An unprecedented event like World War II is bound to be filled with stories of human resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity.

One such story involves a Dutch ship, which came up with a pretty whack — but somehow successful — plan to survive the war. 🚢

A secret Dutch ship during World War II

The Dutch Navy had ships in the Dutch East Indies when the Japanese invaded in 1941. The Japanese Army was ferocious in its attacks, as part of its broader plan to colonise most of the Pacific Ocean.

By 1942, the Japanese Army had achieved significant victories in Southeast Asia.

READ MORE | Van hier tot Tokio: a history of Dutch-Japanese relations

All Allied ships in the region were ordered to retreat following Allied defeats during the Battle of the Java Sea and the Sunda Strait in February of 1942.

One of the Dutch ships on the retreat was the Abraham Crijnssen, a minesweeper built in Schiedam in 1936. The ship was supposed to retreat with three others, but it made the voyage alone. 😬

No ship here, just an island

It was quite a long trip to Australia, and the ship was already in trouble, as the waters were filled with Japanese warships. 🌊

Thankfully, the crew demonstrated some classic Dutch ingenuity and creativity.

They began cutting trees and vegetation from nearby islands, loading them onto the boat, and painting it to resemble stone. They decided the best course of action was to pretend the ship was just an island minding its own business.

This is one of those plans that sounds so ridiculous on paper that it’s bound to work. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it did.

During the day, the ship would pretend to be an island, staying put and just, you know, doing island things — like chilling and probably welcoming crabs on board. 🦀

READ MORE | Photo report: the Netherlands at war, 1940-1945

In the night, the sneaky lads would sail closer to the destination, repeating the process until they managed to put a considerable distance between themselves and the Japanese Navy.

The Japanese Navy missed an island shaped like a boat that would change position occasionally, which is beyond all of us, and probably surprised the Dutch crew as well.

We can only imagine a crew member wiping the sweat off their brow with their hand after they escaped and saying, “Wow, that worked!” 😅

A happy ending for the Dutch island ship

The ship remained in Australia for the remainder of the war. Following the war’s end, it was used for anti-revolution patrols in the Dutch East Indies.

READ MORE | What was the VOC? The Dutch East India Company explained

The ship finally made its way back home to the Netherlands in 1951.

Removed from the Navy list in 1960, the ship moved ports across the Netherlands several times before finally settling at the Dutch Navy Museum in Den Helder.

You can visit it (although no, unfortunately, it’s no longer disguised as an island).

Have you heard this story before? Tell us your thoughts on this ingenious Dutch plan in the comments below! 💬

Feature Image: Netherlands Indies Government Information Service/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

The story of The Hague during World War II is a tumultuous one. From V2 rockets installed in the Haagse Bos to the accidental bombing by the British forces, The Hague was strongly marked by the war.

To better understand the city during the war, we must explore one of the darkest periods of European History.

May 10, 1940, the invasion began

The German invasion of the Netherlands started relatively early in the war. Although the Netherlands was officially neutral, it also expected a German attack.

The Dutch plan was to fall back on their “water” defences in the west of the country at Fort Holland.

The Germans planned to overwhelm The Hague through an aerial attack and secure the airstrips and the city itself. Part of the plan was also to capture the royal family, who were located in the city.

Early in the morning of May 10, German planes flew over The Hague.

The idea was to deceive the Dutch into thinking they were attacking the United Kingdom, but the planes ended up alarming the Dutch.

READ MORE | Two minutes of silence across the Netherlands: Remembrance Day

The German forces captured airfields in and around The Hague but failed to capture the city and the royal family.

After a Dutch counter-offensive the same day, the German troops retreated and lost their initial progress.

The successful counter-offensive of the Dutch forces in The Hague didn’t last long. On May 14, in the aftermath of the Rotterdam Blitz, the Netherlands capitulated.

The German occupation of the Netherlands

This marked the start of a harsh German occupation.

They deported the Jewish community of The Hague (the second largest in the country) and almost completely exterminated them in Auschwitz and other Nazi camps.

