LSSAH Rotterdam, Netherlands - 1940

[petermac]

Thank you very much for the extra picture. I'd looked very closely at the original but hadn't spotted the flare gun, just goes to show how easy it is to miss things. The bolt on the rifle just seemed to be further from the stock than I expected to see but on your close up, does the sling not differ from the k98 system. The troops certainly seem to still be a bit tense, maybe it was their first cigarette after action?

I'll wager that the motor bicycle owner was a bit sore to loose such a luxury machine. I wonder if he ever got it back.

Thanks again for showing us these pictures

Ben - thank you very much for identifying the places & dates.

Peter - the motorcycle with the Dutch national identification sign NL is indeed civilian, probably "organized" by the troops during the battle. I have zoomed in on the gun, looks like a standard 98. Also note one of the soldiers has a signal gun ready in his hand, picture appears to be taken immediately when the fighting ceased.

[Ben]

Actually the rifle looks like a Gew.98b which was a modified WWI Gewehr 98 and which is often seen in SS related pictures.

The flare pistol might indicate that the Luftwaffe just either or was going to "visit" Rotterdam (they bombed the hell out of it after the Dutch surrendered as an example for the rest of Holland).The German troops on the Noorder Island used flares to indicate their positions during the actual bombing.

Hope this helps.

[Ian Hulley]

(they bombed the hell out of it after the Dutch surrendered as an example for the rest of Holland.

I think reading this :- http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=72797 may give a slightly better informed view of events.

Cheers,Ian.

[Ben]

Well, I'm originally from Rotterdam and am pretty much informed, thank you.
My dad lived through it and part of my family was killed in it.
The bombing of Rotterdam was used subsequently when the Germans threathened that if the Dutch as a whole wouldn't surrender and all resistance would cease throughout the Netherlands than all the major cities of Holland (like The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht) could face the same faith as Rotterdam. Hence the surrender with most major Dutch lines still intact.
As is clear in your posted link the forces defending Rotterdam had officially surrendered when the bombing took place.
Sending a force of bombers into a strike with your own forces present in the direct vicinity of the target with NO possibility whatsoever of recalling them over the target other than a Very pistol? Give me a break. What if the German troops had advanced immediately after the surrender and their very light signal would have been hard to see, if at all, through all this "unusual" mist at 1500 hrs (been living there for almost 40 years and never have seen that in the middle of May)? Blue on Blue I guess?

No military installations (or anything else of tactical or stratigical value like harbors for example, house yes and there was no margarine or oil there) were hit. The actual Dutch physical defence lines remained untouched due to their close proximity with Kerfin's FJ's who only held a very small part (in the building in a large Insurance building on the northern bridge end) and was under threath of being overrun as there was no possibility of support being brought across the bridge. This can be actually seen in the aerial photographs. All that was hit was the city centre and the north part of Rotterdam (were there was no actual fighting) at the cost of almost 900 civilians and few military personnel.

Very interesting what was also said about the fire services. Which fire department would have been able to cope with something as destructive as that in 1940? Don't forget, we were supposed to be neutral not really expecting inner cities to be bombed. A 300 year old city centre and northern suburbs, with most houses containing large amounts of wood, that just got bombed. I don't think anyone would have been able to that, specially with most firehouses, equipment and the water system destroyed in the initial bombing to begin with.

Interesting note is that Student was actually shot in the head by one of the LAH through the window of a house on the Statenweg. His live was subsequently saved by a Dutch brain surgeon when the city was still smouldering.

I have no grudge whatsoever. War is war, dirty, pure and simple. It goes both ways. However, fact is fact.

[C. Kleijn]

To elaborate on the theme of the 'Westfeldzug', here are some scans from a "Der Führer" Wehrpass I have in my possession, and some photos taken on the Grebbeberg. The pictures are courtesy of www.grebbeberg.nl.

All the best,

Cees

[C. Kleijn]

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[C. Kleijn]

These are some stills from a movie.

[C. Kleijn]

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[C. Kleijn]

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