Netherlands

This article is considered accurate for the current version of the game.

Netherlands

Capital province

Amsterdam

Government type

Constitutional monarchy

Faction

Neutral/Allied (1940-05-10)

Netherlands is a minor country located in Western Europe. Historically they attempted to remain neutral, but this was thwarted when Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg in the opening moves of Fall Gelb on the 10th of May 1940.

Technology[edit]

Brief overview of nation's technological capabilities.

Diplomacy[edit]

Brief overview of nation's diplomatic situation in 1936.

Alliances[edit]

Brief overview of nation's alliances.

Decisions[edit]

Brief overview of nation's decisions.

Events[edit]

Brief overview of nation's events.

Politics[edit]

Here you can put some stuff that relates to the political situation in-game in 1936 and following years.

Laws[edit]

Ministers[edit]

Intelligence[edit]

Brief overview of nation's intelligence capability in 1936.

Economy[edit]

Here you can type some informative bits about this nation's economy in-game in 1936 and following years.

Industrial Production[edit]

Military[edit]

The Battle of the Netherlands (Dutch: Slag om Nederland) was part of Case Yellow (German: Fall Gelb), the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and France during World War II.

The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until the main Dutch forces surrendered on the 14th. Dutch troops in the province of Zealand continued to resist the Wehrmacht until 17 May when Germany completed its occupation of the whole nation.

The Battle of the Netherlands saw one of the first major uses of paratroopers to occupy crucial targets prior to ground troops reaching the area. The German Luftwaffe utilised paratroopers in the capture of several major airfields in the Netherlands in and around key cities such as Rotterdam and The Hague in order to quickly overrun the nation and immobilise Dutch forces.

The battle ended soon after the devastating bombing of Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe and the subsequent threat by the Germans to bomb other large Dutch cities if Dutch forces refused to surrender. The Dutch General Staff knew it could not stop the bombers and surrendered in order to prevent other cities from suffering the same fate. The Netherlands remained under German occupation until 1945, when the last Dutch territory was liberated.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Netherlands

Army[edit]

Royal Dutch Army Major Dutch defence lines

In the Netherlands, all the objective conditions were present for a successful defence: a dense population, wealthy, young, disciplined and well-educated; a geography favouring the defender; and a strong technological and industrial base including an armaments industry. However, these had not been exploited: while the Wehrmacht at the time still had many shortcomings in equipment and training, the Dutch army in comparison was like David compared to Goliath.[34] The myth of the general German equipment advantage over the opposing armies in the Battle of France was in fact a reality in the case of the Battle of the Netherlands. On the one hand there was the modern German army with tanks and dive bombers (such as the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka) and on the other hand the Dutch army, whose armoured forces comprised only 39 armoured cars and five tankettes, and an air force for a large part consisting of biplanes. The Dutch government's attitude towards war was reflected in the state of the country's armed forces, which had not significantly expanded their equipment since before the First World War,[35] and were inadequately armed even by the standards of 1918.[36] During the 1920s, an economic recession lasting from 1920 until 1927 and the general détente in international relations caused a limitation of the defence budget.[13] In that decade, only 1.5 million guilders per annum was spent on equipment.[37] Both in 1931 and 1933, commissions appointed to economise even further failed, because they concluded that the acceptable minimum had been reached and advised that a spending increase was urgently needed.[38] Only in February 1936 was a bill passed creating a special 53.4 million guilder defence fund.[10]

The lack of a trained manpower base, a large professional organisation or a sufficient matériel reserve precluded a swift expansion of Dutch forces.[39] There was just enough artillery to equip the larger units: eight infantry divisions (combined in four Army Corps), one Light (i.e. motorised) Division and two independent brigades (Brigade A and Brigade B), each with the strength of half a division or five battalions. All other infantry combat unit troops were raised as light infantry battalions that were dispersed all over the territory to delay enemy movement.[40] They made use of many pillboxes, about two thousand in number,[41] but in lines without any depth. Modern large fortresses like the Belgian stronghold of Eben Emael were nonexistent; the only modern fortification complex was that at Kornwerderzand, guarding the Afsluitdijk. Total Dutch forces equalled 48 regiments of infantry as well as 22 infantry battalions for strategic border defence. In comparison Belgium, despite a smaller and more aged male population, fielded 22 full divisions and the equivalent of 30 divisions when smaller units were included.

