Keyword search recipes or articles
News Articles
Germans gradually turned screws on occupied country (1931-1944)
Chronology of Dutch war-time history
Tags: World War II
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Introduction
Which date is correct? We celebrate the liberation of the Netherlands on May 5. Why do the Allied countries observe May 8th? The answer is not difficult to those familiar with WWII history, but confusing to every one else. The Germans in the Netherlands capitulated on May 5th, while in Germany itself, General Keitel signed the general surrender on May 8. Belgium had been liberated since September 8, 1944. Just recently, a Canadian reporter in a story about the occupation proved his unfamiliarity with the subject when he wrote that the Netherlands was occupied in 1939. To the British Commonwealth, the conflict started indeed in that year with Hitler's attack on Poland in September. The Netherlands and Belgium received their turn on May 10, 1940, losing their treasured neutrality that day. Following is a series of significant events leading up to that date, and beyond. Several sources have been used in the compilation of this chronology. In cases of doubt, information from De Jong's official series on the Netherlands and World War II history was the final authority.
Dec 14, 1931 Extreme right-wing activists Mussert and Van Geelkerken form the Dutch Nazi Party, NSB.
Jan 07, 1933 The NSB holds its first general assembly - landdag - and publishes the first issue of its party paper, Volk en Vaderland.
Mar 10 The Dutch government bans the military from being member of the NSB.
Sep 15 Political parties with para-military chapters are ordered to cease outfitting members in uniforms.
Nov 28 Membership in the NSB is off limits to civil servants, the government announces.
Apr 17, 1935 The NSB receives nearly 8% of the votes in elections for the Provincial Estates.
May 24, 1936 Dutch Roman-Catholic bishops declare that membership in the NSB is incompatible with that of the Church.
Oct 02 The Synod of the Gereformeerde Kerken (GKN -Reformed Churches) rules that membership in the NSB is incompatible with its Confessions.
Nov 16 Mussert has secret visit with Hitler. Earlier he called on Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader.
Mar 1937 The Dutch government publishes its plan for a national bureau for distribution of food in the event of war.
May The NSB wins 4,2% of the popular vote in a general election and is seated in the Second Chamber of Parliament.
Mar 1939 The Dutch government admits 8,000 German refugees; Great Britain guarantees Poland assistance if that country is attacked by Germany.
Apr 19 In the elections for the Provincial Estates, popular support for the NSB drops below 3,9%. July The Food Distribution Act is proclaimed.
Aug 23 Hitler and Stalin's Soviet Union sign a nonaggression pact and agreement about Poland.
Aug 26 Hitler guarantees neutrality of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Switzerland.
Aug 28 General mobilization of the Dutch military.
Aug 29 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and King Leopold of Belgium offer to mediate in an escalating political conflict between Germany and Poland, involving the 1938 partitioning of Czechoslovakia, the rights of Polish German minorities, and the Dantzig corridor.
Sep 01 Germany invades Poland, Great Britain considers itself in a state of war with the aggressor.
Sep 04 The Dutch government issues a Declaration of Neutrality.
Sep 17 The Soviet Union invades Poland.
Sep 28 Germany and the Soviet Union partition Poland between them.
Nov 02 Near the Dutch-German border at Denekamp, a smuggling ring in Dutch military uniforms is discovered.
Nov 09 Raiders of the German secret police - Gestapo - kidnap agents of its Dutch and English counterparts, and haul them across the border near Venlo.
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Jan 13, 1940 The Dutch as well as the Belgian military increase their level of alertness.
Apr 09 Denmark and Norway invaded.
Apr 19 The Dutch declare martial law.
Apr 28 A controversial interview with Mussert is broadcast by US radio station CBS.
May 03 & 04 Dutch police arrests 21 Nazis and communists.
May 09 Colonel Sas, Dutch military embassy official at Berlin, warns again of an impending attack. His alarm is ignored by superiors.
May 10 Without declaring war, the German Wehrmacht rolls across the borders to occupy the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Dutch airbases at Waalhaven, Ypenburg, Valkenburg, Ockenburg, Texel, Den Helder, Bergen aan Zee, Schiphol, Hilversum, Gilze-Rijen, Souburg and Haamstede are attacked by Luftwaffe bombers. Airborne troops land in western part of the country. Dutch lines breached. Two members of cabinet fly to London to solicit help. Proclamation by Queen. Mass arrest of Nazis and communists. Limburg, Overijssel and Achterhoek overrun. All IJssel-bridges blown-up but Germans cross the river at Doesburg and Zwolle. French and English army units arrive.
May 11 Battle for Grebbe-line. Dutch army resistance in North Brabant collapses. Dutch counter-attacks fail. In various locations, Germans meet unexpected stiff resistance. Wide-spread confusion among army units.
May 12 German tanks cross Moerdijk-bridge. Crown princess with family evacuates on board of HMS Codrington. Churchill meets Dutch ministerial delegation. Breda evacuated.
May 13 Cabinet advises Queen Wilhelmina to leave country, who then departs on board of HMS Hereward. Cabinet transfers authority to General Winkelman, evacuates too. Germans lose heavily at Kornwerderzand, beaten back. Oil refineries put to torch. Heavy fighting near bridges of Rotterdam. Army draws back from Grebbe-line.
May 14 Luftwaffe bombs Rotterdam, over 1,000 casualties, threaten to do the same to other Dutch cities. Winkelman orders army to stop fighting.
May 15 Winkelman signs capitulation, excludes Zeeland where Dutch, Belgian and French troops continue battle. (Hitler planned to take the Netherlands in one day. The ill-equipped Dutch delayed the Blitzkrieg long enough to allow Belgium and France more time to organize resistance.) The first illegal pamphlet, Geuzenbericht, appears.
May 16 Press monitoring and censorship commences.
May 17 Middelburg's city core destroyed by Luftwaffe.
May 19 Dutch soldiers evacuate from Zeeland.
May 27 Winkelman reminds civilian Secretary General of Dutch, German-controlled Department of Defense that Dutch businesses are not permitted to work for Wehrmacht in any way.
May 28 Belgium capitulates.
May 29 Newly-appointed Reichskommissionar A. Seyss-Inquart installed as highest German authority at ceremony in The Hague's Knights Hall (Ridderzaal) where previously Dutch kings or queens gave Speeches of the Throne at start of Parliamentary sessions.
Jun 01 Jews are removed from positions with air surveillance services. Coffee and tea rationed.
Jun 10 Norway capitulates.
Jun 14 First illegal paper (Bulletin) appears. Paris falls.
Jun 15 Bread and flour rationed.
