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Wednesday 1 October 2014

THE VERY BEGINNINGS



INTRODUCTION
Part of the philosophy of Blitzkrieg is that there is no need to declare war; this gives the aggressor the tactical advantage whilst the build up to it is a psychological assault on the nerves of the victims.  In the same twisted system of logic, the fact that the nations under attack are declared neutrals is immaterial. And this is how an Anglo-Dutch family was dragged into the Second World War.
On the morning of 10th May 1940, German forces moved into the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.  Their intention was to draw the French and the British Expeditionary forces deep into Belgium, away from the Ardennes and the airfields on the Dutch coast which the Luftwaffe needed as a springboard to attack England and to harass Allied shipping in the English Channel.

The Dutch Forces were little more than a nominal defence force with no tanks, few artillery pieces and only limited numbers of armoured cars andhe word.  The Dutch Air Force was limited to only about 140 antiquated aircraft, almost half of which were destroyed on the first day of the invasion.
The German assault was rapid but it met with considerable resistance.  The Hague was well, and courageously, defended against an assault by German paratroops, foiling the German attempt to seize the Dutch Government in the initial attack and heavy casualties were inflicted on the German troops who tried to seize the airfields at Ypenburg and Ockenburg.  But, stiff as the resistance was, the Dutch were ill equipped and unprepared to take on the might of Nazi Germany.  Queen Wilhelmina and her Government escaped to England, where they set up a Government in Exile.

In Rotterdam, up to 900 civilians were killed and 25,000 houses were destroyed in the bombing which had been concentrated on homes rather than defences or military targets.  Whilst negotiations for surrender were going on, the Luftwaffe bombed the city heavily, resulting in the previously mentioned carnage.  The Germans had an easy victory – but there was still resistance.
General Henri Winkelman (centre), just after signing the Dutch capitulation on 15th May 1940
© Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-097-17 / Hausen, v. / CC-BY-SA

His father, Edward Gerard Hughes, was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria) in 1878 and his mother, Margaretha Stijns-Hughes, was born in Maastricht, Holland in 1888.  They were connected to the bulb growing industry in Spalding, Lincolnshire and travelled frequently to Holland.  In fact two of their four children were born there.

Edward Gerard Hughes

Margaretha Stijns-Hughes


Egbert himself was born on 27th October 1926 at No 12 Het Amerikaantje (meaning the little American Indian) in Gouda, Holland and was delivered by his Dutch Grandmother; he was the youngest of the four.  They moved to No 1 which was known as “The Point” as the house was on a sharp corner about fifty metres from the River Ijsel, where it was an active port with landing stages for the barges.  They lived right opposite the Schuttelaar coffee roasting plant and loved the deliciously overpowering aroma.

They lived right over a Kroeg (pub) but a very busy one that was frequented by sailors and was very rowdy on a Saturday night.  Of course Egbert had no memory of that.  When he was three years old, his father went out to buy some tobacco and was never seen again, leaving his mother with four children and very little money.  There were no benefits in those days but there was a charity which handed out food to the needy and they relied quite heavily on it.

They moved to a single storey rented property which had a garden and a ditch which led into a lake; he and his brother Ted had a raft which they floated down to the lake and spent their time swimming and fishing.

Later they moved to another house close to where Egbert was born and he seems to have had a happy childhood enjoying all the usual pastimes and sports with a normal group of friends.

In the dark days immediately before the outbreak of World War II, the British Consul advised his mother to return to England where the family would be relatively safe from the uncertainty caused by the looming clouds of war.  However, she believed that Holland would remain neutral – as they had done during the Great War.

In Egbert’s words: the Germans put paid to that idea as they invaded Holland in May 1940 and rounded up all the undesirable aliens (in this case British subjects).  This meant that his brother John was arrested and taken away to a transit camp at Schoorl in Northern Holland and on to a prison camp near Breslau in Poland where he spent the rest of the war.

Egbert and his other brother Ted were told that they would receive the same treatment when they were old enough under the terms of the Geneva Convention.  However, they spent the rest of the war dodging the Gestapo and becoming part of a young Resistance group known as “For Netherlands’ Freedom” and later as part of the Interior Battle Forces which became very active after the failure of Operation Market Garden and the Arnhem debacle.

Egbert received a Certificate, a Resistance Badge and a letter of thanks from Prince Bernhard for his activities during his time in the Resistance.
Letter of thanks from Prins Bernhard



Certificate of Service in the Dutch
Binnenlandsche Strijdkrachten
(Interior Forces, which were the
formalisation of the Dutch Resistance)
Badge received by all members of the Resistance
Medals were not awarded
Photos © Egbert Hughes unless otherwise stated



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