De Hongerwinter

Een kort overzicht van de situatie in Nederland

Op 17 september 1944 werd de lucht boven Zuid-Holland gevuld met parachutisten. Die zonnige zondagmiddag was het begin van de operatie "Market Garden". Veldmaarschalk Montgomery had bedacht een plan dat de oorlog in een snelle klap zou eindigen. Drie luchtlandingsdivisies hadden de opdracht gekregen om van een aantal bruggen achter de vijandelijke linies te houden en een gang van België via Eindhoven, Nijmegen vorm en uiteindelijk naar Arnhem, waar ze moesten de brug over de Rijn te grijpen. The British ground forces had to follow and in one big hop bypass the Rhine. De Britse grondtroepen moest volgen en in een grote hop bypass de Rijn. From there these ground forces had to turn right into the Ruhr, the industrial heart of Germany. Van daar deze grondtroepen moest rechtsaf de Ruhr, het industriële hart van Duitsland.

The plan was fantastic if it worked. In London everybody believed that the war would be over before the end of the year. The operation fitted in that picture. The Dutch government, convinced of a quick end of the war decided that the allied operation would be aided if they called for a railway strike in occupied Holland. This strike would seriously hamper German mobility and prevent a quick German counterattack in the early stage of the operation.

The strike became reality and the Dutch underground followed the orders with great enthusiasm. Within one single day the majority of the railroad personnel disappeared underground. All traffic by train stopped and the Germans had to get personnel from Germany to fill the gaps.

The bridge at Arnhem proofed to be the bridge too far and operation Market Garden failed. The Dutch saw themselves facing another winter under German occupation.

The Germans hit back at the Dutch to make them pay for the railway strike. The transportation of food was seized completely, for six weeks. On September 27, the first signal from occupied Holland, that food was becoming a problem reaches London. The message mentions that there is only enough food left for several weeks. From that moment the rations get smaller and smaller.

Those that depended solely on the rations for food suffered from hunger from November on.”[1]

The people had to start looking for other ways to get food. The people in the rural parts of Western Holland could get enough food from what they grew in their own backyard, but for the people in the densely populated cities of Western Holland, the decline of the official rations posed serious problems.

Persoonlijke herinneringen aan de hongerwinter:

<< BACK     FORWARD >>