Jun 21 The Dutch States-General disbanded by Seys-Inquart.
June 22 Armistice in France. De Gaulle forms French government-in-exile in London the following day.
Jun 25 The Royal Air Force bombs its first Dutch targets. Dutch protestant churches reach understanding for mutual cooperation in issues with the Germans.
Jun 29Wide-spread display of orange symbols on birthday of Prince Bernhard, particularly at The Hague.
Jul 01 Dutch political parties create a forum for mutual consultation.
Jul 02 Winkelman arrested, taken to Germany. Non-Aryan refugees ordered to register.
Jul 04 Dutch burghers ordered to cease listening to foreign, non-German radio broadcasts.
Jul 14 The Opbouwdienst formed.
Jul 15 Nazi collaborator H.J. Woudenberg appointed head largest Dutch labour union, FNV.
Jul 18 First Dutch nationals taken hostage by Germans in retaliation for arrests of Germans in the Dutch East Indies.
Jul 19 The Dutch government-in-exile forms intelligence unit CID.
Jul 20 Nazi collaborator Rost van Tonningen (other family members had impeccable service records) appointed guardian for the Dutch socialist party SDAP and the communist party CPN. The latter is banned.
Jul 24 Several public figures form De Nederlandse Unie, aiming to rally the public for a pro-Dutch, nationalist position.
Jul 25 Illegal publication Pieter 't Hoen appears.
Jul 28 Broadcasts launched by London-based Radio Oranje.
Aug 02 Prison camp Amersfoort takes in first captives of Germans.
Aug 08 Air Battle of Britain commences.
Aug 10 Protestant christian parties ARP and CHU hold a joint mass protest rally at the Apollohal in Amsterdam.
Aug 12 Textile products rationed.
Aug 28 First intelligence agent dropped in the Netherlands.
Aug 31 First issue of illegal Vrij Nederland published.
Sep 14 Meat rationed.
Sep 16 The Germans form a Dutch SS unit. USA introduces military conscription.
Sep 23 First Dutch Nazis appointed mayor. Mussert visits Hitler again.
Sep 27 Germany, Italy and Japan form Axis alliance.
Sep 30 Decree issued against hiring to or promoting Jews in the Dutch civil service.
Oct 01 ID introduced for everyone 15 years and older.
Oct 03 Civil service employees ordered to sign Aryan declarations. Many restaurants and cafes display signs barring Jews; Joden niet gewenst.
Oct 05 National employment office (Rijksarbeidsbureau) formed.
Oct 10 Show of Dutch resistance against German presence in the newly-reclaimed Noordoostpolder, leads to retaliation and arrest of 130 Dutchmen who are send to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Oct 17 Introduction of special ID's for Jews.
Oct 22 Decree orders registration of Jewish-owned businesses.
Oct 24 Six protestant denominations deliver letter of protest against Aryan declaration for civil service.
Nov 23 All Jewish civil servants and professors fired from their positions. The first issue of the illegal communist paper De Waarheid appears.
Nov 25 Students at Delft College and Leiden University hold a 48-hour strike in support of their fired Jewish professors, the first of a series of strikes against such decrees. Both institutions are closed down indefinitely two days later.
Nov 15 Natural gas and electricity rationed.
Dec 19 The first two Dutch resistance men sentenced to death for acts of sabotage (the sentence was not carried out).
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Germans start drive to Nazify society
Dutch Jews singled out in numerous
decrees in 1941
Jan 01, 1941 Government levies luisterbijdrage from owners of radios.
Jan 09 Dutch theatres, cinemas bar Jews.
Jan 10 Registration of all Jews commences.
Jan 11 Royal Dutch Brigade Princess Irene formed in England.
Jan 13 Pastoral letter again informs Roman Catholics that membership in the Dutch Nazi party (NSB) is not permitted.
Jan 27 Dutch Nazis publicly against Amsterdam's Jews. First issue appears of underground paper De Vonk.
Feb 01 A number of Hilversum physicians arrested.
Feb 06 Former premier De Geer returns from exile in England.
Feb 09 Dutch Nazis cause riots in Amsterdam's Jewish district, one Nazi killed.
Feb 10 Underground paper Het Parool appears.
Feb 12 Plans for Jewish Council announced. Jews ordered to hand in weapons.
Feb 17 Former Dutch army career officers ordered to register. Steelworkers go on strike in Amsterdam.
Feb 19 Dutch Nazis and Jewish combat teams in clash at Amsterdam's IJssalon Koco.
Feb 22-23 Himmler orders first round-ups of Jews in Amsterdam's Jewish district, 400 arrested.
Feb 24 Court convenes against resistance group, 'De Geuzen.'
Feb 25 Start of the so-called February strike, led by Amsterdam's longshoremen, protesting persecution of Jews. The Germans - including war criminal Klaus Barbie - retaliate with force. Strikes spread to Zaandam, Haarlem, Hilversum, Utrecht, Velp and Weesp.
Feb 28 Introduction of compulsory labour for unemployed Dutchmen.
Mar 03 The first labour camp of the Dutch Labour Service operational. Mussert visits Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels.
Mar 06 Communist resistance fighter Leen Schijveschuurder executed for strike activities.
Mar 07 First arrest of members resistance group OD.
Mar 13 The Germans order Dutch radio societies disbanded. Fifteen members of the resistance group 'De Geuzen' en three communist strike leaders executed in Amsterdam. (Later, the fallen became widely-known when poet Campert wrote his resistance classic 'De achttien doden' on the wall of his cell).
Mar 14 Jewish business owners get Nazi 'supervisors.'
Mar 22 The Economic Front formed.
Mar 26 Rost van Tonningen takes control of De Nederlandsche Bank.
Apr 01 'Signs Voor Joden Verboden' mandatory for cafes and restaurants.
Apr 02 Boy Scout movement outlawed.
Apr 06 German army advances on the Balkan region.
Apr 07 Trial of Van Hamel-resistance group commences at The Hague.
Apr 19 Milk rationed.
Apr 26 Potatoes rationed.
Apr 27 Athens falls.
Apr 30 Images of Dutch royal family members outlawed.
May 01 District employment offices (37 of them GAB) open.
May 02 Journalists targeted for membership Nazi organization.
May 07 British bomb Bagdad, launch assault on Iraq.
May 11 German Nazi Hess flies to England, mission unclear.
May 20 Decrees issued regarding 'Handhaving openbare orde.'
May 23 Plenty of rumours, unrest at Philips' 50th anniversary.
May Publication of illegal Dutch song book, Nieuw Geuzenliedboek.
Jun 04 Public beaches and parks off limits to Jews.
