My uncle was with the Canadian Army in Holland. He passed away 40 years ago now, but the day he died he cried that he never got the chance to go back and thank the Dutch people for how they were so nice and helped Canadian troops there.
There's a lot of public events here around our liberation day (5th of May) that love speakers from friends and family. Especially down south / Arnhem area.
@@olafdemol9469 It might surprise you but the Dutch would even show up to a speech by a nephew of a Canadian veteran, also in the Veenendaal, Wageningen and Zeeland area there are big celebrations of the Canadians. Hell, May 5th last year here in Rotterdam I had the fortune of the view of 5 Canadian Shermans from my balcony.
my canadian grandfather was in the airforce and became quite sick and was sent to netherlands to recover and he also spoke highly of his time there. So just also wanted to say thanks to them as well for their hospitality and help.
My father almost starved to death in that hunger winter. Just after the war he was send to Switzerland in a train full of other children to live for a year in a Swiss family to get healthy again. My father couldn't stand seeing food thrown away, even bones with a tiny bit of meat was grabbed from our plates and eaten by him. He had a lifelong contact with his temporary Swiss parents.
The father of a good friend of mine was a medical officer with the 82nd Airborne. He was at Eindhoven in 9/44- wounded and decorated twice for bravery. He once said that you will NEVER find an American soldier who has anything but good things about the Dutch people.
Some peopme will never know what is to be hungry. I had never been, but sometimes, the money barely coukd buy bread. That is why i never leave food in a plate. I use to say, i eat al because there are people who cannot eat. People usually misunderstand my true belief
My great grandmother was one of the million people who had to live through that terrible winter. She died last year. She got to live to 92 years because of the allied help. Rest in piece and love you granny ❤
This changed the Netherlands more then most people think. It made us the most productive and innovating country on agricultural produce worldwide. Swedish bread that rained form the skies, corned beef/medical supplies that came in by truck. Still till today the famine and the fooddroppings are remembered. It was bad in the western part of the Netherlands. So imagine how it had to be for the people of Leningrad who sufferd a 3 year famine.
I really don't know anyone survived Leningrad, three years of hunger seems enough to wipe out an entire region. Btw - I'm sure the American army didn't mean to be derogative, but operation " Chowhound"? The Dutch were probably like, bitch, no ones had any chow here in months, lol
Niet persé helemaal waar. Nederland was altijd al vrij groot in Agrarische sector. Vooral door de moedernegotie etc. Maar dit zal zeker ook wel impact hebben gehad.
Now imagine suffering this not because an enemy has taken your food away, but because your glorious leader made extremely questionable agricultural policies which decimated food productions but refused to reduce exports because he didn't want to lose face
A friend originally from the Neth. in her 80's, now in the housing devlpmnt I live in, remembers being a child during the Hunger Winter very well. She didn't want to talk about it right then, except 1 story. But her set, clenched expression was eloquent. The story she did tell: It was Sinterklaas Eve 1944. Family & Neighbor kids gathered for what parents could scrounge & set aside for a treat. My friend looked on as the adult costumed as Sinterklaas scarfed (sneakily stole) several precious treats that were supposed to be for the children.
I am a 2nd generation post-war born Dutch, but the pictures of the food droppings can still make me pretty emotional...thank you so very much,, all veterans from the RAF, RCAF and USAF who came to the rescue of our grandparents and parents!
What a wonderful opportunity to hear first hand accounts from the war. If I had had this opportunity (my grandfather, a resistance fighter, died in the 1980s unfortunately) I would be sitting down and getting as much of it on paper as possible before it is lost. There aren't many unbiased recollections of life of ordinary people during WW2.
If she is willing to tell you, make sure you get her to tell you everything. My grandmother lived six months in the wilderness to hide from the Germans. Never told why she needed to hide or how she survived. But we know she and the family was in the resistance.
that's absolutely fascinating Marcel! you and a number of other commenters about this documentary have a story from history to tell.are you a Frenchman?
My grandfather was a navigator in an RAF Lancaster, and he never spoke about the operations he was involved in. The only exception was when he told us about air dropping food into Holland and re-patriating allied POWs at the end of the war. Thanks for adding context to one of his proudest achievements in uniform.
They told them they did good by dropping bombs over Germany. They forgot to tell them, they just killed civilians. If you get older and getting aware of it, you are happy to tell something good you did.
@@joepopes7923 'Just killed civilians' did they??? So what destroyed, the armaments factories, oil plants, submarine pens, the Tirpitz, Ruhr dams, marshalling yards, airfields etc?
Being a Dutch citizen, I thank you for showing and explaining this episode from the war! It is really an episode that deserves our gratitude to our allies, even after generations....
My father was 15 that winter in the Netherlands, my grandparents where in a camp in Germany, glad my father knew how to survive with 2 younger siblings till the liberation.
Great to learn, we need details on survival, as resisting occupations is still unexplained. We shoud express gratitude to experts in field as they were under pressures, alongside economy that suffered under the systematic industrial espionage. Problem evolved from time consuming administrative shortages, over-regulations and under-regulations prearanged🔚 during the 1980s only to retaliate against the UN and the USA.
