Winning Three Times

by Jacobaris

Overview

On May 9, 1940, Adrie de Kievit is a carefree ten-year-old boy who lives with his parents ,Arie and Ko, and his thirteen-year-old sister Willie in Yselmonde in the Netherlands. The family’s life is about to change drastically. As planes soar low overhead with cannons firing at them, a neighbor with access to a radio confirmed that the Dutch are now at war with the German Army. This memoir offers a firsthand narrative of what it was like growing up under the backdrop of World War II. While accented with many historical details, Winning Three Times is a personal story of how the war and the German occupation affected Adrie, his family, their neighbors, their city, and the country. From food hoarding to rationing and shortages, Winning Three Times recounts with great detail surviving the war in a small down under the shadow of Rotterdam. He tells of how his family coped with the hardships such as no gas, no electricity, no telephone, and little outside communication. This personal history communicates a story of both challenge and triumph.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781450290593
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/27/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

Read an Excerpt

Winning Three times

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By Jacobaris

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Jacobaris
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-9058-6

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Chapter One

A Rough Awakening.

On Thursday night May 9, 1940 Adrie went to bed as usual. Bed time came early at 9.00 p.m. because the next day was a school day. Before he was ten years old, bed time was at 8.00 p.m. When he became ten years old on March 23, 1940 he was allowed to stay up till nine. "Before the age of ten, small children have to sleep the clock around," his parents said. "When they do, they'll be wide awake during school hours." Adrie found this was a lame excuse that his parents used to get rid of the kids and get some quiet in the house.

This year, Whitsuntide was on Sunday and Monday, May 12 and 13. Whitsuntide was forty nine days after Easter and was, like Easter, always on a Sunday and Monday. It was celebrated in The Netherlands to commemorate the foundation of the Christian Church. Friday May 10th was the last school day before the Whitsuntide holidays which lasted ten days.

In anticipation of the coming holidays, Adrie had gone to bed excited. His mother didn't share in the excitement of having the kids around for ten days. When they were home they could get themselves into all kinds of troubles, she thought, and this knowledge was based on past experience.

On May 10th, 1940, with daybreak at 5.00 a.m., all hell broke loose. There were many planes flying low over the houses and cannons were firing at the planes. Adrie woke up because of all the noise and wondered what was going on. He got out of bed to see what was cooking. His father and mother were already up and people were gathering in the street in spite of the early hour.

Piet Brouwer from across the street had an audience gathered around him. He had been listening to the radio and there had been a message from the government that Germany had attacked The Netherlands. According to the Dutch government, The Netherlands were now officially at war with Germany. The government advised everybody to stay calm because everything was under control and to stand by for news bulletins about the war.

Adrie was curious as to what was happening in the world and had read the newspapers daily. He had read all about Adolf Hitler and his attack on Poland. He knew that England and France had declared war on Germany and now The Netherlands had been attacked by Germany. The Netherlands was not neutral anymore and England and France had the same enemy. All of a sudden England and France were Dutch allies and became friends. There were a few questions he had no answer for, "how did The Netherlands get involved in this war and how did it start?"

Piet Brouwer had an answer to this question. He said: "This is the third war between France and Germany. The first war started in 1870 after years of tension between France and Germany. This war turned in favor of the Germans when in 1871 Paris was completely encircled.

The French couldn't break the siege and capitulated. An armistice was then concluded in which France had to cede the two ore rich provinces, Alsace and Lorraine, to Germany and they had to pay an indemnity of 5 billion Francs. As for insults, the German army had a victory march through the streets of Paris and the first Kaiser of a united Germany was crowned in the Palace of Mirrors in Versailles. Part of France was going to be occupied by the German Army until the indemnity was paid in full.

Thus the war in 1870 set the stage for another conflict which was brewing and which erupted in 1914. France had learned an expensive lesson and found an ally which was scared of a powerful Germany as well. England and France became friends for the first time in history."

"Shucks," Adrie thought, "I don't know anything about the First World War and the Second World War has already started. I have a lot of catching up to do."

When Adrie went inside, he wanted to know from his father everything about the First World War. His father had been a soldier in the Dutch army during this war and should know everything about it. And Adrie wanted to know it all.

His father cleared his throat and looked over his glasses as if he was staring into eternity before he started his long story: "I was drafted into the Dutch army and was only two months in training when the war started. All leaves were cancelled immediately and the army prepared for war. The training of the new soldiers was speeded up and the country prepared for defence of its borders.

