ARMY FROM SKY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 161, 7 June 1940, Page 2

ARMY FROM SKY

HOW HOLLAND FELL. OVER 12,000 PARACHUTISTS. LONDON, May 17. Nazi parachute troops captured Holland, and the main water defences of the country were not even put to the test. How this happened was told to a Daily Herald correspondent by Dutchmen who are in a position to know the full facts. The invasion had been expected to start at the frontier, and the Dutch Government had been preparing feverishly to meet an attack there. , But the lightning stroke was carried out, in the first place, not against the soldiers at the front, but on cities and strategical points far behind the line. Early on Friday it became apparent that a new kind of war had to he fought. Not fewer and possibly more than ono division of about 12,000 men dropped from the sky in that vitally important little triangle of Holland between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. The seat of Government was at once completely surrounded, and street fighting followed immediately. Dutchmen who, in peace time, had wondered what was the meaning of those mysterious light signals at njglit now bad their answer. The signals were given by Fifth Columnists to signify that parachutists could be released. A Dutch naval unit had, in fact, put this system to the test, when, well out at sea aeroplane engines were heard. FELL IN THE SEA. The crew gave the same signal as had been seen on land. Parachutists were promptly released and dropped in the sea. From captured transport ’planes it became clear that the parachutists had no say in the matter of where they should jump. The navigator, at the chosen spot, simply moved a lever and the parachutists fell out of the bottom of thc^’plane. They were usually well prepared, knowing where to go and where to hide under cover of darkness. They occupied all the Dutch aerodromes. In some cases aerodromes recaptured by the Dutch were in turn retaken when the parachutists emerged from hiding. NEW STRATEGY. Responsible Dutchmen now in London arc convinced that this striking departure in strategy must be regarded as very serious. They stress that they hud to divert a great many men from the front to deal with this pest all over the country, often in the most unexpected places. The whole plan of tho'i High Command had to be overhauled at a few hours’ notice.

There is ample evidence that Fifth Columnists acted as the ground staff to this sky army. They were Germans, as well as members of the Dutch Nazi party, and, most dangerous of all, people who had never aroused suspicion of any kind.