170-669: The Dutch famine of 1944–1945 , also known as the Hunger Winter (from Dutch Hongerwinter ), was a famine that took place in the German-occupied Netherlands , especially in the densely populated western provinces north of the great rivers, during the relatively harsh winter of 1944–1945, near the end of World War II . A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm towns. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived thanks to soup kitchens . Loe de Jong (1914–2005), author of The Kingdom of
340-578: A common ancestor with languages such as English, German, and the Scandinavian languages . All Germanic languages are subject to the Grimm's law and Verner's law sound shifts, which originated in the Proto-Germanic language and define the basic features differentiating them from other Indo-European languages. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in
510-467: A schwa . The Middle Dutch dialect areas were affected by political boundaries. The sphere of political influence of a certain ruler often also created a sphere of linguistic influence, with the language within the area becoming more homogenous. Following the contemporary political divisions they are in order of importance: A process of standardisation started in the Middle Ages , especially under
680-601: A synod taking place in Corbridge , England , where the decisions are being written down " tam Latine quam theodisce " meaning "in Latin as well as common vernacular". According to a hypothesis by De Grauwe, In northern West Francia (i.e. modern-day Belgium) the term would take on a new meaning during the Early Middle Ages , when, within the context of a highly dichromatic linguistic landscape, it came to be
850-492: A children's ward of coeliac patients. Stories tell of the first precious supplies of bread being given specifically to the (no longer) sick children, prompting an immediate relapse. Thus in the 1940s the Dutch paediatrician Dr. Willem Dicke was able to corroborate his previously researched hypothesis that wheat intake was aggravating coeliac disease. Later Dicke went on to prove his theory. Audrey Hepburn spent her childhood in
1020-524: A comparison between the West Germanic languages, see the sections Phonology, Grammar, and Vocabulary. Dutch dialects are primarily the dialects that are both related with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch standard language . Although heavily under the influence of the standard language, some of them remain diverse and are found in the Netherlands and in
1190-467: A consequence evolve (along with Alemannic , Bavarian and Lombardic ) into Old High German. At more or less the same time the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, moving over Western Europe from west to east, led to the development of Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Old Frisian and Old Saxon . Hardly influenced by either development, Old Dutch probably remained relatively close to the original language of
1360-834: A directive along that line. To the east, the British Second Army attacked westward to clear the Netherlands south of the Meuse ( Maas ) during Operation Pheasant, securing the Scheldt region from counter-attacks. As part of his newly focused efforts to assist Simonds, Montgomery assigned the British 52nd Lowland Division to the First Canadian Army. The 52nd division, recruited in the Lowlands of Scotland,
1530-582: A minority language in Germany and northern France's French Flanders . Though Belgium as a whole is multilingual, three of the four language areas into which the country is divided ( Flanders , francophone Wallonia , and the German-speaking Community ) are largely monolingual, with Brussels being bilingual. The Netherlands and Belgium produce the vast majority of music , films , books and other media written or spoken in Dutch. Dutch
1700-670: A minority) and the province of Walloon Brabant . Brabantian expands into small parts in the west of Limburg while its strong influence on the East Flemish of East Flanders and eastern Zeelandic Flanders weakens towards the west. In a small area in the northwest of North Brabant ( Willemstad ), Hollandic is spoken. Conventionally, the Kleverlandish dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, but there are no objective criteria apart from geography to do so. Over 5 million people live in an area with some form of Brabantian being
1870-400: A more successful action, and their Carrier Platoon succeeded in taking the railway station at Korteven, north of Woensdrecht. Fighting at Hoogerheide also ensued. On 16 October, The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry , known as the "Rileys", under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Denis Whitaker , attacked Woensdrecht at night, taking much of the village. However, they were unable to pass beyond
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#17327824217242040-420: A number of closely related, mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the former Old Dutch area. Where Old Dutch fragments are very hard to read for untrained Modern Dutch speakers, the various literary works of Middle Dutch are somewhat more accessible. The most notable difference between Old and Middle Dutch is in a feature of speech known as vowel reduction , whereby vowels in unstressed syllables are leveled to
2210-579: A political border, because the traditional dialects are strongly influenced by the national standard varieties. While a somewhat heterogeneous group of Low Franconian dialects, Limburgish has received official status as a regional language in the Netherlands and Germany, but not in Belgium. Due to this official recognition, it receives protection by chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Afrikaans , although to
2380-556: A public warning by the German administration's Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart on September 24 that sabotage of the railways, telephone lines, or post offices would be severely and collectively punished , the Nazi military command led by Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Friedrich Christiansen began to implement the German retaliation by placing an embargo on all food transports to the western Netherlands. The food embargo started immediately as
2550-413: A result, Nederduits no longer serves as a synonym for the Dutch language. In the 19th century, the term " Diets " was revived by Dutch linguists and historians as well, as a poetic name for Middle Dutch and its literature . Old Dutch can be discerned more or less around the same time as Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Old High German , Old Frisian , and Old Saxon . These names are derived from
2720-509: A result, when West Flemings try to talk Standard Dutch, they are often unable to pronounce the g-sound, and pronounce it similar to the h-sound. This leaves, for example, no difference between " held " (hero) and " geld " (money). Or in some cases, they are aware of the problem, and hyper-correct the "h" into a voiced velar fricative or g-sound, again leaving no difference. The West Flemish variety historically spoken in adjacent parts in France
2890-522: A significant degree mutually intelligible with Dutch, is usually not considered a dialect but instead a separate standardised language . It is spoken in South Africa and Namibia. As a daughter language of 17th-century Dutch dialects, Afrikaans evolved in parallel with modern Dutch, but was influenced by various other languages in South Africa. West Frisian ( Westerlauwers Fries ), along with Saterland Frisian and North Frisian , evolved from
3060-419: A somewhat different development since the late Middle Ages. Two dialect groups have been given the official status of regional language (or streektaal ) in the Netherlands. Like several other dialect groups, both are part of a dialect continuum that continues across the national border. The Dutch Low Saxon dialect area comprises the provinces of Groningen , Drenthe and Overijssel , as well as parts of
3230-424: A source language, mainly for law and history students. In Indonesia this involves about 35,000 students. Unlike other European nations, the Dutch chose not to follow a policy of language expansion amongst the indigenous peoples of their colonies. In the last quarter of the 19th century, however, a local elite gained proficiency in Dutch so as to meet the needs of expanding bureaucracy and business. Nevertheless,
3400-552: A unique prestige dialect and has a large dialectal continuum consisting of 28 main dialects, which can themselves be further divided into at least 600 distinguishable varieties. In the Netherlands, the Hollandic dialect dominates in national broadcast media while in Flanders Brabantian dialect dominates in that capacity, making them in turn unofficial prestige dialects in their respective countries. Outside
3570-537: Is kantor , handdoek "towel" in Indonesian is handuk , or bushalte "bus stop" in Indonesian is halte bus . In addition, many Indonesian words are calques of Dutch; for example, rumah sakit "hospital" is calqued on the Dutch ziekenhuis (literally "sickhouse"), kebun binatang "zoo" on dierentuin (literally "animal garden"), undang-undang dasar "constitution" from grondwet (literally "ground law"). These account for some of
