RAID ON ROTTERDAM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1940, Page 8

RAID ON ROTTERDAM

ARRIVAL OF THE GERMANS AUCKLAND GIRL’S ESCAPE. ACCOUNT OF DIVE BOMBING. I A vivid story of the Nazi attack on Rotterdam was told by Miss Helen L. Coates, of Auckland, daughter of Mr and Mrs Robin Coates. Epsom, on her .return to England. Miss Coates, who took a B.A. with honours at Oxford last year, had spent three months at the British Consulate at Rotterdam. She was engaged in secretarial work connected with Britain’s economic warfare. The Auckland girl reached England safely and unharmed after an exciting voyage across the Channel. She had to leave all her personal possessions behind, including her clothes and books.

“We had been thoroughly prepared for the invasion,” Miss Coates said in a special interview. A fortnight before ' it took place a circular had been sent out to all British residents in Rotterdam and The Hague, numbering about 1500, to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. They were told that two ships were ready to take them away, and that they should bring with them a little food and a little money and to get to the ships somehow or other. Things did not work out quite to plan, however. It was not anticipated that the invasion would make such rapid progress. "The Germans arrived so quickly and got such a firm footing that only 150 of our people were able to get away on the first boat, while the other had to be scuttled because the Nazis began to bomb it. I was fortunate enough to catch this first boat. “We first knew that Holland was being invaded at 4.30 in the morning,” Miss Coates continued. “I was awakened by the noise of the aeroplanes and the bombing. From the house where I was staying, quite near to the Waalhaven aerodrome, I could see the German aeroplanes dive bombing. There was a terrific noise. The antiaircraft guns were firing all the time, and the Dutch fighters went up, but they had to give up after a time. The Germans finally captured the aerodrome and the Dutchmen had nowhere to land.

“The Germans landed a number of troops on the River Maas in. flyingboats. This was right opposite the British consulate. Bullets smashed a great many of the windows, and several members of the staff had to escape as best they could over the barges in the dykes. I was not allowed to go to the consulate, but was told to stay at home until the ship was ready to leave. Those Germans who landed in- the river paddled ashore in rubber collapsible boats. They swarmed up a railway bank and made a raid on the railway bridge. The Dutch fought to hold them off, but the Germans eventually took possession of it. A Dutch destroyer came up and began firing at the Germans, and it developed into quite a battle.

“When we got in the ship, the German aeroplanes flew low over us. A couple of bombs landed on the wharf and went off with a terrific explosion. Fortunately, the anti-aircraft guns drove off the aeroplanes. As we sailed down the river to The Hook of Holland. Germans held the whole of the left bank. Many people thought that they would sink the ship, but fortunately they had nothing heavier than machine-guns.

"At The Hook there was a sea battle going on. The captain was told that he took a great risk in attempting to get out, but he made a dash for it. and we got through. We had several narrow escapes because the Germans dropped magnetic mines all round us. None went off. The ship was fitted up with the "de-gaussing" apparatus, anyway, and that may have saved us.”

Miss Coates said that she was very glad when she reached England—and very tired.