Henri Winkelman
Encyclopedia
Henri Gerard Winkelman was a Dutch
General best known for his command of the Dutch troops during the German invasion of the Netherlands
.
as the son of Julius Hendrik Winkelman and Charlotte Henriëtte Braams. After he completed his secondary education he attended the Royal Military Academy (KMA
) in Breda
. His goal was to become an officer in the KNIL, the Dutch colonial army for the Dutch East Indies. During his training he adjusted his goal and became an infantry officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant
in 1896. He married Arendin Jacomina Coert in 1902 who would give birth to two sons and two daughters. Having completed his military education, he began to climb up the ranks of the Dutch army. In 1913 he was promoted to Captain, in 1923 he became a Major and in 1931 he was given the rank of General and became the commander of the Dutch 4th division.
In 1934 he became a Lieutenant General
, but left the military only shortly thereafter. Winkelman had been running for the position of Chief of Staff of the Dutch Army, but had lost out to General
I.H. Reijnders. Winkelman then decided to retire and was granted honorary discharge. As a retired officer, he remained active in a number of ways, mostly by giving advice.
The Dutch mobilised their armed forces on 28 August 1939, four days before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Chief of Staff, General Reijnders, was appointed as Supreme Commander of the Dutch forces, but it was clear from the outset that his personal and professional relationship with Defence secretary, Adriaan Dijxhoorn
, left a lot to be desired, ultimately leading to Reijnders' (honorary) discharge on 5 February 1940. After a brief meeting of the Dutch cabinet General Winkelman was summoned to The Hague
(the seat of the Dutch government) and was offered to become the new Dutch commander. He accepted the job the following day.
), using traditional, static defence lines and fortified fixed positions. Winkelman did not have the illusion that the Dutch could push Hitler's armies back into Germany. Instead, the Dutch forces should simply slow the Germans down, win time and keep 'Fortress Holland' in Dutch hands long enough to enable the Allies to join them.
In practice, the three northern provinces (Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland) would remain largely undefended. State-of-the-art fortifications at the east end of the Afsluitdijk (the long dike connecting the Friesland and Noord-Holland provinces) should stop the German invasion and prevent the Germans from threatening 'Fortress Holland' from the north. In the east of the country, the first line of resistance ran along the IJssel
and Maas
rivers. The main Dutch defence line, however, was in the very heart of the country and called the Grebbe line
, to be defended by the entire 2nd and 4th Army Corps. The Grebbe Line was to be defended until the bitter end, as the eastern front of 'Fortress Holland' (the New Dutch Water Line, once the pride of the Dutch defence system) was deemed obsolete and too close to major cities such as Utrecht and Amsterdam.
The inevitable German invasion started on 10 May 1940 at 3:55 a.m. Dutch time (5:35 German time). Hitler's bold plan to drop paratroopers around The Hague, push into the city and capture the Dutch government, the Royal Family and the Supreme Army Command to force the Netherlands to its knees within 24 hours, ended in failure. In the east, the Germans crossed the Dutch borders with relative ease, but were halted near the main Dutch defences: the Grebbe Line and the Afsluitdijk fortifications. After one day of war, General Winkelman was relatively satisfied about the way his troops had reacted to the first German push. The only area where the situation was already critical was in the south: paratroopers had secured the Moerdijk bridges, south of Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Meanwhile, strong German infantry (supported by the 9th Panzer Division) had smashed through the so-called Peel-Raam Stelling and now marched rapidly through the southern province of Noord-Brabant, threatening to establish contact with the bridge head at Moerdijk and to enter 'Fortress Holland' from the south, effectively isolating the Netherlands from Belgium and France. An attempt, supported by French units, to re-conquer the Moerdijk bridges failed on 11 May. Attempts to win lost ground back in the Grebbe Line were also unsuccessful.
The Grebbe Line fell in the evening of 13 May after a ferocious battle of three days. Meanwhile, the 9th Panzer Division had reached the Moerdijk bridges, pulling into 'Fortress Holland' and reached Rotterdam, occupying the south bank of the river Meuse
. The situation had now become strategically hopeless, but the north river bank was still in Dutch hands, Dutch machine guns made it impossible for the Germans to cross the Meuse bridges as Dutch marines put up fierce resistance in the streets of Rotterdam, much to the annoyance of Adolf Hitler, who expected to have occupied the Netherlands by now. On 14 May he ordered that Dutch resistance be crushed at once. The bombing of Rotterdam followed, and the German threatened to give major Dutch city Utrecht the same treatment, General Winkelman was forced to surrender in the evening of 14 May. The capitulation was made official the next day in the village of Rijsoord
.
was named after him. The name was transferred to another base (at Harskamp) as of 15 May 2007, after the former closed down. General Henri Winkelman died peacefully at his home on 27 December 1952.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
General best known for his command of the Dutch troops during the German invasion of the Netherlands
Battle of the Netherlands
The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...
.
Pre-war
Winkelman was born in MaastrichtMaastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
as the son of Julius Hendrik Winkelman and Charlotte Henriëtte Braams. After he completed his secondary education he attended the Royal Military Academy (KMA
Koninklijke Militaire Academie
The Royal Military Academy is the service academy for the Dutch Army and the Dutch Air Force. Located in Breda, the Netherlands, the KMA has trained future officers since 1828.-Description:...
) in Breda
Breda
Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...
. His goal was to become an officer in the KNIL, the Dutch colonial army for the Dutch East Indies. During his training he adjusted his goal and became an infantry officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1896. He married Arendin Jacomina Coert in 1902 who would give birth to two sons and two daughters. Having completed his military education, he began to climb up the ranks of the Dutch army. In 1913 he was promoted to Captain, in 1923 he became a Major and in 1931 he was given the rank of General and became the commander of the Dutch 4th division.