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#17327824217243740-656: Is Sranan Tongo , spoken natively by about a fifth of the population. Battle of the Scheldt Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns Chronology of the liberation The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations to open up the Scheldt river between Antwerp and
3910-466: Is a calque of the aforementioned Roman province Germania Inferior and an attempt by early Dutch grammarians to give their language more prestige by linking it to Roman times. Likewise, Hoogduits ("High German") and Overlands ("Upper-landish") came into use as a Dutch exonym for the various German dialects used in neighboring German states. Use of Nederduytsch was popular in the 16th century but ultimately lost out over Nederlands during
4080-544: Is a monocentric language , at least what concerns its written form, with all speakers using the same standard form (authorised by the Dutch Language Union ) based on a Dutch orthography defined in the so-called " Green Booklet " authoritative dictionary and employing the Latin alphabet when writing; however, pronunciation varies between dialects. Indeed, in stark contrast to its written uniformity, Dutch lacks
4250-537: Is also an official language of several international organisations, such as the European Union , Union of South American Nations and the Caribbean Community . At an academic level, Dutch is taught in about 175 universities in 40 countries. About 15,000 students worldwide study Dutch at university. In Europe, Dutch is the majority language in the Netherlands (96%) and Belgium (59%) as well as
4420-587: Is found in the Salic law . In this Frankish document written around 510 the oldest Dutch sentence has been identified: Maltho thi afrio lito ("I say to you, I free you, serf") used to free a serf. Another old fragment of Dutch is Visc flot aftar themo uuatare ("A fish was swimming in the water"). The oldest conserved larger Dutch text is the Utrecht baptismal vow (776–800) starting with Forsachistu diobolae ... ec forsacho diabolae (litt.: "Forsake you
4590-522: Is mostly Germanic; it incorporates slightly more Romance loans than German, but far fewer than English. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Suriname, the native official name for Dutch is Nederlands (historically Nederlandsch before the Dutch orthographic reforms ). Sometimes Vlaams (" Flemish ") is used as well to describe Standard Dutch in Flanders , whereas Hollands (" Hollandic ")
4760-432: Is no repeat no shortage of ammunition...The operations are receiving my personal attention". Field Marshal Walter Model , who was commanding Army Group B , ordered: "The corridor to Walcheren will be kept open at any price; if necessary, it will be regained by forces ruthlessly detached from other sectors". Model sent the 256th Volksgrenadier division and assault gun companies to allow the release of Battle Group Chill,
4930-487: Is occasionally used as a colloquial term for the standard language in the central and northwestern parts of the Netherlands. English uses the adjective Dutch as a noun for the language of the Netherlands and Flanders. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz . The stem of this word, *þeudō , meant "people" in Proto-Germanic, and *-iskaz was an adjective-forming suffix, of which -ish
5100-569: Is so distinct that it might be considered as a separate language variant, although the strong significance of language in Belgian politics would prevent the government from classifying them as such. An oddity of the dialect is that, the voiced velar fricative (written as "g" in Dutch) shifts to a voiced glottal fricative (written as "h" in Dutch), while the letter "h" becomes mute (like in French). As
5270-585: Is sometimes called French Flemish and is listed as a French minority language . However, only a very small and aging minority of the French-Flemish population still speaks and understands West Flemish. Hollandic is spoken in Holland and Utrecht , though the original forms of this dialect (which were heavily influenced by a West Frisian substratum and, from the 16th century on, by Brabantian dialects ) are now relatively rare. The urban dialects of
Dutch famine of 1944–1945 - Misplaced Pages Continue
5440-584: Is spoken in Limburg (Belgium) as well as in the remaining part of Limburg (Netherlands) and extends across the German border. West Flemish ( Westvlaams ) is spoken in West Flanders , the western part of Zeelandic Flanders and also in French Flanders , where it virtually became extinct to make way for French. The West Flemish group of dialects, spoken in West Flanders and Zeeland ,
5610-595: Is taught in various educational centres in Indonesia, the most important of which is the Erasmus Language Centre (ETC) in Jakarta . Each year, some 1,500 to 2,000 students take Dutch courses there. In total, several thousand Indonesians study Dutch as a foreign language. Owing to centuries of Dutch rule in Indonesia, many old documents are written in Dutch. Many universities therefore include Dutch as
5780-662: Is the Modern English form. Theodiscus was its Latinised form and used as an adjective referring to the Germanic vernaculars of the Early Middle Ages . In this sense, it meant "the language of the common people". The term was used as opposed to Latin , the non -native language of writing and the Catholic Church . It was first recorded in 786, when the Bishop of Ostia writes to Pope Adrian I about
5950-404: Is the case with the ( standardised ) West Frisian language . It is spoken alongside Dutch in the province of Friesland . Dutch dialects and regional languages are not spoken as often as they used to be, especially in the Netherlands. Recent research by Geert Driessen shows that the use of dialects and regional languages among both Dutch adults and youth is in heavy decline. In 1995, 27 percent of
6120-632: Is the native language of most of the population of the Netherlands and Flanders (which includes 60% of the population of Belgium ). Dutch was one of the official languages of South Africa until 1925, when it was replaced by Afrikaans , a separate but partially mutually intelligible daughter language of Dutch. Afrikaans, depending on the definition used, may be considered a sister language , spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia , and evolving from Cape Dutch dialects. In South America, it
6290-448: Is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname , and spoken as a second or third language in the polyglot Caribbean island countries of Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . All these countries have recognised Dutch as one of their official languages, and are involved in one way or another in the Dutch Language Union . The Dutch Caribbean municipalities ( St. Eustatius , Saba and Bonaire ) have Dutch as one of
6460-530: Is the sole official language, and over 60 percent of the population speaks it as a mother tongue . Dutch is the obligatory medium of instruction in schools in Suriname, even for non-native speakers. A further twenty-four percent of the population speaks Dutch as a second language . Suriname gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1975 and has been an associate member of the Dutch Language Union since 2004. The lingua franca of Suriname, however,
6630-531: The 2006 New Zealand census , 26,982 people, or 0.70 percent of the total population, reported to speak Dutch to sufficient fluency that they could hold an everyday conversation. In contrast to the colonies in the East Indies , from the second half of the 19th century onwards, the Netherlands envisaged the expansion of Dutch in its colonies in the West Indies . Until 1863, when slavery was abolished in
6800-578: The Bergakker inscription , found near the Dutch city of Tiel , which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish. Although some place names recorded in Roman texts such as vadam (modern Dutch: wad , English: "mudflat"), could arguably be considered as the oldest single "Dutch" words, the Bergakker inscription yields the oldest evidence of Dutch morphology. However, interpretations of
6970-455: The Brussels and Flemish regions of Belgium . The areas in which they are spoken often correspond with former medieval counties and duchies. The Netherlands (but not Belgium) distinguishes between a dialect and a streektaal (" regional language "). Those words are actually more political than linguistic because a regional language unites a large group of very different varieties. Such is
Dutch famine of 1944–1945 - Misplaced Pages Continue
7140-535: The Calgary Highlanders came under heavy fire from German positions. As described in its war diary, "the battle thickened...the Germans forces...hit back with a pugnacity which had not been encountered in the enemy for a long time". The Régiment de Maisonneuve was halted 1,000 yards (910 m) from their target while the next day, The Black Watch of Canada was stopped in its attempt. On 9 October,
7310-631: The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division encountered tenacious German resistance as it fought to cross the Leopold Canal. An earlier failed attempt by the Canadian 4th Armoured Division at Moerbrugge had demonstrated the challenge they faced. In addition to the formidable German defences on both the Leopold and Schipdonk Canals, much of the approach area was flooded. The Breskens pocket was held by
7480-554: The High German consonant shift , does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive , and has levelled much of its morphology , including most of its case system . Features shared with German, however, include the survival of two to three grammatical genders – albeit with few grammatical consequences – as well as the use of modal particles , final-obstruent devoicing , and (similar) word order . Dutch vocabulary
