So anyway, in early May 1940, the fallschirmjäger launched an operation to seize the airfield near La Hague and then conquer the city easily, basically thinking that it would cause the Dutch government to surrender. However, it didn’t go well for the Germans.
I won’t go into detail, but basically it was a poor plan operation where the Dutch air force managed to surprise the German paratrooper and the Dutch counterattack was swift. If you want to go deep into the battle,[ go on the Wikipedia page.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_The_Hague)
However, the result is astonishing!: between 1,750 and 2,000 Germans were either killed, wounded, or captured, and amazingly, around 200 aircraft were either damaged pr destroyed, just to put in perspective that almost half of what the Germans suffered during the battle of Crete and the battle of La Hague lasted **one single day.**
Suuuure the Germans poorly planned the operation, suuure that they were overwhelmed 3 to 1, suuure the tactics were obsolete, but still.. it’s a huge tactical victory at the time, and the loss of aircraft would be critical for the future battle of Britain, it’s almost three entire *(expensive*) regiment of fallschirmjäger destroyed not to mention the fact that thanks to this victory the Dutch government in exile managed to go to Britain to continue the war.
OfferZealousideal746 on
Fun fact: The KLM pilot that flew the dutch royal family to England during the invasion, was the nephew of Herman Goring.
Edit: His name was Carl Gustav Von Rosen, he was a swedish Count. His aunt was Goring’s first wife.
Supposedly a few hours before the invasion Goring called his nephew, and told him to get out of Holland.
3 Comments
wow! This battle completely flew under my radar.
So anyway, in early May 1940, the fallschirmjäger launched an operation to seize the airfield near La Hague and then conquer the city easily, basically thinking that it would cause the Dutch government to surrender. However, it didn’t go well for the Germans.
I won’t go into detail, but basically it was a poor plan operation where the Dutch air force managed to surprise the German paratrooper and the Dutch counterattack was swift. If you want to go deep into the battle,[ go on the Wikipedia page.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_The_Hague)
However, the result is astonishing!: between 1,750 and 2,000 Germans were either killed, wounded, or captured, and amazingly, around 200 aircraft were either damaged pr destroyed, just to put in perspective that almost half of what the Germans suffered during the battle of Crete and the battle of La Hague lasted **one single day.**
Suuuure the Germans poorly planned the operation, suuure that they were overwhelmed 3 to 1, suuure the tactics were obsolete, but still.. it’s a huge tactical victory at the time, and the loss of aircraft would be critical for the future battle of Britain, it’s almost three entire *(expensive*) regiment of fallschirmjäger destroyed not to mention the fact that thanks to this victory the Dutch government in exile managed to go to Britain to continue the war.
Fun fact: The KLM pilot that flew the dutch royal family to England during the invasion, was the nephew of Herman Goring.
Edit: His name was Carl Gustav Von Rosen, he was a swedish Count. His aunt was Goring’s first wife.
Supposedly a few hours before the invasion Goring called his nephew, and told him to get out of Holland.
Didnt the Dutch fold in like 7 days?