Jun 08 British forces advance in Syria and Lebanon.
Jun 11 Second round-up of Amsterdam's Jews.
Jun 16 Dutch naval officer Lodo Van Hamel, a 'convicted spy' for London, executed by Germans.
Jun 18 Dutch ordered to hand in all copper, lead, tin and nickel materials to be recycled by them for weapon production. Many Dutchmen resist decree by hiding or burying such items.
Jun 22 Mass arrest of Dutch communists, who become part of a growing number of hostages. Hitler invades Soviet Union.
Jun 28 Dutch Nazi Arnold Meyer wants to form Dutch legion to join battle at the East front against the 'bolsjewieken.'
Jun 30 Reduction of allotment of natural gas and electricity per person.
June Two resistance groups, OD and LOF, merge.
Jun 30 Former premier Colijn and 90 leaders of AR Party taken hostage by Germans.
Jul 01 Underground radio station 'De Brandaris' in the air.
Jul 03 IDs of Jews now stamped with large J.
Jul 05 All Dutch political parties disbanded. Dutch Nazis form 'Vrijwilligerslegioen Nederland.'
Jul 07 American troops land on Iceland.
Jul 22 Military conscription in the Dutch East Indies.
Jul 24 Tension develops between Japan and English-American alliance. Japan wants Vichy-France to control Indo-China.
Jul 25 NSB-man Woudenberg assumes control of all christian trade unions, such as the RKW and CNV. Pastoral letter of bishops protests sharply against decision.
Jul 26 De Nederlandse Unie hit by decree outlawing its propaganda material. First Dutch volunteers leave for the Eastern Front.
Aug 03 Pastoral letter by bishops again prohibits membership in RKW, now Nazi controlled. Most union members stop paying dues.
Aug 08 Decree orders Jews to transfer their money to Amsterdam-based Dienststelle Lippmann, Rosenthal en Co.
Aug 11 Employers' organisations closed down. Real estate property owned by Jews to be registered (and confiscated). Jewish-owned businesses to be taken over by non-Jews.
Aug 14 Five people in Westmaas receive death penalty for aiding allied pilots.
Aug 24 Three physicians form resistance group Medisch Contact.
Aug 25 British and Soviet troops advance on Iran.
Aug 29 Jewish children banned from attending all public schools.
Sep 01 Municipal Councils and Provincial Estates cease work.
Sep 11 Round-ups of Jews in Enschede, Twenthe.
Sep 16 All royal property confiscated.
Sep 19 Kiev falls.
Oct 03 RAF bombs harbour of Rotterdam, 106 casualties.
Oct 16 Odessa falls.
Oct 22 Jews remaining in work force now require special work permits.
Oct 23 Nederlandse Landstand formed. Charkov falls.
Oct 28 Highest ministerial officials call for obedience, say saboteurs are 'wild and criminal.' Roosevelt declares in a speech that Americans have a role to play in the destruction of Hitlerism.
Oct 31 Jurisdiction of Amsterdam-based Jewish Council - a tool of the Nazis - now includes the entire country.
Nov 01 Registry for the Textile industry withdraws the permits of 1,600 Jewish merchants.
Nov 17 Start of the North African tank battle (at Sidi Rezegh).
Nov 22 The Nederlandse Kultuurkamer formed, membership voluntarily: the start of a drive to Nazify the arts and culture.
Nov 28 Soviets at Rostov force retreat of the German army.
Dec 05 All non-Dutch Jews are ordered to register for 'voluntary emigration.'
Dec 07 Japan attacks US fleet at Pearl Harbor, US at war.
Dec 08 Japan declares war against the US and England. The Dutch government-in-exile - which controls the colonies - declares war on Japan.
Dec 09 Japan takes Thai capital of Bangkok.
Dec 10 British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk by Japanese.
Dec 11 Germany and Italy declare war on the USA.
Dec 12 Mussert again visits Hitler, pledges allegiance. The start of England/Nordpolspiel, the infiltration in London-sent espionage groups by German Counter-intelligence.
Dec 14 The Nederlandse Unie, Nationaal Front and NSNAP dissolved. NSB celebrates tenth anniversary in Utrecht, becomes the only legal party. Students required to join of NAD.
Dec 17 Reformed Churches (GKN) protest against labour conscription.
Dec 18 Allies encircle Rommel's German tank division.
Dec 19 Nederlandse Artsenkamer formed. Von Brauchitsch resigns, Hitler assumes high command German forces.
Dec 22 Benghazi back under British control.
Dec 25 Hongkong falls.
Dec 27 British commando raid Norwegian coast.
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Churches protest against decrees
Groups organize national body to hide people from Germans
Jan 01 1942 Germans nazify Dutch radio, publish one program guide: De Luistergids. In Washington, 26 countries sign the Declaration of the United Nations. The Netherlands signs also.
Jan 02 Manilla falls.
Jan 10 Japanese forces land on Borneo and Celebes.
Jan 16 Episcopal letter instructs Roman-Catholic press not to publish ads of Dutch Nazi-party NSB. Archbishop De Jong insists on receiving confirmation of compliance.
Jan 17 The Germans order Zaandam's Jews to leave town.
Jan 18 Socialist politician Herman Wiardi Beckman and journalist Frans Goedhart arrested on Scheveningen beach while waiting for boat to take them to England; victims of Englandspiel.
Jan 19 Media chaplain, Rev. Titus Brandsma arrested during a nationwide tour of the RC papers. SD raids Brandsma's office, finds incriminating evidence against episcopal leadership but refrains from further arrests.
Jan 21 Communist group Militair Contact raids NSB-student club in Amsterdam.
Jan 29 Benghazi retaken.
Feb 01 First Jews sent to 'werkverruiming.' Collaborator Quisling 'prime minister' of Norway.
Feb 15 Singapore falls. Japanese land on South Sumatra.
Feb 16 Protesting artists present petition of 2400 against the Nazi's Kultuurkamer (no work without membership) to Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart.
Feb 17 Delegation of Dutch churches calls on Reichskommissar.
Feb 27 Battle of Java Sea, combined striking force led by admiral Doorman attacks Japanese but gets destroyed.
Feb 28 First ever British weapons drop for resistance falls in hands of Germans waiting at the Hooghalen, Drenthe, site: Englandspiel in action. Unemployed Dutchmen to register at GAB's.
Feb Executions of Dutch resistance workers. American army units start arriving in England. Red Army makes gains.
Mar 05 Batavia taken by Japanese.
Mar 06 Germans arrest agent Lauwers, British intelligence fails to detect coded warnings; drops dozens of Dutch agents into hands of SS welcome parties.
