PART-4: The Liberation of Den Haag (The Hague)
=======================================
: The Dutch city of Den Haag, internationally called The Hague, was liberated from the German occupation during World War 2 in May 1945. The Hague is know world wide for being the city of peace, among other with its Peace Palace that houses the International Court of Justice. It also is and was the residence of the Dutch government, as well as the capital of the province of South Holland. On May the 5th, the whole of the Netherlands annually celebrates the liberation of our country in 1945. But in fact The Hague was not liberated until May 8 when the Canadian troups entered this city. On the evening of May 4, 1945, the news came that German troops had surrendered in northwestern Europe. Some residents of The Hague carefully took to the streets, but they were sent home. The liberation had not yet been officially confirmed and the liberators had not yet arrived in The Hague. Anything could still happen. On 7 May, for example, dozens of people were killed in a shooting on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. Even when the liberation was confirmed on 5 May, it was not yet celebrated in The Hague. There were still armed German soldiers and agents everywhere. It wasn't until May 8, 1945, when the Allies entered the city, that the celebrations could start. The film starts with footage of food droppings near The Hague on the 29th of April, a week preceeding the liberation, to aleviate the hunger that the Dutch population suffered during the hunger winter. This time the Allied bombers have a different load than bombs. Subsequently we see the troups enter the city and being welcomed by the major on the balcony of the town hall surrounded by large numbers of very enthusiastic citizens, followed by many similar scenes in the rest of the city. In the film we also see close-ups of the arrested top of the National Socialist Movement, in short the NSB, a political party that was founded in 1931 and collaborated with the Germans during the war to run the country.

PART-5: The Liberation of Deventer
============================
: This (A.I. enhanced & colorized) film shows film footage of Deventer just after the liberation by the Canadians on 10 April 1945. The area was destroyed during the battle with the Germans. It cost the Canadian liberators from the 3rd Division quite some struggle to cross the river IJssel near Gorssel. Collaborators, NSB members and so-called Moffenmeiden are being forcefully paraded through the streets of Deventer by armed resistance fighters. The "Executioner of the Landwacht" is forced to parade through the streets at gunpoint and the massive crowd joins in mocking and humiliating the traitors.

PART-6: The Liberation of Haarlem
============================
: This is another interesting film in our series about the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945. This time it is a full-length film about Haarlem. Haarlem is the capital of the Dutch province of North Holland. The city is located about 20 km west of Amsterdam on the river Het Spaarne in the Kennemerland region. In the year 1245 Haarlem received city rights from William II, Count of Holland. The Harlem district in New York is named after the city of Haarlem. It dates back to 1658 when New York was still called New Amsterdam under the colonial rule of Peter Stuyvesant. On May 8, 1945, Haarlem was liberated from the German occupation during the Second World War. This film shows how the Canadians of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry entering Haarlem as liberators. The Canadians are welcomed with great enthusiasm by the inhabitants of Haarlem. Flags with Swastika are set at half mast and liberation is proclaimed with placards titled 'Proclamation to the citizens of Haarlem'. It shows how German collaborators are rounded up and are given a card with a number pinned on them before being taken away in cars. One of the men is forced to walk around with a sign 'I was hangman in Vught' Other collaborators are removed from their homes with their suitcases by agents and soldiers. A crowd watches as the men stand with their hands behind their necks before being taken away. Towards the end of the film a man can be seen taking a paper from the townhall door and replacing it with the text: "Historical building, not to be used for military purposes", the old paper is trampled over. We also see Haarlem's acting mayor Reinalda with notables and soldiers on the steps of the town hall, as well as a riot, children partying and a procession of soldiers; The film ends with Mayor Reinalda reading an announcement on the townhall balcony on May 8, 1945. The audience in the square listens attentively and sings the Dutch national anthem. A man sticks a manifesto on a building; Dutch flags on buildings and churches symbolize the joy of liberation.

PART-7: The Liberation of Maastricht and Limburg
=======================================
: The Dutch Southern province of Limburg was the first to be liberated towards the end of WW2. As recorded by the American 117th Regimental Combat Team, the village of Mesch in Zuid Limburg was the first to be liberated on 12 September 1944. This was precisely 90 days after D-day and fierce battles in the Belgian Ardennes. The Americans continued onto the city of Maastricht which was liberated two days later on the 14th of September 1944. In the following days the advance of the allied forces halted. From 17 to 25 september 1944 Operation Market Garden took place, during which an attempt was made to capture the Rhine bridge near Arnhem. This operation failed, eventually resulting in a stalemate situation during the following winter in which the Netherlands were devided between the German occupied north and the liberated part south of the main rivers: Rhine, Maas and Waal. That winter is commonly known as the "Hunger winter" during which many people in the North suffered starvation and at least 20,000 people died as the result. It took until the beginning of March 1945 before the remaining part of Limburg was liberated, involving among other the cities of Venlo and Roermond. In this film we see highly interesting images of the city of Maastricht, just after the liberation, collaborators being arrested, scenes at the police station, huge damage to bridges and towns allong the river Maas, German POW's and many images of Maastricht during the following winter.

