January 30th, 1933

In Germany, the Netherlands' eastern neighbour, Adolph Hitler and his National Socialist Party had obtained power and had gradually enlarged it. The man, his party and his Third Reich were a threat to human society, but no one in the European democracies had the courage or willpower to stop him. The population of Saarland, situated between France and Germany, decided by referendum to return to the German state on March 1st, 1935. The demilitarised Rhineland was re-occupied by the German Army in 1936. This, the Allies had stated in 1918/1919, would be considered as an Act of War which would not go unpunished, but when it came to it, no one took action. "Invited" by what was said to be a large majority of Austrians, Hitler's armies marched into Austria on March 12th, 1938 and annexed it. Again no one protested.

This served only to encourage Hitler and he made demands on Czechoslovakia. Once again, the European democracies did not lift a finger - on the contrary, during the infamous meeting of Heads of State in Munich (München), Germany, on September 29th, 1938, they agreed with him taking the Czech border regions, which were partly inhabited by German speakers who, before 1918, had belonged to the Austrian Empire. The Czech inhabitants were driven out of their homes.

Now, Hitler was convinced that he could do whatever he wanted and that no one would stop him. So, despite all promises made, guarantees given and treaties signed, he occupied the rest of Czechy on March 16th, 1939 and renamed it as the Protectorate Böhmen und Mähren (Bohemia and Moravia). When the reaction was merely words of protest, Hitler considered this a sign of weakness on the part of the other European countries and a lack of will to defend themselves. He predicted that no one would take action when he decided that his next victim would be Poland. But - to Hitler's surprise - Poland refused to give in, so he invaded the country on September 1st, 1939. This resulted in another, totally unexpected surprise, France and Great Britain had had enough and they declared war on Nazi Germany and World War II began on September 3rd, 1939.

The Kingdom of the Belgians, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands - surrounded by the big powers at war - declared their strict neutrality, hoping that this would be accepted and respected by the belligerents. The warring nations, Nazi Germany included, promised that they would accept their neutrality and the frightened populations were left to hope that they would keep their word. The Netherlands, meanwhile, mobilised its armed forces, including its navy and small air force.

When the war in Poland was over, there was silence. The "Phoney War" had begun. The French and the British in the Magniot Line were watching the Germans in their Siegfried Line and now and then they fired some shots at each other. For obvious reasons neither party felt inclined to storm their opponents' well-fortified defences.

The French, opposite the Siegfried Line, on the West bank of the River Rhine, had built their mighty Magniot Line from just north of Swiss Basle northwards, where it ended halfway to the Belgian/French border. This left more or less undefended the stretch between there and the North Sea, an omission they came to regret in May/June 1940. Hitler had constructed his Siegfried Line from just north of Basle in Switzerland to near the city of Aachen, where the German, Belgian and Dutch borders met. This left the land north of Aachen, all the way to the North Sea coast, thinly fortified and defended, something that the Germans in turn were to regret in 1944/1945.

However, Hitler had long ago decided to bypass the Magniot Line by invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, despite the neutrality of these countries, which he had guaranteed. The attack on the neutrals had been planned for November 1939, but the severe winter weather had come earlier than expected that year and made the offensive impossible.

The fate of the neutral countries was postponed, but not for long.