TERRIFYING NIGHT IN AMSTERDAM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24296, 13 May 1940, Page 7

TERRIFYING NIGHT IN AMSTERDAM

Dutch troops appear to be holding the Germans at Delfzijl and along the Rivers Yssel and Maas. Some experts state that German troops have nowhere penetrated Dutch territory for more than 12 miles. Troops, assisted by armed police and civilians, hunted German parachutists all night. Members of Holland’s tiny but efficient Air Force are continuously engaged. Amsterdam had a terrifying night, ending in a savage bombing attack directed on the city’s airport and surrounding buildings. A terrific explosion in a south-eastern district proved to have been caused' by a shot-down German aeroplane exploding. N The Dutch High Command stated that instructions found on German parachutists indicate that the German High Command vastly underestimated the resistance to be expected. The Germans reckoned that their parachutists would seize vital strategic points on the first day of the invasion. Parachutists had the names of German citizens in regions where they landed. The second raid on Amsterdam appears to have been more severe, although a bomb hit the famous Amstel Railway Station during the first raid, causing several civilian casualties. The correspondent of the British United Press, who was within a few yards of the bombed area, saw four people lying oh the pavement when the smoke cleared. All were terribly injured. Water mains and sewers were smashed and windows , shattered over a wide area. Twenty persons are reported to have been killed in Central Amsterdam in the second raid. Bombs hit houses 300 yards from the Post Office. It is reported from The Hague that a German transport aeroplane carrying 19 German soldiers in Dutch uniforms crashed on the roof of a house after being shot down. A Belgian communique states: “We maintained contact with the enemy in many different sectors. ,\Ve captured most of the enemy parachutists, and also brought down 15 enemy planes. Rationing, has been introduced for bread, coffee, potatoes and soap. Refugees from the frontier regions are pouring into Brussels, where normal life continues. Thirty people were killed near Antwerp ns the result of-a German bomber crashing. The Germans are reported to have bombed Renaix, Louvain and Venders. Military objectives were not hit, but the civilian casualties were numerous. German parachutists landed at Vilvorde, near the Evere Aerodrome. Several were Shot and the others rounded up.

The German wireless brings to the microphone every half-hour an alleged Belgian war prisoner, probably sometimes a Flemish nationalist, who urges listeners against resistance. Throughout Friday night and early Saturday morning aircraft of the Bomber Command maintained a relentless offensive against enemy forces invading Holland and Belgium. An aerodrome near Rotterdam, already damaged yesterday, was subjected to the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war. It was left ablaze after a series of raids lasting nearly six hours, during which several hundred high-explosive bombs were dropped. > Meanwhile other aircraft of the Bomber Command were bombing troop concentrations inside Germany and hampering the advance of reinforcements to the Dutch and Belgian frontiers. The first attack on the Rotterdam airport at Waalhaven was launched shortly after 9 p.m., when a strong force of bombers carrying full loads of high-explosive and incendiary bombs began a series of atttacks aerodrome and along the western side of the dock which lasted nearly 45 minutes. Machine guns and multiple pompoms round the nearby offered strong opposition, but nearly 100 bombs were dropped on the aerodrome and buildings, Direct hits were scored on the buildings and hangars. Six large troop transports dispersed along the northern boundary were damaged, hangars were set ablaze, and numerous fires were started on three sides of the aerodrome. Within 50 minutes of the start of the raid, three hangars were burnt out, while a fourth was described by one pilot as being “ white hot.” During tire attack all the lights in Rotterdam were abruptly cut off as though the-elec-tric power supply had suddenly failed. They came on again with equal suddenness at 10 p.m., and served as a guide to the second lot of British raiders. Attacking from a different height, these bombers scored hits on all parts of the aerodrome with a large number of highexplosive bombs, while new fires started by incendiary bombs added to the blaze. Shortly before midnight the- vanguard of the third wave of British raiders arrived over the aerodrome and launched the first of a series of attacks, which lasted nearly an hour. Again great quantities of highexplosive bombs were dropped from low levels. Direct hits were registered on buildings, and aircraft were set alight.