War 1940 – 1945.

May the 10th 1940 it was our turn: War. We lived in Arnhem-East, the border with Germany was only 17 KM away. 4 KM from our house flew the river IJssel. There was a   bridge  with the railway to Germany, so strategical and tactical very important. Early in the morning we were awaked by explosions: the bridges near Westervoort and across the river Rhein (only 3 KM away) had been blown up and meanwhile a lot of German aircraft were flying over us.

A few days before we heard that not far from  the border, just inside Dutch territory an RAF plane had crashed.  My brother and I went to that place by bicycle und found the wreck and we spoke with the soldiers who guarded the wreck. The border was only a few hundreds of meters away  and we saw at the other side German armoured cars.  Adventurous as we were we tried to come as near as possible, but the German police (Grüne Polizei)  threatened us and sent us back. On our way back to Arnhem we passed the Fortress Westervoort and I told an officer that we had seen the armoured cars. And of course as normal in such situations, he did not  consider this to be serious. 

But now to continue with May the 10th………
My brother and I  went outside  and we could see how our soldiers tried to execute a counter attack. This did not have a follow up, they returned and very soon we saw SS-cads with one of our soldiers. They forced him to carry a machinegun and install that weapon. (In fact a violation of the International War Rules). And then followed  the German colonnes and they occupied our town. That what we then saw very disappointed us: People who fled into our country to avoid a life under Nazi regime  stood there aside and heartily welcomed, even with the Hitler salute, the German soldiers. And soon we saw also how Dutch soldiers as prisoners of war marched off to Germany.

My parents had a pleasure yacht and because of the fact that that weekend was Pentecost  they had planned to make a long trip. We already had loaded the boat with all necessary stuff and so we had to bring back all what we had on board. We saw the how the German collones  moved into the direction of the last defence line (Grebbenberg)  west of Wageningen. We heard the salvos of the German guns, the so called  Dicke Bertha Kanonen, which were very impressive.
On the 14th of May we saw the German air squadrons (Heinkel u.s.w.) flying over in the direction of Rotterdam to  bomb this city because of the fact that the weak Dutch forces did not surrender. The centre of that city was fully destroyed and the Dutch supreme command surrendered.

As soon as we heard that this short war was finished I went (this time alone) by bicycle to the former frontline and visited all the important places over there. Over there I saw the many fallen soldiers of both sides brotherly together on the cemetary and I even could speak with a Dutch officer,  now prisoner of war,  but waiting for his transportation to Germany.

Back at home we tried to continue our life as good as possible. Very important for us was to pick up all what  we could and so we had good and reliable newscasts to receive.  France still continued the war against Germany for a while and we could listen to Radio Paris  with a programm in dutch. We did not trust the  German newscasts with shreaks and propaganda. I still remember how in Paris the announcer said:  The Netherlands will never become a German province. Tuning in on other than Dutch or German programms was not yet forbidden and my father made it possible for neighbours to listen to Radio Paris: by putting the receiver in the window-ledge.
But this did not last long: France surrendered and we had to depend ourselves on the BBC. Listening to the BBC was forbidden and the transmissions of the BBC were jammed. So listening was only  secretly possible. This became an activity for me in  which I was involved  during the whole war. Many of our countrymen did the same and the German authorities ordered the Dutch to deliver up all radio receivers. Then I built a radioset, which did not work at all. We delivered this and the receiver of my father was hidden in a secret place of the factory of my father.

For me it was no longer possible to continue that what I considered to me to be  my duty, but there emerged a possibility: a half-brother of my father was a member of a National-Socialist Organisation and he got permission to  keep his receiver. He lived in the house of my grandfather, who was anti-nazi and he allowed me to use that receiver when my oncle was not at home.  My school was not far from there and at about 2 o’clock  in the afternoon I visited my grandfather to listen to the BBC. I wrote down what I heard and handed this over to my father, who distributed the news in his factory.
The jamming transmissions were very strong and so it was difficult to understand all. 15 minutes before the transmission in dutch there was a newscast in the italian language (Parla Londra et terminata la nostro terto transmissione a.s.o.). This I could hear better for these transmissions were not so severely jammed.  This enabled me to write down details for instance geographical names (Sidi el Barani, Mersa Matru, Benghazi, Stalingrad a.s.o.) and use these details to complete that what I picked up from the transmissions in dutch.

I could continue this until September the 17th 1944, the beginning of the Operation Market Garden (Battle of Arnhem). We had to flee from Arnhem. In another part of our province we could wait until the liberation in May 1945. This was a very adventurous period and especially the air war was very interesting. Then I saw the V-1 and jet fighters as ME-163 and ME-262. In the east we also could see the launches of the V-2. Then we saw a vertical condense trail. Then main target of the V-1 and V-2  missiles was the harbour of Antwerp. My brother remembers that I once said: That is something which will be very immportant for us in the future!
My adventures still continued for a while: one time I had been arrested, escaped and was liberated on April the 30st 1945 by the Second Brittish Army. A short time I  assisted a Brittish ambulance team as a kind of interpreter.

We could not return to Arnhem for the city was fully destroyed. Immediately after the liberation I joint the dutch navy.  The navy needed us to help in the war against Japan and the liberation of our (then still) colony the Netherlands Indies. That was the beginning of my  carreer in the navy.

Next paragraph (3) Carreer in the navy, naval aviation.

listening to the BBC during the war.