FIGHTING ON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 172, 22 July 1940, Page 6

FIGHTING ON.

THE DUTCH NAVY. BASE IN ENGLAND. MIDSHIPMEN IN TRAINING.

(By J. H. HUIZINGA.)

ENGLISH COAST PORT, July 1 In a blue bay somewhere on England's coast the wheel of history has come full circle. Dutch and British men-of-war are lying side by side preparing to go out and to do battle together against the common enemy.

The Red, White and Blue and the White Ensign, straining in the fresh breeze, dominate the scene. It is a curious sight. Not that they have not been seen together before in time of war. There are countless stirring paintings and prints, known to everyone who has ever visited an exhibition of Dutch art, or of historical seascapes, to testify to their many meetings.

Those were the days when Dutch frigates carried a. broomstick in their masthead as a symbol of the proud boast that they would sweep the English off the seas. Nor did that prove an altogether idle boast. Many a time in the ever-changing fortunes of war has the Red, White and Blue, in furious combat with the White Ensign, carried away the honours of the day, as on that memorable occasion when De Ruyter's fleet sailed up the Thames, burning the English ships as it progressed on its victorious way.

Since then three centuries have passed. Britain became mistress of the seas and Holland, with her empire won and her right to sail the oceans successfully vindicated, contented herself with a relatively small navy. Now the day has come when the ships carrying the Red, White and Blue have joined the mighty fleet of their one-time enemy. Dutch and British Bailors fight side by side at last.

This is no empty phrase. Many units of the Royal Dutch Navy have been actually engaged in supporting the work of the Allied navies ever since the end of hostilities in Holland forced them to continue the fight elsewhere. Where and what they are doing cannot be disclosed, of course. But the relative emptiness of the blue bay somewhere on the British coast where the Red, White and Blue has made its new home is sufficient proof that Holland's seamen are not resting on the laurels of their short but furious combat in home waters. Heroic Action. Rest there is only for those of the Royal Dutch Navy who have met their end in the desperate struggle to resist the overwhelmingly powerful attacker. Thus it was with many of fehe crew and officers of the destroyer Van Galen, which was ordered up the narrow, winding river Maas to shell the German troops in and around Rotterdam. Freedom of manoeuvre to escape the furious onslaught of the German air force there was none for this brave ship. Yet up the river she went, facing an almost certain fate. Thirty-one times the German dive-bombers swept down on her, 31 times officers and crew remained at their stations, carrying on till at laet the inevitable had to come—a direct hit by a heavy bomb and the end of a ship that had done its duty to the last.

Perhaps even more thrilling than the exploit of the destroyer was that of two newly built submarines. Only just launched from a dockyard near Rotterdam, and not yet protected against magnetic mines, their conimandere decided they would rather go to the bottom with their shining new ships than allow them to fall into German hands. They knew that the forty-odd miles of winding river which separated them from the open sea were infested with mines. The chance of getting through was infinitesimal. But they never hesitated. Thanks to their skill and, no doubt, much to their own surprise, they succeeded in dodging the enemy mines and are now carrying on the struggle as part of the Allied navies. Confidence in Future. Meanwhile, the training of new officers and men for Queen Wilhelmina's Xavy has already begun—the best proof that Holland ha<3 not lost it* confidence in the future. A considerable number of youthful midshipmen, who only a month a£o were carrying on their studies in the naval college at Den Fielder, have pot to England and are rgnv continuing their studies on shipboard. Shortly they will exchange their hastily improvised quarters for a beautifully situated country mansion. Officers of the Royal Dutch Xavy will thep be bred on British soil.—V-A fJ.A.