Nieuwste artikelen
- Article by Peter Kimenai
- Published on August 17th, 2019
Odyssey and sinking of the Ombilin
On the 12th of December 1942, after a long and adventurous voyage, the Dutch steamship Ombilin of the Nederlandse Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Dutch Royal Cargo Shipping Company) was sunk by the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli. The crew of the Dutch ship survived the sinking and, after much travel on other vessels, managed to continue to assist the Allies. The captain and first mate of the Ombilin were taken prisoner by the Italians, and they were not freed until April 1945. This story outlines a clear picture of the many dangers crew members of merchant vessels faced during the Second World War.
- Article by Peter Kimenai
- Published on July 28th, 2019
Lost gold on the Nieuwe Waterweg
On the eve of the Second World War, the German government had assured the Dutch that they would respect their neutrality. The Dutch government, however, did not trust this assurance, and the near future would prove that the Dutch preparatory measures had not been in vain. One of these measures was to secure the Nederlandsche Bank’s (Dutch national bank) gold deposit. From September 1938, it had over 362 tonnes (399 US tons/ 356 imperial tons) of gold transferred to New York, London, and Pretoria.
- Article by Peter Kimenai
- Published on July 5th, 2019
Sinking of the Tirpitz
On September 15, 1944, Tirpitz' forecastle was struck by two Tallboys and from then on she was no longer seaworthy. The vessel was transferred to the small island of Håkøy near Tromsø in order to serve as a floating artillery emplacement. The ship now was well within reach of AVRO Lancaster bombers flying from Scotland
- Article by Peter Kimenai
- Published on June 23rd, 2019
Operation Source: British midget submarines against a German battleship
On May 5, 1941, Adolf Hitler personally paid a visit to the two Bismarck class battleships in Gothenhafen, the former Polish port of Gdynia on the Baltic, occupied and renamed by the Germans. 11 days later the Bismarck, accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, set sail from Gothenhafen to meet her destiny. Both ships had been ordered to attack Allied convoys in the North Atlantic but were being pursued by the British Home Fleet. On May 27, 1941, Bismarck was sunk by an overwhelming British force.
- Article by Jeroen Koppes
- Published on June 5th, 2019
Battle for Sluis 11
It was September 1944. Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday) had just passed and operation Market Garden was about to begin. The strategic target of operation Market Garden was a bridgehead on the Veluwe with runners across the IJssel. Airborne troops were charged with securing a number of river crossings, so that the ground units from the XXX Corps could advance. This corps would move in across ‘Hell’s Highway’ from the Belgian border at Eindhoven and Nijmegen to Arnhem. However, the Arnhem Bridge proved ‘a bridge too far’.
- Article by Maurice Laarman
- Published on March 20th, 2019
Baedeker Raids on British cities
Karl Baedeker started publishing travel guides in 1832. He was not the first one to do so, but his meticulousness and the upcoming tourism ensured that his guides became popular.
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