The war progresses

At first Great Britain stood alone, though backed by the industrial and financial power of the USA. In June 1941, Hitler ordered his forces to invade his previous Ally, the Soviet Union. The Dutch, like the other occupied nations, remembered how Napoleon, when trying to conquer Russia, had been defeated by "General Winter" and they hoped that Germany too had over-stretched its limits and that the war would soon end. But this happy optimism was premature, as the Germans made gains on every front and were soon the masters of most of European Russia as well as North Africa.

On December 7th, 1941, the "Day of Infamy", the Japanese unexpectedly attacked the USA at Pearl Harbor and Nazi Germany stupidly declared war on America. Did they really expect to goose-step down Broadway one day? The peoples of the occupied countries rejoiced in the fact that the USA were now their Allies. With the enormous power of the United States behind them, they were more than ever convinced that Nazi Germany and its Axis allies would be defeated, however long it might still take. Britain was slowly recovering its strength, as the Dutch were able to see from the increasing numbers of British planes appearing in their skies, attacking occupied airfields or seaports, and by the constant nightly stream of British aircraft on their way to bomb Germany. The drone of the bombers' engines was like music to their ears. Then, early in 1942, the USA sent its forces to Britain and the Dutch were spectators to an even more spectacular show.

The RAF stuck to nightly precision bombing, but the USAF took care of the daytime raids. How the Dutch enjoyed the almost daily spectacle of seeing hundreds of US high-altitude bombers, each producing their white vapour trails, on their missions to Germany! They were beyond the reach of most of the German ack-ack, but many air battles took place over the Netherlands. From 1941 until early 1945 hundreds of Allied planes were brought down, exploded over, or crashed in the Netherlands, some falling on housing and killing civilians.

Sometimes the aircrews were able to bail-out and parachute to the ground. In Holland, the sight of any allied 'chute marked the start of a race between the German Authorities and members of the Dutch Resistance. Who would get to the downed airman first? The Resistance had, by this time, started what famously became known as the 'Pilot Escape Line'.

Those airmen saved by the Resistance were hidden. They were provided with civilian clothing and false identity papers, mostly marked "deaf and dumb". They were taken south, from one "safe house" to the other until they reached - often months later - the Dutch-Belgian border, where they were handed over to the Belgian Resistance. The "White Brigade" then took them to France, where the French Partisans, the Maquis, took care of them and took them to neutral Spain. If their luck still held out, the airmen escaped via the Rock of Gibraltar or Portugal and back to Britain.

This required a secret network of "safe houses" all along the route and good communications between the various Resistance groups. In those years telephones were something of rarity, and those that did exist in private hands were soon confiscated. Public lines were still open, but tapped by the Gestapo and so cycle couriers were used throughout the war by the Resistance. This task was often performed by young girls, whose good looks might distract the Germans' attention. At first this worked well, as they were not suspected of being involved in the Resistance, so they were less liable to be stopped or picked off the streets for deportation and work in Germany. For the same reason young-looking boys in shorts, often Scouts, were also employed. The Nazis, who were not stupid, soon discovered these ruses and it became dangerous to carry letters in envelopes on the body. They had to be hidden. Saddles and handlebars were removed from the bikes and papers, and later microfilms, were hidden in the frames, but in time even these subterfuges were detected by the Gestapo. Too often Nazis are portrayed in films and on TV as silly and stupid fools, which they most certainly were not. Their policemen serving in the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst were highly skilled, shrewd, well trained, but hated adversaries.

They were never underestimated.