Operation Dynamo. The evacuation of Dunkirk

70 Years ago.

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One year of scribbling!

Today this blog has reached the age of 1 year!
I like to thank all followers and other people who take the time to read my posts and sometimes even like to give some comments. I hope people enjoyed en keep enjoying reading it.
I started this blog to post pictures of my painted Flames of War minis but it slowly has grown to a blog that contains more then only pictures of my painted stuff.
The first things that appeared on the blog beside the pictures of painted minis were the army excel files. Later followed by historical videos i found on the net. Also i posted pictures of the terrain pieces (not much) i made. One of the last things added are the "Today in Dutch WWII History" posts were i post little info about things that happened on that day in the Netherlands during WWII.
Also the looks of the blog has changed over the year to a, i hope, more appealing one.

For the future i will try to improve this blog and make it more interesting and appealing to read.

Some facts.
The blog has now 23 visible followers. It is unknown how much people following this blog in secret.
At the time of posting this post this blog has been visited 3383 times. Good for a total of 6382 page loads.
There are a total of 62 posts posted by me in this year.

Last thing.
I know that my English ain't perfect but that is something that doesn't border me writing this blog.


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Updated file for Sicherung Company

I placed an updated Sicherung Company in Warsaw file up for download.
In the old file the point counting (CELL D4) in the Sicherung Company sheet wasn't working correctly.

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Today in Dutch WWII History: The Bombardment of Rotterdam.

70 Years ago on 14 May 1940 1.20 PM (Dutch Time) Bombers of the German Luftwaffen almost completely destroyed the town center of Rotterdam. The fire that started after the bombardment kept raging on for weeks.

Over a 800 people were killed, mostly civilians, 25.000 houses were destroyed and almost 80.000 people became homeless because of the bombardment.

For a more detailed description what happened that day i would like to point out to the following page. It is from the website that i linked to in my previous "Today in Dutch WWII History" post.
Rotterdam


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Photo: Anne Frank Werkstuk

The Sicherung Company army file

Finally finished.
The Sicherungs Company army file to use with the Sicherung in Warsaw PDF.
It can be found in the Warsaw Uprising folder.
I hope i didn't make too many mistakes.
Please let me know when something is wrong.

Direct link:
Sicherungs Company army file
Website:
Flames of War Army files
or
Army Files Page

On the website and the Army Files pages you also find a OpenOffice and Excel 2007 file.

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Today in Dutch WWII History: Invasion!

Today it is 70 years ago the the Netherlands were invaded by Nazi Germany.
Although the Dutch government expected that the Netherlands would stay neutral just as in WWI, at 03.55 AM Dutch time (05.35 German time) Operation: Gelb was set in motion.

While the invasion "only" lasted for 5 days it were 5 days of hard and bitter fighting. And not a walkover as Hitler would expected it to be. As a matter of fact the German army lost a lot more planes and soldiers then expected.
An other fact that i like to mention is that in the Netherlands the first major airborne operation took place. More then 10.000 Fallschirmjäger jumped into Holland.
I can write a whole story what has happened during those 5 days of fighting but i think it is better that you follow the link below. It will bring you to one of the best or maybe the best site that handles about the invasion of the Netherlands. There is a lot to read and see.

War over Holland - May1940: The Dutch struggle

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Airborne Anti-Aircraft Artillery Platoon

 This is the Airborne Anti-Aircraft Artillery Platoon found in Hell's Highway that can be used by the US Airborne. If i will ever use them is something i don't know.
One thing to complain. The hands of the gunners are a real mess, poorly cast.



Click the READ MORE link for more pictures!

Today in Dutch WWII History: Holland Liberated

65 Years of Freedom.
5 May 1945 capitulation of the German forces in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands were liberated largely by Canadian troops, with the assistance of the British and American Armies (Operation: Market Garden) and Free French SAS (Operation: Amherst). Although the southern part of the Netherlands were already liberated during Operation Market Garden and the fighting afterwards (September - October 1944), the rest of the Netherlands were still occupied and had to wait a harsh winter to be liberated.
On 4 May General E. Kinzel and Admiral H. G. von Friedeburg signed the surrender documents relating to the German forces in Holland, northwest Germany, the Friesian Islands, Heligoland and all other Islands, Schleswig-Holstein and Danmark at Montgomery's headquarters on Lüneburg Heath.
On 5 May 1945, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz reached and signed an agreement on the capitulation of German forces in the Netherlands in Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen.

How big the impact was of the German occupation of the Netherlands is best to be said that up on this day people of the German government still aren't allowed to join any official  Dutch commemorations. And even now there are still a lot of people who feel a strong dislike towards Germans.

Official Days:
4 May, Remembrance of the Dead (Dutch: Dodenherdenking). Commemoration for the people who have fought and died during World War II and at war operations and peace operations afterwards.

5 May, Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag). To mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. The liberation is celebrated and festivals are held at most places in the Netherlands.


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Today in Dutch WWII History: Operation Manna

The winter of 1944 -1945 in the Netherlands was very harsh, even to Dutch standards. The still occupied Northern and western half of the Netherlands suffered badly of this harsh winter. It is still known by the Dutch as the "Hongerwinter" or "Hunger Winter". In that winter between 15.000 and 20.000 people died because of the hunger and the cold.
In an effort to relieve the Dutch famine, the Allied negotiated for months with the Germans for a coordinated dropping of food by the Royal Air Force over what was still German-occupied Dutch territory. The result was "Operation Manna". The operation took place from 28 April - 8 May 1945.
On 29 April the first planes took of from their bases for the first food droppings.
The Lancaster's, who did the droppings, flew at very low altitude and at a very slow speed.
The crew could see the people everywhere cheering and waving.
On 1 May the US Air Force joined the relief operation in Operation Chowhound .
A total of 3100 flights were made by Bomber Command, and an additional 2200 by the American Air Force. More than 11,000 tons of food were dropped in the ten days of the operation.
It was the only time that Bombers dropped something else then bombs.

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