Mar 09 Surrender in the Dutch East Indies.
Mar 13 Surrogate coffee rationed.
Mar 21 German bureaucrat Sauckel takes over at Arbeitseinsatz. Dutch government in London forms Special Advisory Council.
Mar 27 Dutch hold-out army unit at Enrekang, Celebes, last to surrender.
Apr 01 Compulsory labour conscription (NAD). Start of deportation of Jewish patients from hospitals.
Apr 10 Pastoral letter expresses concern over increasing disregard of basic human rights.
Apr 11 De Geer in - accommodating - brochure deals with 'syntheses in war.'
Apr 13 Henk Sneevliet, leader of resistance group RSAP, executed with six others.
Apr 14 In his first attempt, Sauckel urges Dutch employers to send 30,000 labourers for work in Germany.
Apr 18 First Allied air raid on Tokio.
Apr 20 Dutch beaches off-limits to civilians.
Apr 22 Allied trial raid on French coast near Boulogne.
Apr 29 Dutch Jews forced to wear yellow Star.
Apr 30 Nederlands Arbeidsfront formed, Woudenberg appointed leader.
Apr Japanese start placing Europeans in 'protective custody' in occupied Dutch East Indies. First copies of resistance papers reach 'London.'
May 03 Germans execute the first 72 found 'guilty' in the major 'OD-trial.'
May 04 Over 460 well-known Dutchmen taken hostage as leverage against acts of resistance. GAB of Arnhem put to torch by resistance.
May 10 Second anniversary of the German invasion. Churchill announces second front against Nazidom.
May 11 Germans execute the 24 resistance workers convicted at the Maastricht 'OD-LOF trial.'
May 15 About 2,000 Dutch army career officers taken anew in captivity to Germany. Himmler and Heydrich visit the Netherlands.
May 17 Members Dutch SS pledge allegiance to Hitler.
May 22 First Allied drop of 30,000 copies of De Vliegende Hollander on occupied country.
May 30 Allies carry out first large-scale bombing raid on Germany, Cologne heavily hit.
Jun 02 London opens Oranjehaven for Engelandvaarders, people who escaped from the Netherlands to join the war effort.
Jun 06 Raden Soejono in occupied Dutch East Indies appointed minister by Japanese.
Jun 10 Germans raze Lidice for being accomplices in murder attempt on Heydrich: all 450 inhabitants of Czechoslovakian village shot (men) or deported to death camps (women).
Jun 13 First large group of Dutch labour conscripts off to Germany. British take heavy losses in North Africa. Start of deportation of Jews from camp Westerbork.
Jun 22 Axis troops reach Egyptian border.
Jun 26 General Eisenhower assumes command US Army in Europe.
Jun 30 Curfew between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for Jews.
Jul 01 Sevastopol falls.
Jul 02 Montgomery stops Axis advance at El Alamein.
Jul 11 Dutch churches protest by cable to Seyss-Inquart planned deportation of Dutch Jews.
Jul 13 Again leaders (nearly 800) in Dutch society taken hostage, held captive in monastery in Haaren, North Brabant. Rev. F. Slomp of Heemse (aliases: Van Zanten, Frits de Zwerver) goes into hiding.
Jul 14 Beginning of large-scale round-ups of Jews (ages 15 - 40) in Amsterdam.
Jul 19 Germans try to seize 'all' bicycles in The Hague and Rotterdam.
Jul 20 Pulpit announcement by Dutch churches again protests deportation of Jews.
Jul 24 Rostov falls. Start of a ten day air-raid on Hamburg.
Jul 30 Fifth group of 375 joins Vrijwilligers Legioen Nederland at the Eastern Front to help Nazis fight Bolsjewieken; 900 still to follow.
Jul Dutch resistance finds escape route to Switzerland. Swiss border control routinely refuses passage to refugees.
Aug 06 Queen Wilhelmina on visit to North America addresses Congress.
Aug 07 Americans land at Guadalcanal, the Philippines.
Aug 10 Churchill visits Moscow.
Aug 15 First group of five hostages executed as 'punishment' for railway sabotage in Rotterdam.
Aug 19 Raid on Dieppe. Canadians suffer heavy losses in heroic effort.
Sep 06 More milk products rationed.
Sep 07 Roman-Catholic Jews ordered to Camp Westerbork.
Sep 09 Sauckel wants new quota of 40,000 labour conscripts filled by employers.
Sep 12 Germans reach Stalingrad.
Sep 15 Dutch Bureau of Information formed in London.
Sep 17 New campaign by Sauckel to conscript labourers from crown corporations. Battle of Stalingrad takes to the streets.
Oct 02 In a surprise move, Nazi-run Dutch Jewish work camps emptied, 14,000 people deported.
Oct 08 Rumours surface concerning an impending evacuation order, removing people away from the coastal areas. Oct 13 Roosevelt launches plans for coordinated, Allied attack on Europe, and extradition of war criminals.
Oct 14 First resistance group raid on distribution office at IJlst, booty (rationing stamps, coupons, cards etc.) aid LO-groups. Action leads to formation of crack team division LKP.
Oct 17 More hostages executed 'to punish' Dutch resistance.
Oct 20 Dutch churches write Seyss-Inquart protesting, among others, compulsory labour service.
Oct 25 Montgomery launches desert attack.
Nov 03 Allied victory at El Alamein.
Nov 08 Allies land in North Africa at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, not resisted by French forces.
Nov 11 Germans take control of Vichy-France.
Nov 19 Soviets launch counter-attack at Stalingrad.
Nov 24 Germans confiscate church bells to be recycled for shell casings.
Nov 25 Frits de Zwerver-led resistance groups, specializing in hiding people, forms national organization in meeting in Driebergen.
Nov Sauckel demands 35,000 conscripts for work in Germany.
Dec 06 Eindhoven bombed, 138 casualties.
Dec 07 Queen Wilhelmina promises new structure of Kingdom of the Netherlands after 'end of hostilities.'
Dec 10 Mussert visits Hitler again. Appointed 'leader of the Dutch people.'
Dec 24 Member of Petain-cabinet, Dalan, murdered in Algiers.
Dec 26 LO-resistance groups in Groningen form provincial organization.
Dec National Council for Resistance (NCvV) formed. In The Hague, work commences on the demolition of residential districts near the coast. Population evacuated.