7650-792: The Lincoln and Welland Regiment , known as the "Lincs" in the Canadian Army, and The Algonquin Regiment took Esschen in a surprise attack. On 23 October, the German 85th Division launched a counterattack led by some self-propelled (SP) guns . The Sherman tanks of the Governor General's Foot Guards and the Lake Superior Regiments were decimated by the German SP guns. For the next days, there occurred what
7820-551: The Low Countries , far from their initial avenues of supply along the northern coast of France. By the autumn of 1944, captured ports like Cherbourg were far away from the front line, stretching Allied supply lines and causing great logistical problems. Antwerp is a deep-water inland port close to Germany. It is connected to the North Sea via the river Scheldt , which allows the passage of ocean-going ships. Following
7990-431: The Low Countries , its meaning being largely implicitly provided by the regional orientation of medieval Dutch society: apart from the higher echelons of the clergy and nobility, mobility was largely static and hence while "Dutch" could by extension also be used in its earlier sense, referring to what today would be called Germanic dialects as opposed to Romance dialects , in many cases it was understood or meant to refer to
8160-591: The Low Franconian languages, paired with its sister language Limburgish or East Low Franconian. Its closest relative is the mutually intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German , English and the un-standardised languages Low German and Yiddish . Dutch stands out in combining some Ingvaeonic characteristics (occurring consistently in English and Frisian and reduced in intensity from west to east over
8330-720: The North Sea for shipping, so that Antwerp's port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. The operations were carried out by the First Canadian Army , with assistance from Polish and British units which had been attached. The action was under the acting command of the First Canadian's Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds . The battle took place in the vicinity of the Scheldt river in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from 2 October to 8 November 1944. The Canadians had been delayed, and
8500-531: The Randstad , which are Hollandic dialects, do not diverge from standard Dutch very much, but there is a clear difference between the city dialects of Rotterdam , The Hague , Amsterdam and Utrecht . In some rural Hollandic areas more authentic Hollandic dialects are still being used, especially north of Amsterdam. Another group of dialects based on Hollandic is that spoken in the cities and larger towns of Friesland , where it partially displaced West Frisian in
8670-532: The Scheldt estuary and slowed the Allied advance. After five weeks of difficult fighting, the Canadian First Army, at a cost of 20,873 Allied casualties (6,367 of them Canadian), was successful in clearing the Scheldt after numerous amphibious assaults , obstacle crossings and costly assaults over open ground. Once the German defenders were no longer a threat, it took another three weeks to de-mine
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#17327824217248840-543: The Southern Netherlands (now Belgium and Luxembourg), developments were different. Under subsequent Spanish , Austrian and French rule , the standardisation of Dutch language came to a standstill. The state, law, and increasingly education used French, yet more than half the Belgian population were speaking a variety of Dutch. In the course of the 19th century, the Flemish Movement stood up for
9010-653: The USAAF 8th Air Force "on the day concerned". The plan for opening the Scheldt Estuary involved four main operations, conducted over daunting geography: The first attacks occurred on 13 September. After an attempt by the 4th Canadian Armoured Division to storm the Leopold Canal on its own had ended in bloody repulse, Simonds, commanding the II Canadian Corps, ordered a halt to operations in
9180-492: The United States Army Air Forces – after an agreement with the occupying Germans that if the Germans did not shoot at the mercy flights, the Allies would not bomb the German positions. These were Operations Manna and Chowhound . Operation Faust also trucked in food to the province. Although the humanitarian missions mitigated the emergency, the famine persisted and ended only with the liberation of
9350-497: The antonym of *walhisk (Romance-speakers, specifically Old French ). The word, now rendered as dietsc (Southwestern variant) or duutsc (Central and Northern Variant), could refer to the Dutch language itself, as well as a broader Germanic category depending on context. During the High Middle Ages " Dietsc / Duutsc " was increasingly used as an umbrella term for the specific Germanic dialects spoken in
9520-471: The continental West Germanic plane) with dominant Istvaeonic characteristics, some of which are also incorporated in German. Unlike German, Dutch (apart from Limburgish) has not been influenced at all by the south to north movement of the High German consonant shift and had some changes of its own. The cumulation of these changes resulted over time in separate, but related standard languages with various degrees of similarities and differences between them. For
9690-583: The destruction of Rotterdam in 1940, Antwerp was the largest surviving port in Western Europe, and the obvious choice to support an invasion of Germany. This had been recognized as early as December 1941, when the Anglo-American armies made their first plans for a European offensive . The White Brigade of the Belgian resistance seized the port of Antwerp before the Germans could destroy it as they were planning to do. On 4 September, Antwerp
9860-434: The differences in vocabulary between Indonesian and Malay. Some regional languages in Indonesia have some Dutch loanwords as well; for example, Sundanese word Katel or "frying pan" origin in Dutch is " ketel ". The Javanese word for "bike/ bicycle " " pit " can be traced back to its origin in Dutch " fiets ". The Malacca state of Malaysia was also colonized by the Dutch in its longest period that Malacca
10030-524: The pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age . The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: East (now extinct), West , and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period . Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots , Frisian , Low German (Old Saxon) and High German . It is characterised by a number of phonological and morphological innovations not found in North or East Germanic. The West Germanic varieties of
10200-458: The "fire brigade" consisting of 6th Parachute Regiment and assault gun companies. On 10 October, the Royal Regiment of Canada launched a surprise attack against the German lines at Woensdrecht, but for the next days was engaged in heavy fighting against counterattacks from Battle Group Chill. Major-General Charles Foulkes of the 2nd Division sent the Black Watch to support the Royal Regiment. The German forces at Woensdrecht greatly outnumbered
10370-459: The 14th to 15th century onward, its urban centers ( Deventer , Zwolle , Kampen , Zutphen and Doesburg ) have been increasingly influenced by the western written Dutch and became a linguistically mixed area. From the 17th century onward, it was gradually integrated into the Dutch language area. Dutch Low Saxon used to be at one end of the Low German dialect continuum . However, the national border has given way to dialect boundaries coinciding with
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#173278242172410540-425: The 15th Army to hold the mouth of the river Scheldt at all costs, calling the island "Fortress Walcheren." The Germans at Walcheren were on the far right of the German line, and were deprived of supplies as the Wehrmacht focused its strength on the planned Ardennes offensive and replacing losses elsewhere. However, the flat polder ground of the Dutch countryside favoured the defensive, and was felt to compensate for
10710-486: The 15th Army's reduced numbers. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt told General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen : "Enemy supplies, and therefore, his ability to fight, is limited by the stubborn defence of the Harbour, as intelligence reports prove. The attempt of the enemy to occupy the Western Scheldt in order to obtain the free use of the harbour of Antwerp must be resisted to the utmost . In his orders to his men, Von Zangen declared: Therefore, I order all commanders as well as
10880-476: The 16th century and is known as Stadsfries ("Urban Frisian"). Hollandic together with inter alia Kleverlandish and North Brabantian , but without Stadsfries, are the Central Dutch dialects . Brabantian is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant , which corresponded mainly to the provinces of North Brabant and southern Gelderland , the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant , as well as Brussels (where its native speakers have become