PART-8: The Liberation of Nijmegen
============================
: Nijmegen is a city in the province of Gelderland in the east of the Netherlands, not far from the border with Germany and about 15 km south of Arnhem on the river Waal. During the war, the city of Nijmegen was badly hit by an aerial bombardment on February 22, 1944. At around half past one in the afternoon, American bombers dropped a deadly load of bombs on the inner city. More than 800 people were killed in the bombing. The American pilots were on their way to Germany, but had to turn bad weather back. If the original target was not reachable, the aircraft had to look for a target of opportunity, another suitable target that could be bombed. On February 22, 1944, the bombers therefore bombed Nijmegen, Arnhem, Deventer and Enschede. Because Nijmegen were bombed, for a long time, and sometimes even today, there was talk of a bombing mistake. The bombs wreaked havoc in the city. In particular, the upper town of the historic center, where Plein 1944 is today, was seriously damaged. The tower of the Stevenskerk collapsed. The city was liberated during the largest military operation on Dutch territory, Operation Market Garden, between 17 and 20 September 1944. The Allies were received with open arms by Nijmegen's residents. The most important battlefield of this operation was near Arnhem, but Nijmegen and especially the bridge over the Waal were an important target of the Allied forces. At Groesbeek, the 82nd paratrooper corps of the American army landed on September 17, 1944, led by General James Gavin. After heavy fighting, the Allies managed to capture the Waal Bridge. The conquest of Nijmegen took longer than expected, claimed hundreds of civilians and caused great damage. Finally, with the Waal crossing on September 20, both bridges were captured, but it was too late to relieve the British 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem. For this reason, from a historic perspective, Operation Market Garden was a failure. This film shows the battles of American paratroopers in Nijmegen and the entry of the vanguard of the British 2nd Army, which advanced from Eindhoven with destination Arnhem and the IJsselmeer. Also recordings of the Allied bombing raids, the street fighting and German shelling by V1's that destroyed lower part of the town can be seen.

PART-9: The Liberation of Rotterdam
=============================
: Like The Hague, Rotterdam was liberated on 8 May 1945 from German rule during the Second World War. The German capitulation is then a fact and the retreat of the German troops begins immediately. The entry of the Canadians leads to delirious joy. Handkerchiefs and flags are waved and flowers and serpentines are thrown. Although Germany capitulated on May 4, it remained restless in the city until May 8 and the withdrawal of the Germans was chaotic, partly because they did not want to surrender to the Rotterdammers but to the Allies. On May 7, the German commander has still not capitulated, but commanders of the Interior Forces take up residence in the town hall. The mayor and aldermen of the NSB and some other wrong leaders are arrested. Rotterdam suffered like no other city during this war. Already at the beginning of the war, the old center was almost completely bombed by the Germans on 14 May 1940, with the aim of forcing the Dutch government to capitulate. In this film, the joy of the people of Rotterdam bursts from the screen. We see the vehicles of the liberators moving through the battered city, cheered by the crowds that have lined up all along the route. A large group of nurses even climbs on the army vehicles and gets carried away in the column of army vehicles.

PART-10: The Liberation of Venlo
===========================
: Venlo is a Dutch city in the southernmost province of Limburg. It is close to the German border on the river Muese. Venlo was one of the first cities in the Netherlands to be partly liberated from the German occupation around December 3, 1944. This only concerned the part of the city west of the river Muese near Blerick. The success of this partial liberation was due to Operation Nutcracker, conceived by British Major General Miles who was in command of the Second British Army. The east of Venlo remained in German hands until it was liberated in its entirety on the 1st of March 1945. Between December 1944 and March 1945, the Meuse formed the war front between the Allies and Germany. The eastern part of Venlo experienced the starvation winter, just like half of the Netherlands north of the three major rivers that cross and divide the country in the middle. This film shows unedited images from shortly after the complete liberation of Venlo in March 1945. We see the central preparation of soup in the municipal soup kitchen and its distribution on the Grote Markt in front of the, curiously enough, almost intact town hall. We also see water supply in the suburbs of the city. The service trucks belonged to the Food Flying Squad, an organization that alleviated the emergency in the liberated areas by distributing hot soup and providing drinking water in those towns and villages where the food supply had seriously stagnated and public facilities had failed. The trucks had been donated to the Food Flying Squad by various allied agencies.

PART-11: The Liberation of Zutphen
============================
: The Dutch town of Zutphen in the East of The Netherlands was liberated from the German occupiers on 6 th of April 1945 by the 3rd Canadean Infantery Divisie. It took great effort to take the town with many house-by-house combats. This film shows how the Canadeans enter the damaged city, how the local population celebrates their liberation and how collaborators are treated. For more details please listen to the spoken commentary under this video.