RENEWED GERMAN ACTIVITY IN THE DUTCH BORDERLANDS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 11 January 1940, Page 2

RENEWED GERMAN ACTIVITY IN THE DUTCH BORDERLANDS

For more than two months the main Dutch water defences have been flooded; towns have been evacuated in danger areas; army reservists have been mobilised. Only too well do the Dutch know that their country, os one of the weakest on Germany's frontiers, offers a temptation to a predatory Power which has specialised, one might say, in engulfing easy victims. In addition to its own relative military weakness, Holland presents other baits to a Hitler inclined to disregard the counsel of his more cautious military advisers. It contains supplies of foodstuffs, especially of essential fats, which could be utilised very profitably by a Germany spreading very thin its butter rations for the winter. Dutch airfields and ports could provide air and submarine bases from which the German forces could strike more easily at Britain and British convoys. Nor is Hitler likely to ignore other ond more far-reaching possibilities. Holland possesses important colonies, and if the homeland passed into alien hands, the fate of the Netherland East Indies might we I become a cause of international friction such as would suit the Nazi book. The East Indies are of strategic concern to Britain, Australia, New Zealand, ond the United States, ond the Japanese are now displaying a lively interest in their future.

Captain Liddell Hart in his study of the Dutch situation, points out that o German advance through Dutch territory would not only strike Belgium on the flank where in the past she has been least prepared for defence, ‘ x w ° u,d s t retc "., er available forces to a greatly increased extent. Along the Meuse, fromi Namur past Liege to the point where the river enters Dutch territory south of Maastricht, is only some 45 miles. "But," he adds, "if she had to defend the Meuse against an attack through the Dutch province of Limbourg, where what is known as the 'Maastricht Appendix' narrowly separates Belgium from Germany, another 30 miles would be added. And from near Maesyck on the Meuse, the common frontier with Holland bends back westward to Antwerp and the Scheldt, adding a further extension of 70 mi es to the front that would have to be covered if the Germans were not S l outtrn o Holla e nd'- hort ° CrOSS fhe t 0 ™

kn ° w ." ' h °t Allied forces in France have been deployed to give effective o,d to Holland ond Belgium should the need arise.