11050-417: The 2nd Canadian Division on the Beveland isthmus to the defence of Bergen op Zoom. By 24 October, Allied lines were pushed out further from the neck of the peninsula, ensuring German counterattacks would not cut off the 2nd Canadian Division, by then moving west along it towards Walcheren island. The second main operation, Operation Switchback, opened with fierce fighting to reduce the Breskens Pocket. Here,
11220-470: The 4th Division "to send 4 Cnd Armd Bde to the Antwerp area at the rate of one get a day, beginning 11 Oct". On 13 October, that would come to be known as "Black Friday", the Canadian 5th Infantry Brigade 's Black Watch was virtually wiped out in an unsuccessful attack. The Black Watch attacked German positions, already known to be well defended, while the rest of the 2nd Division was not engaged, suggesting that neither Foulkes nor Simonds had taken seriously
11390-412: The 4th Division to assist the 3rd Division with clearing the Breskens Pocket, but problems faced by the 2nd Division forced Simonds to start peeling off units from the 4th Division. On 9 October 1944, the South Alberta Regiment was ordered to "protect the right flank of 2 Division and prevent infiltration between 2 Div and 1 Polish Armd. Div". The next day, Simonds ordered Major general Harry Foster of
11560-419: The 52nd Division on Walcheren at the same time the Canadians attacked the island. Meanwhile, Simonds concentrated forces at the neck of the South Beveland peninsula. On 17 October, Foster announced 4th Division would attack on 20 October to take the area known as the Wouwsche Plantage . The offensive began in the early morning of 20 October and was led by the Argyll and Lake Superior regiments. On 22 October,
11730-430: The 64th Division commanded by General Knut Eberding, an infantryman with extensive experience on the Eastern Front who was regarded as an expert in defensive warfare. When the 15th Army had retreated from the Pas-de-Calais region of France across the Low Countries in September 1944, an enormous number of guns and ammunition ended up in the Breskens Pocket, including one hundred 20 mm anti-aircraft guns . They were used by
11900-412: The 64th Division was digging in for a hard fight and that Eberding had ordered a fight to the death, Canadian military intelligence seriously underestimated the size of the German forces. They expected Eberding to retreat to Walcheren island once the 3rd Canadian division started to advance. However, Simonds appreciated the problems imposed by the polder country and the Germans concentrating their forces at
12070-502: The 7th century. It was replaced in France by Old French (a Romance language with a considerable Old Frankish influence). However, the Old Franconian language did not die out at large, as it continued to be spoken in the Low Countries, and subsequently evolved into what is now called Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch in the Low Countries. In fact, Old Frankish could be reconstructed from Old Dutch and Frankish loanwords in Old French. The term Old Dutch or Old Low Franconian refers to
12240-506: The 85th Division's war diary called "extremely violent fighting". The war diary of the Canadian Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders spoke of "nightmarish fighting" at Wouwsche Plantage. The fighting at Wouwsche Plantage was considered so important that Montgomery arrived at the headquarters of the 4th Canadian Division to press Foster for speed, but Foster protested that the flat polder country made speed impossible. One company of
12410-572: The 9th Brigade was known as the "Highland brigade" as its three regiments were all Highland regiments with two coming from Ontario and another from Nova Scotia . The North Shore Regiment made a diversionary attack across the Leopold Canal, while the Regina Rifles regiment and the Canadian Scottish Regiment made the main assault. The Royal Montreal Regiment , which had never seen action yet, were pressing to get into
12580-544: The ANTWERP harbour. And for this reason, we must hold the SCHELDT fortifications to the end. The German people are watching us. In this hour, the fortifications along the SCHELDT occupy a role which is decisive for the future of our people. Each additional day will be vital that you deny the port of ANTWERP to the enemy and the resources he has at his disposal. (signed) v. ZANGEN General der Infanterie . From September, Ramsay
12750-529: The Allied air forces hardly ever bombing the Breskens Pocket in September, allowing his men to build defensive works with barely an effort to stop them. The flat, swampy polder country made the Breskens Pocket into an "island", as much of the ground was impassable with only a few "land bridges" connecting the area to the mainland. The Wehrmacht had blown up dykes to flood much of the ground so that
12920-585: The Black Watch men killed and wounded in France "had little or no infantry training, and exhibited poor morale" and that the men of C Company had "all been killed or taken prisoner" during "Black Friday". The Black Watch had already taken very heavy losses at the Battle of Verrières Ridge in July 1944 and its heavy losses on "Black Friday" almost finished the regiment. The Calgary Highlanders were to follow up with
13090-543: The British 51st Highland Division, 1st Polish Division, British 49th (West Riding) Division and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade from the First Canadian Army so they could help the 2nd British Army to take part in Operation Pheasant , an offensive to liberate North Brabant and expand the Arnhem salient. Simonds saw the Scheldt campaign as a test of his ability, a challenge to be overcome, and he felt he could clear
13260-542: The Canadians and had Model known of this, he might have launched a counter-offensive. Instead he used attrition tactics by making piecemeal counterattacks. During this time, war diaries of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry noted "many snipers in the houses and hedges" had been encountered while the weather was "cold and wet with high winds. Floods rising again". Simonds had planned to commit
13430-426: The Canadians could only advance along the raised country roads. Eberding reported that the polder country was "a maze of ditches, canalized rivers and commercial canals, often above the level of the surrounding countryside...which made military man[oeuvre] almost impossible except on the narrow roads built on top of the dykes. Each of these roadways were carefully registered for both artillery and mortar fire". It
13600-668: The Canadians were having to ration ammunition as Montgomery made holding the Arnhem salient his main priority. After Ramsay raised the issue with Eisenhower, the latter informed Montgomery on or about 9 October "the supreme importance of Antwerp. It is reported to me this morning by the Navy that the Canadian Army will not repeat not be able to attack until 1 November unless immediately supplied with ammunition." Montgomery replied by writing: "Request you will ask Ramsay from me by what authority he makes wild statements to you concerning my operations about which he can know nothing repeat nothing...there
13770-417: The Dutch adult population spoke a dialect or regional language on a regular basis, but in 2011, that was no more than 11 percent. In 1995, 12 percent of children of primary school age spoke a dialect or regional language, but in 2011, that had declined to four percent. Of the officially recognised regional languages Limburgish is spoken the most (in 2011 among adults 54%, among children 31%) and Dutch Low Saxon
13940-490: The Dutch government remained reluctant to teach Dutch on a large scale for fear of destabilising the colony. Dutch, the language of power, was supposed to remain in the hands of the leading elite. After independence, Dutch was dropped as an official language and replaced by Indonesian , but this does not mean that Dutch has completely disappeared in Indonesia: Indonesian Dutch , a regional variety of
14110-415: The Dutch standard language is largely absent, and speakers of these Dutch dialects will use German or French in everyday speech. Dutch is not afforded legal status in France or Germany, either by the central or regional public authorities, and knowledge of the language is declining among younger generations. As a foreign language , Dutch is mainly taught in primary and secondary schools in areas adjacent to
14280-531: The Dutch standard language, it is not mutually intelligible with Dutch and considered a sister language of Dutch, like English and German. Approximate distribution of native Dutch speakers worldwide: Dutch is an official language of the Netherlands proper (not enshrined in the constitution but in administrative law ), Belgium, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean municipalities (St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire), Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . Dutch
14450-408: The Dutch, was still spoken by about 500,000 half-blood in Indonesia in 1985. Yet the Indonesian language inherited many words from Dutch: words for everyday life as well as scientific and technological terms. One scholar argues that 20% of Indonesian words can be traced back to Dutch words, many of which are transliterated to reflect phonetic pronunciation e.g. kantoor "office" in Indonesian
14620-602: The Franks. However, the language did experience developments of its own, such as very early final-obstruent devoicing . In fact, the find at Bergakker indicates that the language may already have experienced this shift during the Old Frankish period. Attestations of Old Dutch sentences are extremely rare. The language is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and loan words from Old Dutch in other languages. The oldest recorded