After September 1939, desperate efforts were made to improve the situation, but with very little result. Germany, for obvious reasons, delayed its deliveries; France was hesitant to equip an army that would not unequivocally take its side. The one abundant source of readily available weaponry, the Soviet Union, was inaccessible because the Dutch, contrary to most other nations, did not recognise the communist regime. An attempt in 1940 to procure Soviet armour captured by Finland failed.[42]

On 10 May, the most conspicuous deficiency of the Dutch Army lay in its shortage of armour.[43] Whereas the other major participants all had a considerable armoured force, the Netherlands had not been able to obtain the minimum of 146 modern tanks (110 light, 36 medium) they had already considered necessary in 1937.[44] A single Renault FT tank, for which just one driver had been trained and which had the sole task of testing antitank obstacles, had remained the only example of its kind and was no longer in service by 1940.[45] There were two squadrons of armoured cars, each with a dozen Landsverk M36 or M38 vehicles;[46] another dozen DAF M39 cars were in the process of being taken into service, some still having to be fitted with their main armament.[47] A single platoon of five Carden-Loyd Mark VI tankettes used by the Artillery completed the list of Dutch armour.

The Dutch Artillery had available a total of 676 howitzers and field guns: 310 Krupp 75 mm field guns, partly produced in licence; 52 105 mm Bofors howitzers, the only really modern pieces; 144 obsolete[48] Krupp 125 mm guns; 40 150 mm sFH13's; 72 Krupp 150 mm L/24 howitzers and 28 Vickers 152 mm L/15 howitzers. As antitank-guns 386 Böhler 47 mm L/39s were available, which were effective weapons but too few in number, being only at a third of the planned strength;[49] another three hundred antiquated[50] 6 Veld (57 mm) and 8 Staal (84 mm) field guns performed the same role for the covering forces. Only eight of the 120 modern 105 mm pieces ordered from Germany had been delivered at the time of the invasion. Most artillery was horse-drawn.[51]

The Dutch Infantry used about 2,200 7.92 mm Schwarzlose M.08 machine guns, partly licence produced, and eight hundred Vickers machine guns. Many of these were fitted in the pillboxes; each battalion had a heavy machine gun company of twelve. The Dutch infantry squads were equipped with an organic light machine gun, the M.20 Lewis machine gun of which about eight thousand were available. This weapon was prone to jamming and not very suitable for offensive operations. Most Dutch infantry were equipped with the Dutch Mannlicher rifle, a variant on the Steyr-Mannlicher M1895. This weapon had been in service with the Dutch military for over 40 years and its obsolescence had become obvious, but the Dutch military did not have the money to replace it. There were but six 80 mm mortars for each regiment. This lack of firepower impaired the fighting performance of the Dutch infantry.[52]

Despite the Netherlands being the seat of Philips, one of Europe's largest producers of radio equipment, the Dutch army mostly used telephone connections; only the Artillery had been equipped with the modest number of 225 radio sets.[51]

Summary: 9 divisions, 700 guns, 1 tank, 5 tankettes, 32 armoured cars. Total: 280,000 men

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Netherlands#Royal_Dutch_Army

Also see: Army in the Dutch East Indies (KNIL) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army#World_War_II

Navy[edit]

During the Second World War, the Dutch navy was based in Allied countries after the Netherlands was conquered by Nazi Germany in a matter of days: the Dutch navy had its headquarters in London, England, and smaller units in Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) and Western Australia.

Around the world Dutch naval units were responsible for transporting troops, for example during Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk and on D-Day, they escorted convoys and attacked enemy targets. During the war the navy suffered heavy losses, especially in defending the Dutch East Indies, most notably the Battle of the Java Sea in which the commander, Dutchman Karel Doorman, went down with his fleet along with 1,000 of the ships' crew. One Dutch light cruiser that was under construction was captured in its shipyard by Nazi Germany.

During the relentless Japanese offensive of February through April 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch navy in Asia was virtually annihilated, and it sustained losses of a total of 20 ships (including its only two light cruisers) and 2,500 sailors killed[9]—as much as the Americans at Pearl Harbor. The Dutch navy had suffered from years of underfunding and came ill-prepared to face an enemy with more and heavier ships with better weapons, including the Long Lance-torpedo, with which the cruiser Haguro sank the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter.[10]

A small force of submarines based in Western Australian sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks of the war than the entire British and American navies together, an exploit which earned Admiral Helfrich the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich".[11] The aggressive pace of operations against the Japanese was a contributing factor to both the heavy losses sustained and the greater number of successes scored as compared to the British and Americans in the region.