The Netherlands is a country below sea level and most of the country can be inundated in a heck of a hurry. A large area close to the German border was inundated which was a powerful defence in those days. There were a few Aeroplanes around but airborne troops were decades away. Only with amphibious troops could they attack The Netherlands and it was as hard to take as England.

At the same time the Dutch government kept a neutral policy trying to stay out of the conflict. Nobody in the Dutch government knew about the intentions of the German military command. All they could do was playing it safe and prepare for the worst.

It was a long war that ended when the Germans lost a major battle in France. To the German high Command it meant that the German border lay open to the Allies and that battles would be fought on German ground. For four years the battles had been fought in France and Belgium. Shelling of cities in those countries had caused a lot of damage with a lot of casualties among the civilian population. This same fate could be expected in Germany.

The German military command saw that the war was lost and suggested an armistice to prevent military occupation of Germany. It was revenge time for France when the Peace Treaty was signed. France took back the two provinces they had lost in 1870 and Germany had to make extensive repair payments. There were quite a few conditions that Germany had to keep according to the Peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to have an army except for internal security and couldn't manufacture cannons, tanks, and warships."

Adrie had been listening with full attention to the story about the First World War and said: "Lucky for the Dutch people who were spared the horrors of war."

His mother commented: "The only problem we had was starvation. The Netherlands imported a large amount of wheat to feed its population and with the war on that came to a halt. Moreover the wheat production in The Netherlands itself had dwindled because of the large areas of agricultural land which had been inundated for the defence."

PRELUDE TO WAR.

Adrie was only ten years old but he was quite familiar with the events that had taken place before this war started. When he was only eight years old, he studied the daily events in the newspaper and the first front page head line that drew his attention was on March 1938.

AUSTRIA ANNEXED BY GERMANY.

Seys Inquart welcomes Adolf Hitler in Austria.

After reading the front page twice he wondered what it all meant. There was one way to find out. At night, groups of men assembled at the corner of the street discussing what was happening in the street, in The Netherlands, and in the rest of the world. Old Leen Willemstein was always leading the conversation, no matter what subject was tackled. He talked 80% of the time and only two other guys got a word in once in a while. The rest of the people were listeners like Adrie. Everybody was welcome to join and nobody minded that an eight year old boy came to listen. Most kids wouldn't come to listen to the conversation of the old geezers anyway. Old Leen Willemstein was selling gas for the few cars and motor bikes that were around in those days and had all the time in the world to do a lot of talking, and talking was his favorite pastime.

When Adrie arrived at the corner of the street there was quite a discussion on the go. Old Leen Willemstein was telling the people that war was in the making: "Adolf Hitler has gone a step too far. England and France aren't going to take this any longer because it is all in contradiction with the Armistice Agreement of Versailles. Wait and see, the French army will occupy the Rhineland and the Ruhr district where Hitler is making tanks and cannons."

Piet Brouwer had something to say too: "I went to the movies and they always show World news before the movie starts. This time they showed the rise of the nazis in Germany; there were endless long torchlight parades and meetings in which the people were singing:

Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles,

Uber alles in die welt.

Piet Brouwer was so friendly as to translate that for the people who were not familiar with German. It meant "Germany above all, above everybody in the world." He added: "Those people mean business and the Germans are shouting 'Hail Hitler, Hail Hitler' for hours. It could mean major trouble.

The Nazi Party in Germany uses violent methods to attract new members, they don't take no for an answer. On the news release, they were singing:

If you don't want to be a comrade of me, We'll bash your head in one, two, three.

Head bashing of the opposition was done by Nazis in black shirts using rubber hoses filled with lead. It's real scary with all the violence that's going on."

Adrie was studying the newspaper the following day and the day after but nothing happened. The old Leen Willemstein had it all wrong, which didn't happen often. Most of the time he could tell the future like a gypsy.

Half a year later, in September, Adrie read the paper and had another reason to go to the street to listen to the conversation of old Leen Willemstein. The headline on the front page stated in big fat letters:

GERMANY WANTS TO OCCUPY SUDETENLAND.

Adrie was good in geography and studied the atlas daily but he didn't know where Sudetenland was. When he read the article he found out that Sudetenland was a part of Czechoslovakia where many German people were living. Hitler wanted to be Fuhrer over all German people and had said: "One People One Reich!" (One people, one country.)

The next day the front page article said:

"MOUNTING FEAR OF WAR AS ENGLAND AND FRANCE WARN HITLER THAT WAR WILL BE DECLARED IF HE OCCUPIES SUDETENLAND."

"Wow," Adrie thought and ran to the street to listen to what old Leen Willemstein had to say about all that. From afar he could hear Leen Willemstein already and he hastened his step to join the lecture. Indeed Leen Willemstein predicted a gloomy picture for Europe and declared that war was now imminent. "Germany is a dictatorship and Adolf Hitler wants a war," he said.

