COVICTORY UPDATE & Hunger during WWII

Hello all and hope you enjoyed the sunshine we had on Sunday - the seedlings for the COVICTORY GARDEN certainly did! It's amazing how much of an impact a day in the sun can do for plant growth. 

The Cilantro has finally begun to sprout in the jars too!

We are now into the month of May which has some important anniversaries from WWII. This week on May 5th was Liberation Day in the Netherlands, which for both the Dutch and Canadian people is a day to remember. 

Side note: If you've ever wondered "Is it Holland or the Netherlands?" or "Why are the people of Holland/Netherlands called 'Dutch?'" Click the following Image Below to find out why!

Canadians soldiers who were tasked with liberating large parts of Holland at the end of the war, where the Dutch people were suffering severe hunger. 

HOLLAND 1945

With permission from Britain, the United States and Germany, two Swedish ships under the International Red Cross entered Holland to bring relief to the starving population. Sailing into North Eastern Holland they carried 3000 tons of wheat, margarine and cod liver oil. And by April of that year another 20,000 tons of food and supplies would be delivered, but still more needed to come. 

Reports sent to the Ministry of Food in London in February 1945 provided grim figures as to the levels of caloric intake of the people in major urban centers throughout Holland. 

Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague reduced to practically starvation level, 500-800 calories a day 

Hitchcock, 106. 

J. Vrouwenfelder who lived in the Hague at the time recalled, 

"I queued for hours to get some salted endive or some beans. Always that hunger…And then there was less and less. There remained nothing, not even in the black market. Sugar beets from which we first made syrup and then some kind of cookies from the leftovers. Impossible to eat, but it kept many people alive. Fried tulip bulbs were the last resort."  

After the Allies broke through the Siegfried Line they continued into Germany in the spring of 1945.

American GI's crossing the Siegfried Line

However only the south of  Holland was liberated at this time, while the North Western parts of the country remained occupied. The German forces stationed in Holland remained there until the end of the war, and food was scarce for those under occupation. By 1944 the living conditions under occupation were nearly intolerable for the Dutch people, the only food available was potatoes, mealy bread and beets. Like Britain, Holland was heavily reliant on imports to feed major cities and provide feed for livestock. From May 1940 until September 1944, 60% of all produce from arable land was sent to Germany.

In March 1945 the reports reaching the leaders in Britain and the United States were more desperate. Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt participated in talks with General Eisenhower to reach an agreement to provide airdrops of food supplies over Holland. Estimates were that 1000 heavy bombers could deliver the food and supplies to the 3.5 million under occupation. 

The First Canadian Corps had fought its way into southern Holland, clearing the Schledt estuary in October 1944, allowing Antwerp to then land supply planes for Allied forces. 

On May 5, 1945 General Johannes Blaskowitz surrendered his 120,000 troops inNorthern Holland to Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes, commander of the First Canadian Corps. 

Throughout the summer of 1945 the British and Canadian troops labored to clear the country of landmines, repair roads, bridges and dykes, repatriate German prisoners of war and oversee the unloading of the massive imports of food and supplies. By August 1945 supplies brought in were approximately:

669,244 tons of food, medical supplies, clothing, vitamin tablets, vehicles, pics, shovels, and 5,000,000 cigarettes.

Hitchcock 122. 

Future Reading and Source Material:
An Interesting Opinion Article on the current state of Canadian and Dutch Armed Forces from CBC News.

Bomber Command Museum of Canada

Source material for this post was supported from text of The Bitter Road to Freedom: The Human cost of Allied Victory in World War II Europe, Free Press: 2009.