14790-399: The Germans counter-attacked and pushed the Canadians back. The war diary of the 85th Infantry Division reported that they were "making very slow progress" in face of tenacious Canadian resistance. Back at SHAEF headquarters, Ramsay, who was more concerned about the problems facing the Canadians than their own generals, complained to Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower that
14960-603: The Germans into believing they would land in the Pas-de-Calais region of France instead of Normandy . As such, the Wehrmacht had reinforced the 15th Army in the Pas-de-Calais, providing a critical mass of troops and materiel close to the mouth of the Scheldt. Adolf Hitler ordered planning for what became the Ardennes Offensive in September 1944, the objective of which was retaking Antwerp. Hitler ordered
15130-559: The Imperial General Staff ) that "one good Pas de Calais port" would be able to meet the logistical needs of the 21st Army Group, though not the American armies in France. Three days earlier, on 6 September, Montgomery ordered Canadian General Harry Crerar to prioritize the capture of just such a port, Boulogne-sur-Mer . Montgomery's views obliged Eisenhower to support a plan for the 21st to invade Germany, whereas
15300-739: The Leopold Canal, while the 9th Brigade mounted the amphibious attack from the northern (coastal) side of the pocket. The 7th Brigade was known as the "Western Brigade" in the Canadian Army as its three regiments were all from western Canada with the Canadian Scottish Regiment coming from Victoria area, the Regina Rifles from the Regina area, and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles from the Winnipeg area, while
15470-653: The Lincoln and Welland Regiment lost 50% of its men in a single day's fighting, while an advance company of the Algonquin Regiment was cut off and surrounded by the Wehrmacht, requiring desperate fighting to break out. The Canadians now advanced towards Bergen op Zoom and would take part in Operation Pheasant in an effort to take the city. The advance would force Rundstedt to redeploy the elite 6th Parachute Regiment, which until then had been blocking
15640-611: The National Socialist indoctrination officers to instruct the troops in the clearest and most factual manner in the following points: Next to HAMBURG, ANTWERP is the largest port in Europe. Even in the First World War, Churchill, in person, travelled to ANTWERP in order to organize the defence of the harbour because he appreciated it as of vital importance to the struggle on the continent. At that time, Churchill's plan
15810-544: The Netherlands (officially residing in Arnhem , then in Velp ) during the famine and despite her later wealth she had lifelong negative medical repercussions. She had anemia , respiratory illnesses, and œdema as a result. Subsequent academic research on the children who were affected in the second trimester of their mother's pregnancy found an increased incidence of schizophrenia in these children. Also increased among them were
15980-636: The Netherlands During World War II , estimated at least 22,000 deaths occurred due to the famine. Another author estimated 18,000 deaths from the famine. Most of the victims were reportedly elderly men. The famine was alleviated first by "Swedish bread" flour shipped in from Sweden to Dutch harbours, and subsequently by the airlift of food by the Royal Air Force , the Royal Canadian Air Force , and
16150-576: The Netherlands and Flanders . In French-speaking Belgium , over 300,000 pupils are enrolled in Dutch courses, followed by over 23,000 in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia , and about 7,000 in the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (of which 4,550 are in primary school). At an academic level, the largest number of faculties of neerlandistiek can be found in Germany (30 universities), followed by France (20 universities) and
16320-412: The Netherlands and Belgium, the dialect spoken in and around the German town of Kleve ( Kleverlandish ) is historically and genetically a Low Franconian variety. In North-Western France, the area around Calais was historically Dutch-speaking (West Flemish), of which an estimated 20,000 are daily speakers. The cities of Dunkirk , Gravelines and Bourbourg only became predominantly French-speaking by
16490-555: The Netherlands by the Allies in May 1945. After D-Day in the summer of 1944, the Allied forces, to their own surprise, swiftly advanced from Normandy and overran northern France and Belgium. In anticipation of a likewise imminent collapse of German defences in the Netherlands, the Dutch national railways complied with the exiled Dutch government's appeal for a nationwide railway strike starting in September 1944. This precisely coincided with
16660-539: The Netherlands, although there are recognisable differences in pronunciation, comparable to the pronunciation differences between standard British and standard American English. In 1980 the Netherlands and Belgium concluded the Language Union Treaty . This treaty lays down the principle that the two countries must gear their language policy to each other, among other things, for a common system of spelling. Dutch belongs to its own West Germanic sub-group,
16830-426: The Netherlands, which originally had been anticipated to fall into the hands of the Allies before the end of 1944. In the last months of 1944, in anticipation of the coming famine, tens of thousands of children were brought from the cities to rural areas where many remained until the end of the war. In October, food shortages began to escalate everywhere in the still-occupied parts of the country. But particularly in
17000-557: The Scheldt at all costs. However, Montgomery was focused on preparations for the ill-fated Operation Market Garden later that month. Among the Allied senior leaders, only Ramsay saw opening Antwerp as crucial to sustaining the advance into Germany. Montgomery had an additional incentive not to prioritize Antwerp: his apparent desire for the 21st Army Group to spearhead the invasion of Germany and capture Berlin. On 9 September Montgomery wrote to Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (the Chief of
17170-544: The Scheldt until the French channel ports had been taken, reporting the Scheldt would need more than one division to clear. The halt allowed the German 15th Army ample time to dig in to its new home by the banks of the Scheldt. Operation Switchback commenced on 21 September when the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division moved north roughly along the line of the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal , given the task of clearing an area on
17340-414: The Scheldt with only three divisions of the 2nd Corps despite having to take on the entire 15th Army, which held strongly fortified positions in a landscape that favoured the defensive. Simonds never registered complaints about his lack of manpower, ammunition, and air support. On 2 October, the Canadian 2nd Division began its advance north from Antwerp. Stiff fighting ensued on 6 October at Woensdrecht ,
17510-423: The Scheldt, because he needed XII Corps for Operation Market Garden. Had Montgomery secured the Scheldt Estuary, as Ramsay had advised, Antwerp would have been opened to Allied shipping far earlier than it was, and the escape of the German 15th Army from France could have been stopped. Instead, the delay allowed the German 15th Army to deploy defensively and prepare for the expected advance. Walcheren peninsula
17680-674: The United Kingdom (5 universities). Despite the Dutch presence in Indonesia for almost 350 years, as the Asian bulk of the Dutch East Indies , the Dutch language has no official status there and the small minority that can speak the language fluently are either educated members of the oldest generation, or employed in the legal profession such as historians, diplomats, lawyers, jurists and linguists/polyglots, as certain law codes are still only available in Dutch. Dutch
17850-535: The Wehrmacht as a sort of "super-heavy machine gun " and were much dreaded by the Canadian infantry. 20-mm guns could shred a man to pieces within seconds. Besides the 20-mm guns, the 64th Division had 23 of the famous 88 mm flak guns , known for their power to destroy an Allied tank with a single direct hit, together with 455 light machine guns and 97 mortars. While Montgomery focused on Operation Market Garden in September 1944, Eberding used three weeks of quiet to have his men dig in. He later expressed amazement about
18020-621: The West Indies, slaves were forbidden to speak Dutch, with the effect that local creoles such as Papiamento and Sranan Tongo which were based not on Dutch but rather other European languages, became common in the Dutch West Indies. However, as most of the people in the Colony of Surinam (now Suriname ) worked on Dutch plantations, this reinforced the use of Dutch as a means for direct communication. In Suriname today, Dutch
18190-668: The area known as the Low Countries goes back further in time, with the Romans referring to the region as Germania Inferior ("Lower" Germania). It is a reference to the Low Countries' downriver location at the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta near the North Sea . From 1551, the designation Nederlands received strong competition from the name Nederduytsch (literally "Low Dutch", Dutch being used in its archaic sense covering all continental West Germanic languages). It