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Until the summer of 1942, the German military campaigns seemed victorious wherever they were taken. They advanced far into Russia, badly beat the British in North Africa and held many occupied countries in an iron grip. The Japanese were also riding high in Asia. However, before long the effects of serious tactical errors by the Germans started to take their toll. In this instalment, evidence of a turning tide is readily noticeable. The Dutch churches fought the Nazis on another front. The struggle against Nazi ideology runs like a tread through the WWII chronological overview. As had happened in Germany, the ranks of the clergy in the Netherlands were thinned through numerous arrests. Roman Catholics were hit by about 400 arrests (49 of them never returned), the Netherlands Reformed by 136 (12 lost their lives in captivity) and the much smaller Reformed Churches by 106 of which 20 did not come back. Many leaders in Dutch society at large shared a similar ordeal but none were targeted like the Jewish community. The following information is the third instalment of the chronological overview of events during World War II.
Jan 01, 1943 The Landelijke Organisatie (L.O.) holds first secret 'swap meet' (for ration stamps, coupons and people in search for a hiding place) at the Zuiderkerk in Zwolle. The Red Army launches its first massive attack.
Jan 04 Resistance moves against a civil registry at Wageningen.
Jan 08 Friesland forms a provincial LO.
Jan 11 Nazis give police judicial powers, 'politiestandrecht.'
Jan 14 Allied conference at Casablanca demands unconditional surrender of Axis.
Jan 15 Germans open concentration camp at Vught. Sauckel demands 22,000 steel labourers and 78,000 general workers for German war effort.
Jan 19 Princess Margriet born in Ottawa, Canada.
Jan 21 Milk and meat rations reduced.
Jan 26 Germans deport 1,200 Jews from Apeldoorn.
Jan 30 Dutch Nazi party secretariat becomes part of civil government. Attack on German officer in Haarlem, over 100 people randomly arrested, 10 executed. First issue of illegal paper Trouw appears in Meppel.
Jan Authorities appoint NSB-member Feenstra principal of Arnhem's Loben Sels Christian School.
Feb 01 Attempt on life of high police official Feitsma.
Feb 03 Germans at Stalingrad surrender.
Feb 04 Dutch prime minister-in-exile Gerbrandy urges civil service to resist German rule more vigorously.
Feb 05 Commander of Dutch Volunteer Legion, General Seyffardt, killed by resistance group CS VI.
Feb 06 Round-up of students in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Delft and Wageningen, many go in hiding. Universities closed.
Feb 08 Rev. J. Overduin arrested by SD after fiery sermon against Nazi intrusion in christian education.
Feb 09 High-level bureaucrat Reydon shot (dies of injuries in August). More round-ups of teenage boys.
Feb 10 Amsterdam's GAB put to the torch. Jewish orphans deported.
Feb 14 Germans vacate Rostov.
Feb 16 Kharkov back in Russian control.
Feb 17 Churches sent Seyss-Inquart letter of protest regarding persecution of fellow citizens, lawlessness and drive for Nazification of society. The following Sunday, letter was read in every Dutch church.
Feb 20 Judiciary reviews poor conditions in Camp Ommen.
Feb 25 Court officials at Leeuwarden protest German tampering with sentencing.
Feb 27 National LO 'swap meet' at Meppel.
Mar 09 Resistance group Pahud de Mortanges wiped out.
Mar 10 Leader of intelligence group Kees arrested.
Mar 11 para-police group Landwacht formed by Dutch Nazis, also known as Landstorm.
Mar 12 Dutch agent, founder of intelligence group-Albrecht, dropped over occupied Holland.
Mar 13 Dfl. 500 and 1,000 bills removed from circulation. Germans demand students to pledge loyalty.
Mar 22 Germans lengthen work week to 54 hours.
Mar 23 Dutch and Belgian officials begin talks about formation of Benelux.
Mar 24 Dutch physicians on strike against plan to Nazify profession.
Mar 27 Resistance raids civil registry Amsterdam.
Mar 29 Germans order Jews to report at camp Vught, set curfew at 11:00 p.m.
Mar 31 Rotterdam bombed again, this time 401 casualties.
Apr 01 Collaborator Van der Waals instrumental in wipe-out of Nationaal Comite van Verzet. Numerous leading politicians arrested.
Apr 03 Dieters, first member of communist resistance troika, arrested.
Apr 06 Jansen, second member of troika arrested.
Apr 10 Over 85% of students refuse to pledge loyalty to Nazidom.
Apr 13 Jews from remaining provinces to go to camp Vught.
Apr 20 Distribution office at Staphorst put to torch. Curfew set at 8:00 p.m.
Apr 29 German army commander Christiansen orders all former Dutch soldiers again into POW-camps. Spontaneous strike in Twenthe, spreads to other regions.
Apr 30 Countrywide strike. Germans retaliate, execute over 200 strikers. Railroad keeps working. Radio Orange in London urges former Dutch POW's not to report again; advices public to remain calm.
May 01 Police receives broad powers throughout country.
May 02 RvV-chairman Thijssen wires urgent message regarding strike to London.
May 03 In his reply, prime minister Gerbrandy urges resistance against deportation of former soldiers.
May 05 Harster, commander of SD, orders final phase of deportation of Dutch Jews. Over 3,000 students sent to Germany.
May 06 Men between the ages of 18 and 35 ordered to report for work in Germany. KP-Visser derails train in Twenthe.
May 11 North Africa cleared of Axis troops.
May 12 Episcopal letter protesting labour conscription read in all R.C. churches.
May 13 Germans order the Dutch to turn in all radios.
May 16 Protestant churches protest against labour conscription.
May 19 Churches protest order to sterilize Jews married to non-Jews.
May 20 Amsterdam's Jews ordered to register for deportation to Westerbork.
May 26 Large-scale round-up of Jews in Amsterdam central district.
May Miss Kohlbrugge of the 'Swiss escape route' enlists help from Jean Weidner - he died in California in 1994 - who operated the escape route 'Dutch Paris.'
Jun 03 Attack on ex-minister Posthuma who as high agriculture official collaborated with Germans, killed in Ruurlo.
Jun 04 Resistance groups raid distribution office in Langweer, Friesland, with most of the loot going to the L.O. Numerous raids follow as ranks of people in hiding have grown rapidly, and small-scale theft of rationing documents is no longer sufficient. Dutch resistance group Stijkel (33 members) executed in Berlin.
Jun 05 Dutch Nazi leader Mussert sharply criticizes German SS conduct in public.
Jun 12 Finance minister-in-exile Van Lith de Jeude grants special money warrant for resistance group OD.
Jun 20 Another large-scale sweep for Jews in Amsterdam districts South and East, 5,700 caught.
