Volunteer Legion Netherlands
The Volunteer Legion Netherlands was a collaborationist military formation recruited in the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front in the Waffen SS alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe. It was the largest Dutch SS unit.
Man in a uniform of the Freiwilligen Legion Niederlanden shortly after World War II.
Netherlands in World War II
Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family relocated to London. Princess Juliana and her children sought refuge in Ottawa, Canada until after the war.
The city of Rotterdam after the German bombing during the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940.
A bunker of the Peel-Raam Line, built in 1939
Dutch soldiers guard the Holland Water Line shortly after mobilisation, 1939
Henri Winkelman (centre), just after signing the Dutch capitulation, 15 May 1940.