18360-527: The beginning of Operation Market Garden , the Allied forces' sharp thrust offensive deep into eastern Dutch territory that same month. The Allies were able to swiftly liberate southern portions of Dutch territory, but ceased their advance further into the Netherlands when Operation Market Garden failed in its attempt to seize a bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem after a German counter-offensive. Meanwhile, after
18530-624: The borders of other standard language areas. In most cases, the heavy influence of the standard language has broken the dialect continuum . Examples are the Gronings dialect spoken in Groningen as well as the closely related varieties in adjacent East Frisia (Germany). Kleverlandish is a dialect spoken in southern Gelderland , the northern tip of Limburg , and northeast of North Brabant (Netherlands), but also in adjacent parts of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Limburgish ( Limburgs )
18700-479: The case with the Gronings dialect , which is considered a variety of the Dutch Low Saxon regional language, but it is relatively distinct from other Dutch Low Saxon varieties. Also, some Dutch dialects are more remote from the Dutch standard language than some varieties of a regional language are. Within the Netherlands, a further distinction is made between a regional language and a separate language, which
18870-424: The cities in the western Netherlands the stocks of various food items rapidly ran out in their entirety. The adult rations in cities such as Amsterdam dropped to below 1000 calories (4,200 kilojoules ) a day by the end of November 1944 and to 580 calories in the west by the end of February 1945. Over this Hongerwinter ("Hunger winter"), a number of factors combined to cause starvation in especially
19040-553: The close of the 18th century, with (Hoog)Duytsch establishing itself as the Dutch exonym for German during this same period. In the 19th century Germany saw the rise of the categorisation of dialects, with German dialectologists terming the German dialects spoken in the mountainous south of Germany as Hochdeutsch ("High German"). Subsequently, German dialects spoken in the north were designated as Niederdeutsch ("Low German"). The names for these dialects were calqued by Dutch linguists as Nederduits and Hoogduits . As
19210-442: The cold, bare countryside, searching for a few potatoes or a cauliflower. If they were lucky enough to find something, they would exchange it for jewelry, antiques, watches, linen, and in some cases sexual favours. Towards spring, as the desperation increased, these hunger tours would sometimes last for weeks, taking some walkers as far as Friesland in the east of the Netherlands. Hundreds of Amsterdammers died from starvation and from
19380-782: The cold: about 1,200 in January 1945, in February, 1,400, and in March 1,600. Deaths in the three big cities of the Western Netherlands (The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam) started in earnest in December 1944, reaching a peak in March 1945, but remained very high in April and May 1945. Malnutrition was rampant throughout all of the country. The famine was fully underway by January but the deadliest month would become March 1945. By
19550-472: The course of fifteen centuries. During that period, they forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, and influenced or even replaced Old Saxon spoken in the east (contiguous with the Low German area). On the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in present-day France and Germany. The division into Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, since
19720-540: The declaration of independence of Indonesia, Western New Guinea , the "wild east" of the Dutch East Indies , remained a Dutch colony until 1962, known as Netherlands New Guinea . Despite prolonged Dutch presence, the Dutch language is not spoken by many Papuans, the colony having been ceded to Indonesia in 1963. Dutch-speaking immigrant communities can also be found in Australia and New Zealand. The 2011 Australian census showed 37,248 people speaking Dutch at home. At
19890-603: The development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the Salian Franks who occupied what is now the southern Netherlands , northern Belgium , part of northern France, and parts of the Lower Rhine regions of Germany. The High German consonant shift, moving over Western Europe from south to west, caused a differentiation with the Central and High Franconian in Germany. The latter would as
20060-474: The devil? ... I forsake the devil"). If only for its poetic content, the most famous Old Dutch sentence is probably Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan, hinase hic enda tu, wat unbidan we nu ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"), is dated to around the year 1100, written by a Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester , England . Since the sentence speaks to
20230-526: The division advanced to the coast by 20 September, occupying Terneuzen and clearing the south bank of the Scheldt east toward Antwerp. It became apparent to Simonds that any further gains in the Scheldt would come at heavy cost, as the Breskens pocket, extending from Zeebrugge to the Braakman Inlet and inland to the Leopold Canal, was strongly held by the enemy. In October, Montgomery detached
20400-594: The early summer of 1945. The Dutch famine of 1944–45 was a rare case of a famine which took place in a modern, developed, and literate country, albeit one suffering under the privations of occupation and war. The well-documented experience has helped scientists to measure the effects of famine on human health. The Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study found that the children of pregnant women exposed to famine were more susceptible to diabetes , obesity , cardiovascular disease, microalbuminuria and other health problems. Grandchildren of pregnant women carrying female babies during
20570-489: The end of the 19th century. In the countryside, until World War I , many elementary schools continued to teach in Dutch, and the Catholic Church continued to preach and teach the catechism in Dutch in many parishes. During the second half of the 19th century, Dutch was banned from all levels of education by both Prussia and France and lost most of its functions as a cultural language. In both Germany and France,
20740-527: The entire weekly ration. The black market increasingly ran out of food as well, and with the gas and electricity and heat turned off, everyone was very cold and very hungry. Tulip bulbs and sugar beets were commonly consumed. Furniture and houses were dismantled and trees were felled to provide fuel for heating. In search of food, Netherlanders would walk for tens of kilometres to trade valuables for food at farms. In search of food, thousands of city dwellers walked—pushing rickety carts, prams, and bicycles—across
20910-420: The famine were also shown to be smaller at birth and suffer increased health issues later in life. This suggests damage or epigenetic changes to the ova developing inside the female fetus in utero, a phenomenon known as intergenerational inheritance . The discovery of the cause of coeliac disease may also be partly attributed to the Dutch famine. With wheat in very short supply there was an improvement at
21080-465: The few "land bridges". He planned to use amphibious vehicles known as " Buffaloes " to travel across the flooded countryside to outflank the German forces. Simonds planned to strike both at the Leopold canal and at the rear of the Breskens Pocket via an amphibious landing at the Braakman inlet. A two-pronged assault commenced. The Canadian 3rd Division's 7th Brigade made the initial assault across
21250-430: The formidable obstacle of the double line of the Leopold and Schipdonk Canals. An attack was mounted in the vicinity of Moerkerke , crossing the canals and establishing a bridgehead before counter-attacks forced a withdrawal with heavy casualties. The 1st Polish Armoured Division enjoyed greater success to the east as it advanced northeast from Ghent . In country unsuitable for armour, and against stiffening resistance,
21420-481: The harbours; the first convoy carrying Allied supplies could not unload in Antwerp until 29 November 1944. Once Antwerp was opened, it allowed 2.5 million tons of supplies to arrive at that port between November 1944 and April 1945, which were critical to the successful Allied advance into Germany in 1945. Following the Allied breakout after success in the battle of Normandy , they began a series of rapid advances into
21590-415: The imagination, it is often erroneously stated as the oldest Dutch sentence. Old Dutch naturally evolved into Middle Dutch . The year 1150 is often cited as the time of the discontinuity, but it actually marks a time of profuse Dutch writing; during this period a rich Medieval Dutch literature developed. There was at that time no overarching standard language ; Middle Dutch is rather a collective name for
21760-711: The influence of the Burgundian Ducal Court in Dijon ( Brussels after 1477). The dialects of Flanders and Brabant were the most influential around this time. The process of standardisation became much stronger at the start of the 16th century, mainly based on the urban dialect of Antwerp . The 1585 fall of Antwerp to the Spanish army led to a flight to the northern Netherlands, where the Dutch Republic declared its independence from Spain. This influenced
