Fall Gelb - Airborne invasion of the Netherlands 1940

A sequel to my previous video about the German airborne invasion of Crete, this video is a portrayal of the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. I have tried to include as much as I can within the confines of the game. Unfortunately no Dutch planes exist in the game yet, so I couldn't include their efforts.

Game: IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Bodenplatte

#il2movie #il2 #cinematic

[Cybermat]

You know you’ll have a good time when Lemsip makes a Ju-52 video.

[ThatsGuitarist]

Excellent video detailing how quickly The Netherlands were overwhelmed by the combination of German tactics and overwhelming air superiority. Thanks for creating such excellent content!

I did notice one small discrepancy, but I'm guessing it must be a limitation of the gaming software. The German paratroops are depicted holding onto a pair of risers, which is what allows parachutists to guide their descent somewhat. From all the footage I've seen, early war German paratroops had virtually no control over their descent, because their parachutes were attached to a single point on the back of their harness, thus they had no risers to steer with, or to help "spill" the air from the parachute after landing.

Still, bloody good work on your part, and I thank you very much for your efforts. I only recently discovered your channel, but I'll definitely keep watching!

[RichardRenes]

It was later revealed that the red flares were never meant to signal that the Dutch had surrendered but rather they were sent up to tell the bombers where the German positions were. Even with little to no means, the Dutch managed to delay the German advances in such way that the German high command resorted to terror tactics. Also, after the battle for the Netherlands, Germany has rarely used paratroopers anymore.

[geronimo]

Another greatly well composed historical video. Loved it.

[keelyboyton]

Always enjoy these historical videos, keep it coming

[prjw]

The best book on the Fallschirmjäger actions early war is without a doubt Karl Heinz Golla's book "The German Fallschirmtruppe 1936-1941. Its genenis and employment in the first campaigns of the Wehrmacht." Get the revised edition that also covers the landings in Holland in great detail.

[zenojojart]

i really enjoy these, ever thought about operation stösser?

[marcbautista]

Hell yeah I love these paradrop videos!

[JB-rtmx]

Outstanding...So much better than chopped and purposfully blurred British or American film reels of German Forces spearheading modern tactics. 👍🇩🇪😎

[kachelpijper]

Nice video, but what not many people know is that the Dutch planes (Fokker D.XXI and G.I) shot down hundreds of enemies, when the paratroopers crossed the Dutch border 50 of the 70 of the German planes were shot down or damaged so hard that they had to return. Also in multiple dogfights the Dutch planes showed it's worth. On a day during this 4 days a Dutch squadron encountered a German one. After the dogfight only 1 Dutch plane was shot down. At the German side 1 plane was shot down and 2 more were damaged. Also the German bombers were hit hard. Mostly because the Fokker D.XXI was one of the few planes that time that was agile enough to follow a Stuka (Ju87) in its dive. Together with AA defences this leaded to that 300-500 German planes were shot down, including at least the half (!) of its transport planes during the invasion. The Dutch army also won two battles (Battle for The Hague, where the German paratroopers failed to conquer the Dutch government immediately. The Dutch also won the Battle of the Afsuitdijk, this was the only place during the whole Battle of France where the Blitzkrieg FAILED.) But unfortunately the most Dutch planes were destroyed while being on the ground. Conclusion: the Dutch planes were stronger (the Fokker G.I had 9 machineguns) and more agile then the German planes, leading to massive losses for the German airforce in the Battle for France.

The only reason I know this is because I'm Dutch (now you also know why my English could be kinda bad sometimes) and in other countries nobody will ever know this (probably). The most people (outside the Netherlands) thinks that the Dutch army was worthless (it was btw) but in reality the AIRFORCE and the NAVY were stronger then the most of other nations and the Dutch at least won two battles and heavily damaged the German army during the Battle for Mill.

Extra Information:
-Fokker was a Dutch company (not German as many people think)
-Fokker had only stronger projects (Fokker D.23 and Fokker T.9, but they were never finished)

PS: don't worry I also learned things I didn't yet from this video, like the paratroopers that landed at Moerdijk and Ypenburg.

[JonathonMitchell-igbv]

my story, the Germans and the Spanish helped Britain during forces to begin the British revolution

[MrPetroff]

Bf-110's were not bombers at that time.

[Tidebo]

Too bad there's no Dutch planes in IL-2 to make it even better but oh well

[Tim_Buruma]

actually the city of Rotterdam had not surrendered when the bombings took place. negotiations where still underway. What was your source for this?

[MrMatti-lxet]

Thanks for the effort. Nice video. Well, as a tiny country we did our best to defend our land but the nazi brutality was just too much.

[lindarietveldjardine]

so sad how they ruined so much of hollands old building and scammed so much when they were not a war type country

[gerhardris]

Great the effort you put into this mostly ignored part of military history.

In fact the attack of Putin on Kiev (Kiyf I can't remember how to spell it) and Ukraine was in the same intention.

Seriously ranking the opposing forces as so inferior that such bold actions would work.

Around The Hague as in Kiev the plan to quickly end the game by grabbing the leadership failed. At high losses to both in the Dutch context. Due to bombing strafing and by airborn assault the Dutch air arm was mostly incapacitated from the outset.

Not putting the troops near the bridges in Moerdijk up to Rotterdam was a stupid error of the Dutch top brass.

The Germans succeeded where the allies failed in 1944 in Arnhem.

That is too painful still.

Simply land near the bridges if need be by flying boat.

We tend to forget that it takes time to train and organise an army and get the population and industry in war gear.

In seven years Hitler got his forces to outperform the not ready.

The military top brass of all allies and politicians with few exceptions were to blame for too little too late, as we Dutch also were. Mostly a mindset problem.

At high cost the Nazis knocked our forces out of the war.

[maxsoon]

German may have won the objectives and it is costly. By the end of 1945, German lost lots of men and materials. What a waste