Comments on: The Black Brigade – Part 2

By: nHenkpas

nHenkpas — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:21:58 +0000

I don’t think the Dutch tanks had anything to do with the duration of the brave defense. Not that you’re implying that, but what the Dutch army did very well was use ‘natural’ defenses, like the ‘Hollandse waterlinie’. If you’re interested, I would recommend the collection of books by Lou de Jonge. He spent decades describing the kingdom of the Netherlands in WW2. It’s a though read though, but it provides nice descriptions on the Dutch defense!

By: C_Hawk1996

C_Hawk1996 — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 10:50:31 +0000

I know the Dutch army was poorly equipped..
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Netherlands_during_World_War_II
“Only a few had modern weapons; the majority of soldiers carried carbines of 19th century vintage, and most artillery was similarly outdated.”
We had like 12 tanks in total (I believe FT-17′s), we had two types of planes, first aired in 1936. Most soldiers had to travel by bike to the front.

But my interest in this is why we held them off for so long, The Germans thought they’d have us in 1 or if things got delayed, 2 days.

But I guess it won’t really be an interesting story, compared to the Black Bridage

By: The Black Brigade – Part 3 | For the Record

The Black Brigade – Part 3 | For the Record — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:44:17 +0000

[…] Part 1: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/09/05/the-black-brigade-part-1/ Part 2: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/09/09/the-black-brigade-part-2/ […]

By: Arthur Wellsley

Arthur Wellsley — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 22:56:44 +0000

One of the bravest men of the WW II was Polish; Jan Karski

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski

By: malsmaps

malsmaps — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:44:16 +0000

another great article, keep it coming

By: LostMyMarbles

LostMyMarbles — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:33:22 +0000

Thank you very much for this type of historical post i am a WW2 history fan and seeing these posts makes me want to learn more and more everyday about vehicles ( all types) that were used or developed for the 2nd world war thanks again for posting

By: nHenkpas

nHenkpas — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:52:20 +0000

Concerning armored and mechanized brigades, the Netherlands is not an interesting subject. Apart from the ‘prinses Irene Brigade’, but that just symbolically ‘liberated’ two towns in France and Brabant (the Netherlands).
Although the Dutch put up a decent fight, it’s insignificant next to Polish heroes of the period. It’s sorry to say as a Dutch guy, but the Dutch army was very, very poor in 1940. That was because of the policy of neutrality/ naieve pasifism.

By: rabiesdog

rabiesdog — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:51:40 +0000

No, but i do understand why you wrote that. When you look at a map from right after WW1 that will be true but technically not in Autumn of 1939 because Chechoslovakia that sits inbetween them seizes to exist.

After Germany moved into Chechoslovakia other countries where interested as well in areas where they had their own people, like Poland and Hungary. Thus the chech part of Chechoslovakia seized to exist (Sudetenland and more) taken over by the Reich, parts of the slovak piece got annexed (Zaolzie) by Poland and Hungary thus bringing them a shared border and a puppet state of the Reich – Slovakia was created.

By: GUGO

GUGO — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:25:51 +0000

Small correction: the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy was last time that Hungary shared a border with Poland. And everybody probably knows how it ended after WW1.
Interesting article, like always. ;)

By: nixxxie

nixxxie — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 11:59:06 +0000

Chemical weapons were bad enough after WW1 and everyone feared them back then. It is quite a miracle that Hitler haven’t used them on battlefields or in airstrikes on civilian targets – only because of fear of retailiation. They were what nukes are now: easy enough to use with large area effect and not enough protection against them.