Dynamite in the Dikes

As Britain's Neville Chamberlain schemed feverishly last week to stave off further German aggression, the world wondered where Adolf Hitler would next strike. The Dutch were afraid they knew.

Some military experts have long thought that, rather than a suicidal attack on the subterranean forts, tank traps and concrete pillboxes that guard the French and Belgian frontiers, German tacticians might attempt a lightning flank attack through the lightly armed Netherlands.

Germany would then be on the Channel and nearer to England. The Belgian Maginot Line might be outflanked. If, however, Herr Hitler is thinking of the disadvantages of a Netherlands coup, they would overshadow the advantages. There would be 230 more miles of western frontier to defend. The Belgians have heavily fortified their frontier with The Netherlands, and invasion through The Netherlands to the ultimate goal of France and Paris is a circuitous route to take.

Last week, as reports of Air Force and troop concentrations in western Germany rolled in, Premier Hendrikus Colijn decided not to be caught napping. Dutch defense plans are to block invaders by blowing up the dikes and flooding one-third of the country, but this takes time to organize. Queen Wilhelmina ordered border battalions mustered to full strength to forestall possible German seizure of the vital sluice gates. Machine guns were placed along the border and reservists were ordered ready for instant service. Harbors and roads were mined. Amsterdam's great commercial airport was commandeered by the Government and heavy bomb-laden Fokkers waited to take off.

Thrifty Netherlanders own some $6,000,000,000 in gold, foreign exchange, foreign and colonial securities. But wily Dutch bankers have taken such precautions that scarcely a penny of the rich loot could fall into German hands. All but 5% of their gold is deposited in the U. S., England, South Africa.

Far from a bonanza, The Netherlands might be an economic burden to Germany. It is dependent upon imports for 30% of its foodstuffs. Germany can scarcely feed its own people. Most important, Dutch bankers finance with generous credits the largest part of Germany's raw-material purchases, and this trade would end when the guilder ceased to be the monetary unit of an independent country. Dutch neutrality was of crucial importance to Germany in the World War. Great shipments of materials passed through the Allied blockade -via the neutral Netherlands.

Said aged Premier Colijn hopefully, as Dutch engineers mined the dikes: "I advise all not to be unduly anxious. . . . Humanity's destiny is not in the hands of one man, but in the hands of God Almighty. ... We shall not be blown like reeds in the wind."

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