21930-437: The issue was not the command arrangement, but rather the ability and willingness of Montgomery to obey orders, saying he had ordered him to clear the Scheldt and warned if he was unable to obey orders, he would be fired. Stung by Eisenhower's message, a chastised Montgomery promised: "You will hear no more from me on the subject of command...Antwerp top priority in all operations of 21 Army Group". On 16 October, Montgomery issued
22100-563: The language now known as Dutch. In the Low Countries Dietsch or its Early Modern Dutch form Duytsch as an endonym for Dutch gradually went out of common use and was gradually replaced by the Dutch endonym Nederlands . This designation (first attested in 1482) started at the Burgundian court in the 15th century, although the use of neder , laag , bas , and inferior ("nether" or "low") to refer to
22270-499: The large cities in the West of the Netherlands. The winter in the month of January 1945 itself was unusually harsh, freezing rivers and canals and thereby prohibiting the important system of supply transport by boat for roughly a month between early January 1945 and early February 1945. Also, the German army destroyed docks and bridges to flood the country and impede the Allied advance. This led to significant amount of land, particularly in
22440-481: The last two months of 1944 the officially distributed ration stock supply began to dwindle: first slowly, then drastically. The rations, which had been relatively stable up to around D-Day (June 1944), became progressively less and less worth in food value in the subsequent months, particularly in October and beyond. The overall Allied advance into Germany was delayed by supply problems as the strategic port of Antwerp
22610-629: The least (adults 15%, children 1%). The decline of the West Frisian language in Friesland occupies a middle position (adults 44%, children 22%). Dialects are most often spoken in rural areas, but many cities have a distinct city dialect. For example, the city of Ghent has very distinct "g", "e" and "r" sounds that greatly differ from its surrounding villages. The Brussels dialect combines Brabantian with words adopted from Walloon and French . Some dialects had, until recently, extensions across
22780-410: The main western battlefields, these conditions combined to make the transport of existing food stocks in large enough quantities nearly impossible. Malnutrition affected all occupied areas, but starvation level was reached in the western section of the country, then home to 4.5 million people. Butter disappeared after October 1944, shortly after railway transport to the western Netherlands stopped due to
22950-579: The middle of that month Swedish Red Cross flour, known as the "Swedish bread", (which had originally arrived in January from Sweden, but the shipment had been stuck unloaded in the northern harbour of Delfzijl ) began to reach a network of Dutch bakeries in cities, towns and villages, who used it to bake bread and ration it to the local population. For many, that was the first proper bread (without diluted ingredients) they consumed in months. The following month, more humanitarian interventions took place, this time by airdrops. From 29 April to 7 May Operation Manna
23120-412: The military counter-offensive against Allied troops (Market Garden) was winding down on September 27. The embargo was partially lifted after three weeks, and fully lifted after six weeks in early November 1944, because the Germans feared chaos and disease might spread. This lifting of the blockade, however, didn't lead to food supply resuming and reaching pre-embargo levels. The drastic food scarcity that
23290-437: The modern standard languages . In this age no standard languages had yet developed, while a perfect West Germanic dialect continuum remained present; the division reflects the contingent future contribution dialect groups would have to the later languages. The early form of Dutch was a set of Franconian dialects spoken by the Salian Franks in the 5th century. These happened to develop through Middle Dutch to Modern Dutch over
23460-540: The need to clear the Scheldt had not yet been addressed, due to Allied decisions up to that point to focus instead on Arnhem ( Operation Market Garden ), Boulogne ( Operation Wellhit ), Calais ( Operation Undergo ) and Dunkirk. By the time the Canadians were sent into the Battle of the Scheldt, the Wehrmacht defenders had been reinforced. The Germans staged an effective delaying action during which they flooded land areas in
23630-481: The north and west, up to 250.000 hectare in total, to become flooded, further distorting supply routes and isolating regions from each other. Thirdly, Allied bombing made it extremely difficult to transport food in bulk, since Allied bombers could not distinguish German military and civilian shipments. As the south-eastern (the Maas valley) and the south-western part of the Netherlands (Walcheren and Beveland) became one of
23800-539: The objective of the first phase. The Germans, reinforced by Battle Group Chill , saw the priority in holding there, controlling direct access to South Beveland and Walcheren island. There were heavy casualties as the Canadians attacked over open, flooded land. Canadian historians Terry Copp and Robert Vogel wrote: "the very name Woensdrecht sends shivers down the spines of veterans of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division". Driving rain, booby traps and land mines made advance very difficult. Attacking on 7 October in heavy mist,
23970-501: The official languages. In Asia, Dutch was used in the Dutch East Indies (now mostly Indonesia ) by a limited educated elite of around 2% of the total population, including over 1 million indigenous Indonesians, until it was banned in 1957, but the ban was lifted afterwards. About a fifth of the Indonesian language can be traced to Dutch, including many loan words . Indonesia's Civil Code has not been officially translated, and
24140-533: The original Dutch language version dating from colonial times remains the authoritative version. Up to half a million native speakers reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined, and historical linguistic minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English, and is colloquially said to be "roughly in between" them. Dutch, like English, has not undergone
24310-527: The predominant colloquial language out of the area's 22 million Dutch-speakers. Limburgish , spoken in both Belgian Limburg and Netherlands Limburg and in adjacent parts in Germany, is considered a dialect in Belgium, while having obtained the official status of regional language in the Netherlands. Limburgish has been influenced by the Ripuarian varieties like the Colognian dialect , and has had
24480-401: The problem of fighting by the river Scheldt. The Black Watch, whose officers had come from Montreal's Scottish elite, had billed itself as the most exclusive regiment in the Canadian Army. Despite this reputation, the Black Watch was considered to be a "jinxed" regiment which had had more than its fair share of misfortune. One officer of the Black Watch reported that the soldiers sent to replace
24650-411: The provinces of Gelderland , Flevoland , Friesland and Utrecht . This group, which is not Low Franconian but instead Low Saxon and close to neighbouring Low German, has been elevated by the Netherlands (and by Germany) to the legal status of streektaal ( regional language ) according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . It is regarded as Dutch for a number of reasons. From
24820-445: The railway strike. The supply of vegetable fats dwindled to a minuscule seven-month supply of 1.3 liters per person. At first 100 grams of cheese were allotted every two weeks; meat coupons became worthless. The bread ration had already dropped from 2,200 to 1,800 and then to 1,400 grams per week. Then it fell to 1,000 grams in October, and by April 1945 to 400 grams a week. Together with one kilogram of potatoes, this then formed
24990-494: The rates of schizotypal personality and neurological defects. Notes Bibliography Multimedia Dutch language Dutch ( endonym : Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] ) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family , spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch
25160-515: The rest of the text lack any consensus. The Franks emerged in the southern Netherlands ( Salian Franks ) and central Germany ( Ripuarian Franks ), and later descended into Gaul . The name of their kingdom survives in that of France. Although they ruled the Gallo-Romans for nearly 300 years, their language, Frankish , became extinct in most of France and was replaced by later forms of the language throughout Luxembourg and Germany in around
25330-507: The ridge to the west of Woensdrecht. By 16 October, Woensdrecht was secured, cutting the land link to South Beveland and Walcheren. The "Rileys" suffered losses on 16 October equal to those of the Black Watch on "Black Friday". The Canadians achieved their first objective, but had suffered heavy casualties. On 14 October, Montgomery issued "Notes on Command" that were highly critical of Eisenhower's leadership and asked he be made Land Forces commander again. The next day, Eisenhower replied that