Jun 26 Round-up of physicians, hundreds arrested. Generalkommissar Schmidt commits suicide. L.O. forms central distribution office, decides to seek help from independent crack teams for coordinated plan. Churchill assures peoples in occupied countries they will get help (before autumn).
Jun New Dutch intelligence group in London infiltrates occupied The Netherlands.
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Allies inched in on Germans armies
Resistance groups forced to meet challenges by German decrees
Jul 08 Hitler-associate Himmler meets Dutch Nazi-leader Mussert.
Jul 10 Allies land in Sicily
Jul 15 Rauter orders round-ups of men in rural areas.
Jul 17 Americans bomb Amsterdam North, 157 killed.
Jul 19 First Allied air raid on Rome.
Jul 20 Germans arrest espionage group 'Dienst Wim.' Hitler and Italian leader Mussolini meet.
Jul 22 Arrest of the Delfzijl group of physician Oosterhuis which operated the Swedish escape route.
Jul 25 Mussolini resigns, gets arrested. Start of massive air raids on Hamburg. The RAF bombs Amsterdam North again.
Jul 26 Priest Titus Brandsma dies by lethal injection in Dachau.
Aug Socialist politician W. Drees (later to become prime minister) forms national committee.
Aug 02 Germans arrest first member of a crack team (KP Meppel).
Aug 07 The 'Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers' (LO) takes in as member resistance groups operating south of the rivers.
Aug 11 Mr. J.A.W. Burgers, who escaped occupied Netherlands, becomes a member of the Gerbrandy cabinet in London.
Aug 23 First massive night-time air raid on Berlin. Soviets again retake Charkow.
Aug 25 Germans order 72 hour work week.
Aug 31 Two Dutch agents, Dourlein and Ubbink, arrested in England-spiel betrayal, escape from tightly-controlled Haaren jail. In pre-emptive move, German radioman cleverly warns London for pair now 'working' for SD.
Sep 02 In a broadcast, Queen Wilhelmina announces military rule for the Netherlands.
Sep 03 Resistance group CS-6 kills Utrecht's NSB policechief Kerlen. Allies land on mainland Italy.
Sep 07 Rauter announces plans of anti-fraud food distribution measure Tweede Distributiestamkaart.
Sep 08 Italy surrenders.
Sep 12 German airborne unit frees Mussolini.
Sep 27 Resistance paper Het Parool reveals existence of gas chambers in concentration camps.
Sep 29 Final large round-up of Amsterdam Jews, 10,000 caught and deported, among them members of Jewish council. First Silbertanne execution-type murders (Boldewijn, Dykstra and Roelfsema) at Meppel in retaliation of resistance liquidations of dangerous infiltrators and collaborators.
Oct 01 Allies take Naples, Italy.
Oct 05 Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart outlines policy regarding Jews still at large.
Oct 10 Americans bomb Enschede in error, 151 killed.
Oct 13 Italy changes sides and declares war on Germany.
Oct 18 Well-known Dutch author A.M. de Jong falls victim to Silbertanne murder.
Oct 19 Germans raid provincial L.O. meeting at Hoorn, arrest entire leadership.
Oct 25 Dutch top departmental bureaucrats gather for a final meeting during the German occupation.
Oct 27 Top bureaucrat Louwes at Voedselvoorziening warns Germans of low levels of food supplies to the population; urges drastic reductions to Wehrmacht demands for food.
Nov 04 Germans arrest Jan Verleun, one of the last still at large of resistance-group CS-6.
Nov 06 Russians retake Kiev.
Nov 12 Seyss-Inquart agrees to formation of Landwacht, the Dutch Nazi auxiliary police force.
Nov 14 In a historical raid, KP Den Bosch captures a large quantity of weapons. Arrest of communist resistance men Jan Postma, Cees Schalker and Daan Goulooze.
Nov 15 Decree orders labour conscripts to assume responsibility for colleagues on furlough.
Nov 21 Three agents (Van Rietschoten, Van der Giessen and Wegner) escape from Haaren (seminary) jail.
Nov 22 L.O. top meets at Laren, forms unit to counterfeit IDs. KP Sexbierum betrayed to SD. Dourlein and Ubbink reach Switzerland, warn London of England-spiel infiltration.
Nov 23 In her address on Radio Orange, Queen Wilhelmina explains need for military rule.
Nov 27 Jail breaks from Haaren compel German to move victims of England-spiel to Assen jail.
Nov 28 Allied leaders meet for talks at Teheran.
Dec 02 Mussert calls on Hitler.
Dec 04 Introduction of Tweede Distributiestamkaart, to combat wide-spread counterfeiting and stolen documents.
Dec 24 German national Staehle, who wants to liquidate Hitler meets Dutch resistance men Van Heuven Goedhart and Cramer in Coevorden.
Dec In Amsterdam, Germans now target Jewish partners in mixed marriages for deportation.
1931-1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | August 1943 | 1944 | September 1944
Jan 01, 1944 The LO-LKP forms a national executive committee.
Jan 03 Report Coevorden-meeting send to London, warns of possible sudden demise of Hitler.
Jan 10 Prime minister Gerbrandy supports formation of 'illegally operated' Nationaal Steunfonds in occupied country to support resistance work.
Jan 15 Germans punish group of women in Camp Vught. Known as the 'bunker incident,' 10 of 74 female prisoners suffocate, others are mentally scarred for life.
Jan 25 KP raid on Tilburg city hall results in large haul of ration coupons (105,000).
Jan 27 Germans retreat from region of Leningrad.
Jan 28 Germans warn population for flooding as a military defense measure.
Feb 01 Doulein and Ubbink reach England again, jailed as English secret service - mistakenly - suspects Gestapo links.
Feb 02 Dutch-Portuguese Jews (descendants of 16th century refugees) deported to Camp Westerbork.
Feb 14 Himmler visits the Netherlands. Executions of captured resistance workers increase.
Feb 22 Decree announces automatic death penalty for raiders on distribution offices (DKs) and civil registries. Americans mistake Nijmegen for German city, bombing kills 880. Arnhem and Enschede also hit.
Feb Infiltrators betray about 100 members of Jean H. Weidner's Swiss escape route.
Mar 06 Dutch Nazis launch party promotion campaign in Amsterdam.
Mar 11 RAF drop founder Albrecht espionage group over Drenthe.
Mar 15 London launches Special Assignment desk.
Mar 21 Landwacht, nicknamed Jan Hagel for their antiquated hunting rifles, begin operating as auxiliary police, act against countrymen as eyes, ears, legs and arms for Germans.
Mar 22 Germans seize power in Hungary.
Mar 25 Allies bomb Germany with 7,000 planes.
Mar 26 Russians push Germans back across Rumanian border.