Adrie had some questions for Leen Willemstein: "What is a dictatorship and why does Hitler want war?"

Leen Willemstein answered: "In a dictatorship only the nightingale sings and it's pretty quiet in the forest. Hitler is hell bent to revenge the treaty of Versailles and make Germany powerful again. Ironically there is a German proverb that says 'The most amicable man can't live in peace if his quarrelsome neighbour wants to fight.' Unfortunately Hitler wants to fight and England and France don't. With Hitler in command of Germany there is no hope for Europe."

Adrie could hardly wait for the newspaper to arrive the next day. Because of the depression his father was unemployed so his parents were poor. They didn't have a radio and were dependent on the newspaper to be informed about the world from day to day. Leen Willemstein had a radio and never missed a news broadcast so he was earlier and better informed than the victims of the depression.

When the newspaper finally arrived, the newspaper boy didn't have to put the newspaper in the mailbox. Adrie almost ripped it out of the surprised boy's hand. The headline on the front page was:

"LAST DITCH EFFORT. CHAMBERLAIN SUGGESTS CONFERENCE AT MUNICH."

In the article, he read that Hitler had accepted the conference idea to solve the tension among the nations. Hitler had suggested inviting his friend Mussolini, Italy's dictator, to mediate in the conflict.

The next day's paper brought no relief to the people when the headline stated:

"WORLD IN ANGST WHILE IT AWAITS THE RESULT OF MUNICH CONFERENCE."

Leen Willemstein didn't believe that war could be stopped; he predicted: "Hitler will not stop, it is his way only."

After the conference in Munich there was hope for the world when the headlines read:

WE HAVE RECEIVED PEACE WITH HONOR.

A jubilant Chamberlain returned to England from the Munich conference declaring: "There will be peace in our time. Hitler is a trustworthy man and we have received peace with honor. We have agreed that Germany will occupy the Sudetenland because there are a lot of German people living there. In return Hitler has promised that this is his very last claim in his ambition to reunite the German people. He only wants to be Fuhrer over the German people and nothing else."

World tension eased slightly but in spite that Hitler was a trustworthy man, England and France took the necessary steps to prepare for war. The newspaper came on April 27, 1939 with a discouraging headline.

"ENGLAND REINTRODUCES CONSCRIPTION."

Old Leen Willemstein had something to say about that news, "I told you that we were heading for war and this confirms it. Why would England train more soldiers if they trusted Hitler?"

The worst news reached the world on September 1st 1939.

"GERMANY INVADES POLAND."

'At dawn the German Army marched into Poland and the German Luftwaffe has bombed Warsaw.'

A second front page headline informed the readers about the seriousness of the situation:

"FRANCE AND ENGLAND MOBILIZE THEIR ARMIES AND DEMAND WIHDRAWAL OF GERMAN TROOPS FROM POLAND."

England and France gave Hitler an ultimatum of 48 hours to withdraw his troops from Poland. If this ultimatum isn't met, war will be declared.

The Dutch, Belgian, Danish and Norwegian armies have been put on full alert by their respective governments.

Leen Willemstein had no problem getting an audience that night; even people that had never attended his lectures were joining the nervous people. The question on everybody's lips was, "Can a war be avoided at this stage?"

Leen Willemstein had the answer to that question: "This is it, all hell will break loose after the ultimatum ends and before you know the corpses will be lying ten high."

It sounded terrible to Adrie who had lived a sheltered life so far; were all those people from around here going to die? September 2nd went by and the news was very discouraging:

"DUTCH ARMY ON FULL ALERT AS ADOLF HITLER SHOWS NO SIGN OF WITHDRAWING HIS TROOPS FROM POLAND."

Leen Willemstein predicted: "tomorrow when the ultimatum elapses the world will be in World War II."

Unfortunately, the gypsy was right again when the most dreaded news awaited the world on September 3rd:

"FRANCE, ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY AFTER ULTIMATUM ENDED."

The world was in shock and everybody was worried. Ko said: "We have to stock food because the First World War was a disaster."

There was only one problem; with the depression nobody had any money to stock much food. However, Ko went to the store to buy 10 pounds of rice, she said: "Rice can be kept good if you store it in a dry place."

She had such a dry place in mind, there was a large steel storage container in the loft which could hold over 250 pounds of rice. "I will buy 10 pounds of rice every week till the container is full," she said. "At least we will have some food for a while."