25500-423: The rights of Dutch speakers, mostly referred to as "Flemish". However, the dialect variation was a serious disadvantage in the face of the standardised francophony . Since standardisation is a lengthy process, Dutch-speaking Belgium associated itself with the standard language that had already developed in the Netherlands over the centuries. Therefore, the situation in Belgium is essentially no different from that in
25670-524: The same branch of the West Germanic languages as Old English (i.e. Anglo-Frisian ) and are therefore genetically more closely related to English and Scots than to Dutch. The different influences on the respective languages, however, particularly that of Norman French on English and Dutch on West Frisian, have rendered English quite distinct from West Frisian, and West Frisian less distinct from Dutch than from English. Although under heavy influence of
25840-402: The set of Franconian dialects (i.e. West Germanic varieties that are assumed to have evolved from Frankish ) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages , from around the 5th to the 12th century. Old Dutch is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French. Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in
26010-538: The south shore of the Scheldt around the Dutch town of Breskens , called the " Breskens pocket ". The Polish 1st Armoured Division simultaneously pushed for the Dutch-Belgian border further east and the crucial area north of Antwerp. The Canadian 4th Armoured Division advanced from a hard-won bridgehead over the Ghent-Bruges Canal at Moerbrugge to find themselves the first Allied troops facing
26180-430: The time are generally split into three dialect groups: Ingvaeonic (North Sea Germanic), Istvaeonic (Weser–Rhine Germanic) and Irminonic (Elbe Germanic). It appears that the Frankish tribes fit primarily into the Istvaeonic dialect group with certain Ingvaeonic influences towards the northwest, which are still seen in modern Dutch. The Frankish language itself is not directly attested, the only possible exception being
26350-417: The transition between them was very gradual. One of the few moments when linguists can detect something of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. The development of the Dutch language is illustrated by the following sentence in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch: Among the Indo-European languages , Dutch is grouped within the Germanic languages , meaning it shares
26520-420: The urban dialects of the province of Holland . In 1637, a further important step was made towards a unified language, when the Statenvertaling , the first major Bible translation into Dutch, was created that people from all over the new republic could understand. It used elements from various, even Dutch Low Saxon , dialects but was predominantly based on the urban dialects of Holland of post 16th century. In
26690-535: The use of Antwerp would allow all of the armies to be supplied for such an invasion. Due to these factors, little was done about Antwerp during September. On 12–13 September, Montgomery ordered the First Canadian Army to clear the Scheldt after taking Boulogne , Calais ( Operation Undergo ), and Dunkirk ( Siege ); General Crerar stated that this was impossible because he did not have sufficient manpower. Montgomery refused Crerar's request to have British XII Corps under General Neil Ritchie assigned to help clear
26860-478: Was a mountain division, requiring men with unusual strength and stamina in order to fight in the mountains, making it into something of an elite division within the British Army. Simonds greatly appreciated having the Lowlanders under his command and told Major-General Edmund Hakewill-Smith that the 52nd was to play the decisive role in taking Walcheren island. As such, Simonds ordered Hakewill-Smith to start preparing an amphibious operation as Simonds planned to land
27030-529: Was completely shattered; the same must happen again. After overrunning the SCHELDT fortifications, the English would finally be in a position to land great masses of material in a large and completely protected harbour. With this material they might deliver a death blow at the NORTH GERMAN plain and at BERLIN before the onset of winter...The enemy knows that he must assault the European fortress as speedily as possible before its inner lines of resistance are fully built up and occupied by new divisions. For this, he needs
27200-432: Was conducted by the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force . From 1 to 8 May, the U.S. Army Air Forces conducted Operation Chowhound . The Germans agreed not to shoot at the planes flying the mercy missions, and the Allies agreed not to bomb German positions. A third humanitarian assistance was domestically organized via a land-based, civilian supply chain from the east of the country. Called Operation Faust , food
27370-426: Was decided that the best place for an assault would be immediately east of where the two canals divided: a narrow strip of dry ground, only a few hundred metres wide at its base beyond the Leopold Canal (described as a long triangle with its base on the Maldegem - Aardenburg road and its apex near the village of Moershoofd some 5 km (3.1 mi) east). Despite the fact that the Ultra intelligence had revealed that
27540-506: Was deeply involved in planning the assault on Walcheren peninsula. He appointed Captain Tony Pugsley of the Royal Navy, who landed the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Division on D-Day, to the First Canadian Army headquarters to start preparations. After previously ordering the Channel ports to be cleared first, Montgomery decided the importance of Antwerp was such that the capture of Dunkirk could be delayed. The First Canadian Army, under temporary command of Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds ,
27710-482: Was described as the "strongest concentration of defences the Nazis had ever constructed. On 5 September, SHAEF 's naval commander, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay advised the Commander of 21st Army Group , General Bernard Montgomery , to make the Scheldt his main priority, stating that as long as the mouth of the river was in German hands, the port of Antwerp was useless. That same day, thanks to Ultra intelligence, Montgomery became aware of Hitler's intention to hold
27880-407: Was held by a mixture of Kriegsmarine (German navy) and Heer (army) personnel, commanded by General Wilhelm Daser . Its garrison consisted of the 202nd Naval Coastal Artillery Battalion, 810th Naval Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 89th Fortress Regiment, and 70th Infantry Division . Additionally, as part of Operation Fortitude (the deception plan for the Normandy invasion), the Allies had tricked
28050-438: Was ignited continued to persist as a result of the increasingly harsh winter, increasing scarcity of other resources such as fuel and vehicles, the ongoing administrative and logistic inconveniences caused by the Germans, such as transport restrictions, shipment delays, and defensive flooding; as well as due to farmers and traders who had switched to supplying the black market during the embargo remaining in that parallel circuit. In
28220-425: Was not usable until the approaches had been secured and cleared in the Battle of the Scheldt . But Montgomery had given priority to "Market Garden" and to the capture of the French Channel ports like Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, which were resolutely defended and had suffered demolitions by the retreating Germans. These developments led to Germans becoming more securely entrenched north of the major rivers in all of
28390-433: Was supplemented by the British I Corps , 2nd Canadian Infantry Division , and II Canadian Corps , with the Polish 1st Armoured Division , British 49th and 52nd Divisions attached. Additionally the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was to give up its transport to enable the movement of forces into battle positions. Montgomery promised the support of RAF Bomber Command in attacking the German fortifications and that of
28560-423: Was taken by the 11th Armoured Division with its harbour 90% intact. However, the Germans had heavily fortified Walcheren peninsula at the mouth of the Western Scheldt , establishing well dug-in artillery impervious to air attack and controlling access to the river. This made it impossible for Allied minesweepers to clear the river and open the port at Antwerp. As part of the Atlantic Wall , Walcheren peninsula
28730-445: Was trucked beginning on 2 May, first to the centrally located Rhenen before further distribution westwards. The Dutch famine ended with the liberation by the Allies. Wehrmacht forces in the Netherlands surrendered on May 5, two days before Germany's overall surrender and official end of the war in Europe. Ongoing and new humanitarian assistances took place in the liberated country and the death rate quickly returned to normal figures by
28900-417: Was under foreign control. In the 19th century, the East Indies trade started to dwindle, and with it the importance of Malacca as a trading post. The Dutch state officially ceded Malacca to the British in 1825. It took until 1957 for Malaya to gain its independence. Despite this, the Dutch language is rarely spoken in Malacca or Malaysia and only limited to foreign nationals able to speak the language. After
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