Mar 30 Resistance group FC (Nijmegen) joins L.O.
Apr 01 Black market price of lard f64.00 per kilogram.
Apr 10 Russians retake Odessa.
Apr 11 RAF bombs Dutch central population registry at Kleykamp, The Hague, where duplicates of all Dutch municipal records were kept; two key LO-LKP contacts and a number of other employees loose their lives.
Apr 17 Nazi party official Blokzijl promises general pardon if those in hiding end their resistance.
Apr 18 Bleijs, a priest, leaves for England as L.O.'s representative.
Apr 20 Execution of communist party official Postma. Betrayal and arrest of KP-Aalten and beyond.
Apr 24 Americans take Hollandia, New Guinea, Dutch East Indies. Van Heuven Goedhart leaves for England.
May 01 Group Gerrit van der Veen fails in its raid on Amsterdam penitentiary. Germans arrest L.O.-founder Frits de Zwerver (Rev. F. Slomp) at Ruurlo.
May 11 Russians recapture Sebastopel. KP-raid on Arnhem jail, De Zwerver set free.
May 15 Germans arrest LKP-leader Valstar.
May 16 Round-ups of gypsies and homeless.
May 17 KP-raid on Hoitsema Printing nets resistance movement 133,450 coupon cards.
May 18 Monte Cassino falls to Allies after 3-month battle.
Jun 01 Gestapo in the Netherlands receives new commander, Schongarth.
Jun 04 Allies take Rome, earlier declared 'open city.'
Jun 06 D-Day, Allies land on Normandy beaches. Germans take 1,500 prisoners to Vught from jail in Scheveningen, between July and September 400 executed. Gerrit Van der Veen killed as were 22 resistance men at Overveen.
Jun 08 Queen Wilhelmina and Gerbrandy order resistance movement to better coordinate activities.
Jun 10 Agents Van der Giessen and Van Rietschoten executed at Haaren.
Jun 11 KP-raid on Arnhem penitentiary frees 56 resistance workers.
Jun 12 Germans introduce changes to ration card.
Jun 13 First of many V-1 rockets lands in England. Gestapo raids L.O.'s central ID counterfeiting office in Amsterdam.
Jun 15 First Allied air raid hits Japan. King Leopold of Belgium 'evacuates' to Germany.
Jun 21 Raid on meeting of provincial L.O. in Weert, Limburg.
Jun 25 Allies take Cherbourg.
Jul 03 National leadership of various resistance groups meets, forms umbrella group. Minsk retaken by Russians.
Jul 06 RAF drops communications officers for resistance groups. Von Kluge new German commander for Western Europe.
Jul 14 Raid by KP Johannes Post on penitentiary Weteringsschans, Amsterdam, fails.
Jul 16 Johannes Post executed.
Jul 20 Von Stauffenberg's attempt on Hitler's life fails. Himmler assumes command German army.
Jul 21 First of many round-ups in Amsterdam of men for forced labour in Germany.
Jul 24 L.O. coordinates work from central office.
Jul 27 Wave of arrests in Groningen, all prompted by betrayal courier Bleeker.
Aug 01 Start of uprising Warsaw's Jewish ghetto.
Aug 02 Gerbrandy signs second warrant for Nationaal Steunfonds. Queen orders formation of Raad van Vertrouwensmannen.
Aug 03 Queen appoints Prince Bernhard commander of Nederlands Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten, to be formed from ranks of resistance groups.
Aug 04 Americans take Florence, break through lines at the Loire.
Aug 07 Court case against Trouw group starts.
Aug 08 Country-wide wave of arrests triggered by betrayal courier Edith. Prinses Irene Brigade lands in Normandy.
Aug 11 LO-representative Bleijs arrives in London.
Aug 15 Allies land in southern France. Dutch officials in occupied country warned not to assist Germans with construction of defense lines.
Aug 19 Germans arrest L.O. co-founder Tante Riek (Mrs. R. Kuipers-Rietberg).
Aug 23 Romenia surrenders, chooses side of Allies.
Aug 25 Final meeting of LKP. Appoints new commander for sabotage work.
Aug 28 LKP receives first large arms drop. London decree places groups under central command With Allies approaching, resistance movement becomes underground army While the Allied troops, the unit of Dutch expatriates Prinses Irene Brigade among them, inched their way toward Dutch soil, the government-in-exile in London plans to merge all the resistance groups into an underground army. Ill-equipped and trained, this army matures quickly in its ongoing battle with an enemy that never had observed any international conventions of war. If caught, resistance men face a certain death. In spite of all this, vacancies caused by arrests were filled quickly enough even when the Germans intensified their oppression. In late December 1944, German orders to men, ages 16 to 40, to report for labour conscription, and large-scale manhunts terrorized the population even more. Hunger drove many people, including the elderly, women and children on long treks in search of food. When would it all end.…
London decree places groups under central command
With Allies approaching, resistance movement becomes underground army
Sep 03, 1944 The Dutch government-in-exile appoints Prince Bernhard commander-in-chief of its armed forces. The Allied command orders railway sabotage in occupied Netherlands. Brussels regains freedom.
Sep 04 Germans kill sixty prisoners in Vught. Finland signs truce with Allies, declares war on Germany. Antwerp taken by British forces.
Sep 05 Allied forces approach Dutch territory, Dutch Nazis and collaborators take to flight on this 'Mad Tuesday.' Germans kill LKP-leader Hans Dobbe in an escape attempt in Dieren. London orders merger of resistance groups into underground army. Mussert relocates to Almelo. Curfew set at 8:00 p.m. Russia declares war on Nazi-led Bulgaria, which within hours later asks for truce and declares war on Germany, all in the course of a day.
Sep 08 First V-2 rocket, Hitler's latest weapon, falls on London.
Sep 09 Belgian government-in-exile comes home. The Prinses Irene Brigade of the Dutch army takes Beeringen, a Belgian town south of Antwerp.
Sep 12 American troops cross Dutch-Belgian border in South Limburg.
Sep 13 Americans cross border into Germany. Final train (67th) with Jews leaves Westerbork for Auschwitz.
Sep 14 US Army divisions (107th and 30th division) free Maastricht.
Sep 15 Large roundup of men in Zwolle.
Sep 17 Allied airborne troops (operation Market Garden by British 1st, American 82nd and 101st divisions), land in Eindhoven, Grave, Groesbeek and Wolfheze. Dutch government orders railway strike.
Sep 19 Germans bomb just-liberated Eindhoven; 227 casualties. Allotment of electricity reduced further.