In 1934 he became a Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
, but left the military only shortly thereafter. Winkelman had been running for the position of Chief of Staff of the Dutch Army, but had lost out to General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
I.H. Reijnders. Winkelman then decided to retire and was granted honorary discharge. As a retired officer, he remained active in a number of ways, mostly by giving advice.
The Dutch mobilised their armed forces on 28 August 1939, four days before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Chief of Staff, General Reijnders, was appointed as Supreme Commander of the Dutch forces, but it was clear from the outset that his personal and professional relationship with Defence secretary, Adriaan Dijxhoorn
Adriaan Dijxhoorn
Adriaan Quirinus Hendrik Dijxhoorn was a Dutch military commander as well as the Dutch secretary of Defense at the beginning of the Battle of the Netherlands. He had a row with commander Izaak H. Reijnders; after the latter retired he appointed the retired general Henri Winkelman...
, left a lot to be desired, ultimately leading to Reijnders' (honorary) discharge on 5 February 1940. After a brief meeting of the Dutch cabinet General Winkelman was summoned to The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
(the seat of the Dutch government) and was offered to become the new Dutch commander. He accepted the job the following day.
War
Winkelman was well aware of his army's limitations. He had 280,000 men at his disposal; not enough to defend the entire country. The Dutch army possessed no tanks. The troops were poorly trained. There was a lack of field artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Winkelman was convinced that the Dutch army was incapable of a modern, 'mobile' defence. Instead, he decided to keep things simple: the Dutch would only defend 'Fortress Holland' (the Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Utrecht provinces, roughly the area now referred to as the RandstadRandstad
Image:Randstad_with_scale.png|400px|thumb|right|Clickable schematic map of the Randstadcircle 528 380 26 Schipholrect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeerrect 399 166 479 245 Velsencircle 250 716 32 Delftcircle 220 642 60 The Hague...
), using traditional, static defence lines and fortified fixed positions. Winkelman did not have the illusion that the Dutch could push Hitler's armies back into Germany. Instead, the Dutch forces should simply slow the Germans down, win time and keep 'Fortress Holland' in Dutch hands long enough to enable the Allies to join them.
In practice, the three northern provinces (Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland) would remain largely undefended. State-of-the-art fortifications at the east end of the Afsluitdijk (the long dike connecting the Friesland and Noord-Holland provinces) should stop the German invasion and prevent the Germans from threatening 'Fortress Holland' from the north. In the east of the country, the first line of resistance ran along the IJssel
Hollandse IJssel
The Hollandse IJssel is a branch of the Rhine delta that flows westward from Nieuwegein on river Lek through IJsselstein, Gouda and Capelle aan den IJssel to Krimpen aan den IJssel, where it ends in the Nieuwe Maas. Another branch called Enge IJssel flows southwest from Nieuwegein...
and Maas
Maas
Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....
rivers. The main Dutch defence line, however, was in the very heart of the country and called the Grebbe line
Grebbe line
thumb|right|230px|GrebbelinieThe Grebbe Line was a forward defence line of the Dutch Water Line, based on inundation. The Grebbe Line ran from the Grebbeberg in Rhenen northwards until the IJsselmeer....
, to be defended by the entire 2nd and 4th Army Corps. The Grebbe Line was to be defended until the bitter end, as the eastern front of 'Fortress Holland' (the New Dutch Water Line, once the pride of the Dutch defence system) was deemed obsolete and too close to major cities such as Utrecht and Amsterdam.
The Grebbe Line fell in the evening of 13 May after a ferocious battle of three days. Meanwhile, the 9th Panzer Division had reached the Moerdijk bridges, pulling into 'Fortress Holland' and reached Rotterdam, occupying the south bank of the river Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
. The situation had now become strategically hopeless, but the north river bank was still in Dutch hands, Dutch machine guns made it impossible for the Germans to cross the Meuse bridges as Dutch marines put up fierce resistance in the streets of Rotterdam, much to the annoyance of Adolf Hitler, who expected to have occupied the Netherlands by now. On 14 May he ordered that Dutch resistance be crushed at once. The bombing of Rotterdam followed, and the German threatened to give major Dutch city Utrecht the same treatment, General Winkelman was forced to surrender in the evening of 14 May. The capitulation was made official the next day in the village of Rijsoord
Rijsoord
Rijsoord is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 10 km southeast of the city of Rotterdam, in the municipality of Ridderkerk....
.
Post-War
After he had signed the Dutch surrender, General Winkelman refused to officially declare that he would not resist to the German forces in the Netherlands in any way. He was therefore interned on 2 July 1940 and remained a prisoner of war for the remainder of the occupation. He was honorably discharged from the Dutch army after the war on 1 October 1945 and given the Military William Order, the oldest and highest military decoration in the Netherlands. His statue can still be seen in front of the elementary school in Rijsoord, where he signed the capitulation on 15 May 1940. An army base in NunspeetNunspeet
Nunspeet is a municipality and town in the central Netherlands. It has been an agricultural site since prehistoric times. It contains a number of villages, like Oosteinde, Westeinde, Hulshorst, Elspeet, Vierhouten and Hoophuizen. Nunspeet has a vivid historical foundation, called Nuwenspete...
was named after him. The name was transferred to another base (at Harskamp) as of 15 May 2007, after the former closed down. General Henri Winkelman died peacefully at his home on 27 December 1952.