDOM.

An other educational project in which i am active is from the foundation for information on world war 2 (STIWOT), my speciality is the Landing in Normandie France, D-Day 6 june 1944. I explain children from about 12 years old that our freedom started over there and that our Liberators fought for their freedom.

The last update is that we received a donation whith original battlefield items from the Normandie beeches.

One exploded part of a Navy shell and the remains of a Garand rifle.

THE TWO PARTS FROM THE CONFLICT : 1. THE IDF.

IDF on the Eilat beach (south)

Border crossing...waisting time...
but security is needed.

Eilat border patroll IDF, with MAG machinegun.

Eilat border patroll on alert.

IDF patroll in M151 Jeep.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Let's have a look at the Egyptian side.

Russian build T54 tanks.

A great export product used by 65 different country's.

But Israelian forces knew the shortcoming of this Egyptian tank :

the bad elevation from the gun downwards

and used this knowledge in combat.

Respect for our Liberators !

2010-09-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

On 18 and 19 september we where in the great museum Wings of Liberation in Best (Netherlands) with a PR stand from STIWOT, the foundation for information on World War two.
In this weekend the southern part of our country selebrates the liberation from the German occupation during the Second World War, with lot of activities and a parade in Eindhoven.
In the museum in Best i met three World War two veterans and i was able to talk with them. I showed my deep respect for what they did for our freedom and told them how gratefull we are.

On the right Dave Lodge S/Sgt R.A.G.A.D., Normandy june 1944, Brussels 03-09-1944, Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) 17-09-1944, The river Rhine 17-09-1944. Demob at may 1946.
In front of a map from the liberation of our country i met the third veteran, which also landed at Normandy.

The museum had some new items to show in their great collection, a V1 rocket and different air defence items and in the future signal equipment.

On saturday evening there was a parade in Eindhoven where the old veterans where joined with the young veterans from recent missions to celebrate our freedom. As fromer member of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) i joined with the UN peacekeepers from UNIFIL (Lebanon).

Remember september

2010-09-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

In this september month in Holland we always remember the operation Market Garden which was a bridge too far at the bridge in Arnhem. In 2009 i took part in an impressive battlefieldtour in the area in Arnhem and could get a good impression about the logitic problems this operation must have had.
At the wargraves i realised that the fallen soldiers had paid with there lives for my freedom, and i will always remember them as the greatest generation.

On 18 and 19 september i took part in the activities tot remember this battle at a museum near Eindhoven. For the foundation for information on world war two (STIWOT) i placed an information stand in the museum. There where a lot of extra activities as outside driving course with militairy vehicles.

On 15 september the BBC will remember the Battle for Britain, which is remembered by the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill : Never was so much owed by so many to so few.

We live in freedom now but we must always gard this treasure and be aware of the fact that others gave their live for it. We must continue to repect others and secure our peace with a strong defence effort.