Roma residents of the city also met their demise in extermination camps.

READ MORE | 8 unmissable movies about the Netherlands in WWII

By 1943, the Dutch had begun to construct the Atlantic Wall near The Hague.

The Atlantic Wall provided coastal defences that Nazi Germany made to prevent an Allied invasion from the seas, even though, in the end, it didn’t work.

The construction involved many demolitions around the city’s coastal areas, displacing tens of thousands of residents.

The Atlantic Wall had a great impact on the city. Its legacy is still visible today, whether it’s the bunkers by the coast or the dramatically changed areas following demolitions.

The V2 rockets of the Haagse Bos

By 1944, it was becoming increasingly clear that Nazi Germany was losing.

The German forces pushed hard during the last stage of the war in a desperate attempt to turn the tide. It was only a matter of time until the Allies were victorious.

READ MORE | The 14-year-old assassin who lured Nazis and traitors to their deaths

One of the projects to push back was the infamous V2 rockets. This expensive rocket was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile.

Its development was long and expensive, but starting in September 1944, around 3,000 V2 rockets were launched by the German Army. They targeted London and, later on, Antwerp and Liege in Belgium.

In The Hague, mobile launch units were placed in the Haagse Bos and the Duindigt racecourse.

The forest, extending on a long and wide strip, presented the perfect spot to launch rockets, given its dense foliage.

In November 1944, German forces launched 82 rockets from the Haagse Bos towards London.

READ MORE | Photo report: the Netherlands at war, 1940-1945

Due to time constraints, the rocket had technical issues, like all rushed projects. Its guiding system was quite rudimentary, and it wasn’t guaranteed that they would hit their targets.

The Germans launching the rockets could only cross their fingers and hope they successfully passed the North Sea and hit London.

While a formidable weapon, the V2 rockets were less successful in helping the Nazis hold off Allied invasions.

With Allied bombings, the Red Army marching through Eastern Europe, and the D-Day landings on the Western Front, the Axis were on the verge of losing the war.

The accidental British bombing of Bezuidenhout

On March 3, 1945, the British Royal Air Force commenced a mission to bomb the V2 installations in the Haagse Bos. This was around a month before the end of the war in Europe.

The pilots got incorrect coordinates and flew in foggy weather — they ended up accidentally bombing the nearby residential neighbourhood of Bezuidenhout.

The bombings destroyed most of the neighbourhood, killing 511 people. When they realised their error, the Royal Air Force dropped flyers apologising for the mistake.

Trouw, the Dutch resistance newspaper at the time, wrote the following about the bombings:

“The horrors of the war are increasing. We have seen the fires in The Hague after the terrible bombings due to the V2-launching sites. We have seen the column of smoke, drifting to the south, and the ordeal of the war has descended upon us in its extended impact.”

“We heard the screaming bombs falling on Bezuidenhout, and the missiles which brought death and misery fell only a hundred metres from us.”

“At the same time, we saw the launching and the roaring, flaming V2, holding our breath to see if the launch was successful, if not falling back on the homes of innocent people.”

“It is horrible to see the monsters take off in the middle of the night between the houses, lighting up the skies. One can imagine the terrors that came upon us now that The Hague is a frontline town, bombed continuously for more than ten days.”

“Buildings, burning and smouldering furiously, a town choking from smoke, women and children fleeing, men hauling furniture which they tried to rescue from the chaos. What misery, what distress.”

The war in Europe ended not long after that, on May 8, 1945. The Dutch quickly reconstructed what they lost in the war, notably in Rotterdam.

The areas affected in The Hague were also reconstructed following a construction boom in the 1950s and 1960s.

The war might be long over, yet the scars remain. If you ever find yourself in Bezuidenhout, you’ll find different signs telling the stories of the bombing, and you can go on a little walking tour to find all of them.

Have you learned anything new about the war in the Netherlands? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Feature Image: The Hague Municipal Archives/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain