MEI 1940 - DE VERLOREN OVERWINNING

                                                          (DE SLAG OM DEN HAAG)

A documentary by Tonko Dop

In May 1940 a badly organized, and even worse armed Dutch army somehow lived through a colossal German airstrike executed by elite troups in The Hague. Because of this succesful Battle for the Residence, Queen Wilhelmina -the Germans main target- was kept out of German hands.

Adolf Hitler lost a significant part of his attack troups, because they were killed or apprehended and sent to England. This made the Dutch capitulation following the Rotterdam-bombing extra harsh for the soldiers who won the battle for The Hague. They had won, but yet lost.

The victory they had claimed after almost 100 hours of heroic fighting and life-risking operations turned out to be nothing but a dream. The struggle, the suffering, the sacrifices, the euphoria, it all appeared to have been useless.

How do people, who weren't prepared for this, and went through such emotions, experience such a confrontation in the heat of the battle. And how is it possible that some people rise to such heights in a battle against an overpowering force?

Commissioned by L1, Omroep Brabant, Omroep Flevoland, Omrop Fryslân, Omroep Gelderland, Omroep West, RTV Rijnmond and RTV Utrecht, produced in co-production with NTR and supported by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund and the vfonds

Broadcast Nederland 2 (NTR): monday April 22nd 2013 23:00