Sep 20 Nijmegen free. Colonel H. Koot agrees to take command of underground army (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten). First units of Prinses Irene Brigade reach Dutch soil near Valkenswaard.
Sep 21 Polish troops clear part of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, west of Antwerp, of enemy. Germans start demolishing harbour installations in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Stoottroepen formed in liberated South.
Sep 23 Germans destroy Liduina Manor, headquarters KP-Zenderen; kill three KP members on the spot.
Sep 27 Allied troops north of Arnhem cease fighting, remnant retreats across the Rhine during the night.
Sep Germans evacuate prisoners Camp Amersfoort to death camp Neuengamme.
Oct 01 Germans terrorize Putten, deport 582 adult males in revenge of failed car-hijacking attempt (only 49 survive the war).
Oct 02 Dutch government-in-exile asks neutral Sweden to send food supplies to occupied Holland.
Oct 03 RAF bombs dikes of island of Walcheren to inundate and isolate German units. Missions repeated on 4th, 7th and 11th. The Vliegende Hollander becomes a daily.
Oct 04 The British land in Greece and Albania.
Oct 06 Hengelo bombed (125 killed).
Oct 07 Wehrmacht on manhunt in Utrecht, Amersfoort and Kampen; start of regular large-scale roundups of men between ages of 17 and 50 for forced labour in Germany and for digging trenches.
Oct 11 Archdiocese in pastoral letter announces its Relief Campaign for victims of war.
Oct 13 Resistance forms Stichting 1940-1945 for aid to survivors of fallen comrades.
Oct 14 Allies take Athens.
Oct 16 Hitler forces Hungarian puppet leader Admiral Horthy out of office. Allies liberate Woensdrecht, trap German troops in Zeeland.
Oct 20 Americans land in the Philippines.
Oct 23 First efforts at establishing a central soup kitchen for Amsterdam. First major crossing of the Rhine by Allies. Attempt on life of SD-commander Oehlschlagel.
Oct 24 Germans kill 29 hostages alongside an Amsterdam road in reprisal for attack on Oehlschlagel.
Oct 25 KP raids police station Haagse Veer in Rotterdam, free 40 prisoners. Germans retaliate with executions of hostages.
Oct 26 Natural gas supply cut off in Amsterdam.
Oct 27 Allies liberate Den Bosch, Prinses Irene Brigade Tilburg.
Oct 28 BS-commander Koot re-organizes underground army in two divisions: stoot and bewakingstroepen (commando and guards).
Oct 30 Allies take Tholen.
Oct Tank Battle of Overloon rages for weeks, destroys Overloon and Venray and farms in the vicinity, heavy losses on both sides.
Nov 01 Historic town of Sluis falls to Allies. Canadians land near Westkapelle on Walcheren. Koot sidelines Thijssen, former commander Raad van Verzet.
Nov 02 Liberation of North Beveland.
Nov 03 Heavy fighting around Vlissingen results in freedom for city.
Nov 04 Resistance groups of Werkendam and Sliedrecht lay out Biesbosch 'traffic route' in and out of occupied territory.
Nov 05 Germans blow up town hall of Heusden, and kill 134 civilians hiding in cellar. Amsterdam reports first casualties of hunger. LO-KP Biesbosch hands 75 captured Germans over to Allies.
Nov 06 Allies reach river arm Hollands Diep, a natural defense line south of Rotterdam.
Nov 07 US elects President Roosevelt to unprecedented third term.
Nov 08 Germans at Vrouwenpolder surrender, Walcheren cleared of enemy. Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart ends food embargo.
Nov 09 Allies clear Central and Western Brabant of last German units.
Nov 10 Two-day roundup of men for forced labour starts in Rotterdam and Schiedam; Germans catch 50,000.
Nov 14 Resistance names delegates for visit to London.
Nov 15 Germans comb Amsterdam for workers. KP-Almelo net f46 million in raid on branch of Nederlandsche Bank, requires it for aid to families of fugitives.
Nov 17 SD-chief Rauter leads manhunt in 'onderduikersparadijs' Noordoostpolder, thousands caught.
Nov 20 Amsterdam closes Vondelpark for visitors after people cut most trees for fuel in starving households. Prince Bernhard establishes headquarters at Breda.
Nov 21 Wehrmacht begins extensive manhunt in The Hague.
Nov 26 Allies bomb SD-headquarters in Amsterdam (Euterpestraat), and of Wehrmacht in Hilversum.
Nov 28 Germans kill KP-Frank (leader LKP, J.A. van Bijnen) near Apeldoorn.
Nov Dutch churches petition Seyss-Inquart to refrain from any action contrary to basic humanitarian principles. Seyss-Inquart appoints Dutch Nazi as head of Red Cross.
Dec 01 Seyss-Inquart permits Dutch Food Distribution to organize transports by river barges to starving towns.
Dec 03 Communists in Greece try to obtain power, gun battles in Athens. Blerick taken by Allies, territory west of Meuse cleared of enemy.
Dec 04 Germans cut Rhine dikes, inundate Betuwe. Further reduction of per capita food allotments in Western Netherlands. First shipload of potatoes (by April 130.000 tonnes) crosses IJsselmeer to Amsterdam.
Dec 05 Deportation of all males caught in Venlo and Roermond.
Dec 06 IJssel crossings closed to males between 16 and 40 years of age.
Dec 08 KP raids Leeuwarden jail, frees 51 resistance workers in extremely professional operation (later subject of movie).
Dec 10 Seyss-Inquart allows churches to help with food distribution.
Dec 14 Use of electricity forbidden in both North and South Holland. Germans announce mobilization of all able-bodied males for forced labour. Montgomery to manage food supply to Western Netherlands after liberation day.
Dec 16 Von Rundstedt launches German counter-attack in the Ardennes, leads to Battle of the Bulge. German unit penetrates North Brabant at Hedel, surrenders after costly clash.
Dec 22 KP-man De Rooy signals imminent attack on North Brabant by troops concentrated near Dussen. Heavy artillery fire denies Germans opportunity of crossing.
Dec 24 Germans order all age-eligible males in North and South Holland, and Utrecht to report for labour conscription.
Dec 27 London councils Dutchmen on point of principle to refrain from requesting from labour conscription order.
Dec 28 Dutch Nazi leader Mussert fires Van Geelkerken and Rost van Tonningen from deputy leadership posts.
Dec 30 Allies launch counter-campaign in Ardennes.
December Thousands of starving women and children as well as elderly from the cities trek through rural areas in search of food. Interdenominational bureau (IBK) starts evacuation of undernourished children to families in eastern part of the Netherlands where food is less scarce.