Both British and American forces believed that the Dutch admiral in charge of the joint-Allied force was being far too aggressive. Later in the war, a few Dutch submarines scored some remarkable hits, including one on a Kriegsmarine U-boat in the Mediterranean Sea.

Summary: 5 light cruisers, 8 destroyers, a small number of torpedo boats and gunboats and 20 submarines.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_Navy

Also see: Dutch fleet in Dutch East Indies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Java_Sea

Air Force[edit]

As war loomed, in July 1939 the Army Aviation Group was renamed the Army Aviation Brigade (Luchtvaartbrigade).

In August 1939, the Netherlands government mobilised its armed forces, but due to limited budgets the Army Aviation Brigade operated only 176 combat aircraft of the following types:

16 Fokker T.V type bombers, 36 Fokker D.XXI single-engine fighters, 35 Fokker G.I twin-engine fighters, 7 Fokker D.XVII single engine fighters, 17 Douglas DB-8A-3N light bombers, 20 Fokker C.X light bombers, 33 Fokker C.V reconnaissance aircraft, 20 Koolhoven FK-51 artillery observer aircraft.

In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Within five days the Dutch Army Aviation Brigade was taken out by the German Luftwaffe. All of the Brigade's bombers, along with 30 D.XXI and 17 G.I fighters were shot down; two D.XXI and eight G.I were destroyed on the ground. Two G.I were captured by German forces, one of which was later flown to England by a Fokker pilot. The Douglas bombers were used as fighters because no suitable bombs were available; these aircraft were poorly suited for this role and eight were shot down and three destroyed on the ground in the first hours of the conflict.

In spite of their numerical inferiority, the Dutch armed forces did enjoy success against the Luftwaffe, having 350 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed, although many of these were lost to anti-aircraft fire and crashes at improvised landing fields in the Netherlands rather than due to action by Dutch fighters. The cost was high – almost 95% of the Dutch pilots were lost. In recognition of their actions Queen Wilhelmina granted the highest Dutch military decoration, the Militaire Willemsorde (MWO), to the Army Aviation Brigade collectively.

Some aircrews escaped to England and on 1 June 1940, 320 Squadron and 321 Squadron were established there under RAF operational command. Due to a shortage of personnel, 321 Squadron was absorbed by 320 Sqn in January 1941. Although their personnel were predominantly from the Navy Air Service, Army Aviation aircrew also served with 320 Sqn until the end of the war.

In 1941, the Royal Netherlands Military Flying-School was re-established, in the United States at Jackson Field (also known as Hawkins Field), Jackson, Mississippi, operating lend-lease aircraft and training all military aircrew for the Netherlands.

The separate Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (ML-KNIL; Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Military Air Service) continued in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), until its occupation by Japan in 1942.[2][3] Some personnel escaped to Australia and Ceylon. 321 Squadron was re-formed in Ceylon, in March 1942, from Dutch aviators.

In 1942, 18 (NEI) Squadron, a joint Dutch-Australian unit was established, in Canberra, equipped with B-25 Mitchell bombers. It saw action in the New Guinea campaign and over the Dutch East Indies. In 1943, 120 (NEI) Squadron was established. Equipped with Kittyhawk fighters, it flew many missions under Australian command, including the recapturing of Dutch New Guinea. P-40D Kittyhawk

In June 1943, a Dutch fighter squadron was established in England. 322 (Dutch) Squadron, equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire, saw action as part of the RAF. 322 Sqn aircraft featured the British RAF roundels as well as the Dutch orange triangle. 322 Sqn was successfully deployed against incoming V-1 flying bombs. From mid-1944, during the invasion of Normandy, it executed ground attack missions over France and Belgium.

In July 1944, the Directorate of Netherlands Airpower was established in London.

In 1947, its Chief of Air Force Staff was appointed.

Summary: In August 1939, the Netherlands government mobilised its armed forces, but due to limited budgets the Army Aviation Brigade operated only 176 combat aircraft of the following types:

16 Fokker T.V type bombers, 36 Fokker D.XXI single-engine fighters, 35 Fokker G.I twin-engine fighters, 7 Fokker D.XVII single engine fighters, 17 Douglas DB-8A-3N light bombers, 20 Fokker C.X light bombers, 33 Fokker C.V reconnaissance aircraft, 20 Koolhoven FK-51 artillery observer aircraft.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_Air_Force

Also see: Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Aviation_of_the_Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army#World_War_II