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WWII has officially begun, but no fighting is actually happening yet. This time period was called "phoney war."
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The Netherlands were neutral for a while, but in 1940, they began preparing for a German attack. Proclaiming martial law meant they could censor military information and arrest threats to national security.
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The first bombers were spotted heading toward the North Sea so it was assumed they were meant for England, but they turned around back toward Germany.
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There had been fighting at Rotterdam since the beginning of the attack, but the germans were unsuccessful in capturing the city.
General Schmidt gave the Dutch an ultimatum: if the city didn’t surrender, it would be bombed. Before the ultimatum even ended, the bombing started. 80,000 people lost their homes and 600-900 people died. -