Another headline attracted attention,

"DUTCH GOVERNMENT MOBILIZES ARMY BY CALLING UP ITS RESERVES."

It meant that all trained soldiers had to return to their war destination to defend the country. The next door neighbor Immerzeel was a blacksmith and worked with his two sons in the smithy. Both sons had to report for duty in the army which left the old blacksmith without help. He had a younger boy who was already 21 years old and was free from being drafted by the Dutch government. If there were two boys of the same family in the army the third one was excused and had brother service. It meant that he was free of the draft. his younger son had done different work but now his father needed him he joined his father to help out.

Mrs. Immerzeel was quite nervous to see her sons go to the army now there was a war on. Old Immerzeel said: "Don't worry, I was for four years in the Army during the First World War and we never fired a shot other than during training manoeuvres."

As a typical mother she wasn't convinced at all and shared the worry of thousands of other mothers across the country.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Winning Three times by Jacobaris Copyright © 2011 by Jacobaris. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

INTRODUCTION....................1
A ROUGH AWAKENING....................3
PRELUDE TO WAR....................12
THE BELLY ACHE OF KLAZIEN....................14
THE BLITZ KRIEG....................20
THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WE CAN DO....................23
IT TAKES A WAR TO GET PEACE WITH THY NEIGHBOR....................26
A CITY WITHOUT A HEART....................31
THE MOTHER OF THE FATHERLAND....................34
HOW DOES A WAR START?....................46
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT....................48
DER KRIEG IM WESTEN IST BEENDIGHT....................51
FIGHTING WITH BEER BOTTLES....................57
TRAITORS AND COLLABORATORS....................59
A REIGN OF TERROR....................62
LIFE GOES ON....................89
THE NEW COMMANDER OF AIR, SEA AND LAND FORCES....................99
THE WAR GOES ON....................101
THE TICKING CLOCK....................109
THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT....................112
OPEN UP YOUR MOUTH FOR A WORM....................116
COUP DE GRACE....................123
EATING CAULIFLOWER AND PICKING STRAWBERRIES....................134
FROM A SHIT HOUSE, A TRAITOR AND AN INNOCENT VICTIM....................139
THE END OF A MILESTONE....................147
NAZI TROUBLE AT THE TECH....................155
LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT....................167
THE GREAT TURN AROUND....................179
THE BEGINNING OF THE END....................181
FROM WIRELESS TO RADIOLESS....................184
THE INVASION....................198
SLAYING THE DRAGON....................202
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY....................206
MAD TUESDAY....................212
I WON'T BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS....................214
A BLACK DAY OF THE WAR....................221
STEALING WHEAT AGAIN....................224
THE DARK AGES....................236
NO FREELOADERS PLEASE....................237
FROM BLITZKRIEG TO SNAIL KRIEG....................240
THE HUNGER WINTER....................247
HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU LOSE A SHOE?....................251
THE GOOD LOOKING GIRL WAS A GUY....................254
GOING FISHING....................256
MANNA FROM HEAVEN....................258
THE END OF A NIGHTMARE IN BLOOD....................262
THE FINAL CURTAIN....................263
THE DUTCH PEOPLE'S FINEST HOUR....................265
THE PARTY OF THE CENTURY....................272
THE DAY OF RECKONING....................279
ORANGE FOREVER, LONG LIVES THE QUEEN....................281
REBUILDING A DEVASTATED WORLD....................285
GOING FISHING AGAIN....................287
ALWAYS SOMETHING....................290
THE ENGLISH ARMY WAS DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD....................291
MONUMENTS AND SOUR GRAPES....................293
NO MORE STEALING....................295
THE GRADUATE....................300
HOW CAN A PARTICLE OF AN ATOM END THE WAR?....................304
A FIREWORKS NOBODY HAD SEEN THE LIKES OF BEFORE....................306
RIP OFF INSURANCE....................307
VICTORY PARADE....................310
EQUALITY AT LAST....................312
TRIAL OF THE CENTURY....................314
JUDGEMENT DAY....................316
FINALLY A CHRISTMAS WITH PEACE ON EARTH....................320
TEEN AGE PROBLEMS....................322
THE NETHERLANDS ANNEXED PART OF GERMANY....................327
COLONIAL PROBLEMS....................338
THE COLD WAR YEARS....................345
COMMUNIST VICTORY IN CHINA....................348
PARTY TIME....................352
PLAYING SOLDIER....................447
A WAY OUT OF THE HOUSING PROBLEM....................458
THE GREEN SOLDIERS AND THE RED SOLDIERS....................461
NO FORGIVENESS IN FIFTY YEARS....................465