Well told! In Holland we call this the “hongerwinter”, several old friends of mine have told me about it. It was horrible, but the food droppings came as a blessing from heaven, as is also intended by the name of the British mission (manna). Thanks a lot Mark!
You got to hand to the Brits when it comes to codenames. They are usually quite good and "Mana" was particularly on point. We still gratefully remember Bad Penny (A bad penny always turns up, another excellently chosen name) and those that followed. And of course many thanks to those at the "Chowhound" side of things, even if their codename kinda lets the side down. ;)
My grandfather was 10 at the time and lived in the The Hague during the “hongerwinter”. When I talked with him about the food droppings it brought him to tears (I never saw him cry before). He told me the planes flew so low he could see the pilots waving to him.
I am an American who has been to Holland many times as my wife is German, We used to have an apt in Aachen Germany.I have never met a more appreciative country towards the USA then the Dutch, as I've said in a post once before -most speak English and rather well, Flags fly to this day, from US, UK and Canada, by appreciative citizens. The US war Cemetary in Margraten is an amazing place, tended by locals. The Dutch people where and are worth fighting for .If anyone plans to go to Europe from a WWiI Allied nation, put this country on your bucket list- you wont be sorry
Itchy Boots (Dutch motorcycling channel) has a specific program about this memorialising that continues today, where Dutch families compete to earn the right to care for War Graves, which are "adopted" by locals.
@@Page-Hendryx You are incorrect in your assumption. I am talking about the _present generation's respect for past actions during WW2._ Itchy Boots *demonstrates* in every program throughout the world that *the average citizen is most likely to be friendly, helpful and generous.* Be careful what you believe after reading or watching Mainstream Media, which has _orchestrated filtering_ masquerading as "independent coalface journalism." Unless you've been there yourself, met the people, and enquired about their views regarding any topic, you cannot accurately summarise the "thoughts and feelings" of a whole country of diverse personalities and outlooks.
@@Page-Hendryx just because you see something online doesn't mean it's true. People say Americans are bad people, I'm Canadian and have great respect for my American neighbours. Hard working, patriotic, blunt and forthcoming people.
My grandparents where Dutch farmers who were childeren during the hongerwinter. They told me tons of story’s about starving people traveling almost 100 Miles to the countryside to get food. Most of the time they where walking with wagons with wooden weels because the Germans seized all the rubber tires for the war effort. It wasn’t a save journey, if a German caught you you had a large chance of all Your food being taken. But luckely most people got trough.
Probably my grandmother was one of the people knocking at his door... She had to feed a family of 11 as her husband was killed during an (allied) air attack at the harbor of Vlaardingen (1943).
I visited my aunt and uncle in Westfalia during the 1970’s. They were ten year old refugee children at the end of the war. They had a cart, which you commonly see in documentaries, in their garden ...no rubber either! My uncle told me they were so hungry they made a soup from a weed called Brennessel. I’m sure there were Germans who were always well fed and had carts with rubber on them, but some obviously weren’t.
My grandfather cycles quite far from Amsterdam on his bycicle to collect food. As rubber was not available his tyres were completely shot. On the return trip after repairing his tyre for the x amount of time he gave up and cycled on his bare rims completely destroying the bycicle. Dont know what year that was unfortunatly.
My grandpa was a Dutchman. He frequently told me about this and how this helped him and his family survive. He always talked about it with gratitude in his voice.
My father's family was reduced to eating cabbage cores and tulip bulbs. My father and his younger sister almost died and were hospitalized due to malnutrition; both suffered rickets. Fortunately, the Allies got food through to the Dutch in time to save their lives. My family chose to live in Canada, in part because of their gratitude for the actions of the Canadian armed forces in this operation.
I've been a member of YT since the beginning. Mark Felton and his channel is by far the best channel. Factual, neutral, detailed, informative and interesting even for my uninterested wife. You rock 💕
My mother's family lived near Amersfoort at the time and endured the rigors of the ‘hongerwinter’ (including eating flower bulbs) .. the droppings helped them surviving the war... (and so I owe my life to the allied pilot heroes as well)
To many dutch, all allied soldiers and personnel are Heroes. And the people they left behind while doing their tasks. Of course there are differences, but I dont think those heroes did what they did because they want to be distinguished as heroes.
My mother was born a week after D Day, and was given wallpaper paste and tulip bulbs as food for her thirst nine months. It was because of these food drops that she lived. I will always be gratefull to the allies for this.
This is an amazing story. A few years ago I was travelling in a taxi in Holland and I mentioned this story. The driver told me he was one of the children who got the food. He remembered the taste of chocolate.
I have a letter my late dad, a Captain in the South Saskatchewan Regiment (Canada) sent home to my mother during the liberation of the Netherlands. In the letter he said that he and his unit's soldiers were giving all their rations away to Dutch children because the kids were starving.
My parents young teenagers at the end of war and told stories of CDN soldiers doing this very thing. Who knows, one such soldier could easily have been your father.
My late grandfather was in the SSR as well. They were ordered to not give away their rations as they needed to keep up their strength. He was proud that was one order they refused to obey. He only talked about the war a few times.....but he related he could not bear to see people so hungry.
@@hutch1111111 Do you know what Coy he was attached to ? Likewise, my dad never spoke about the war until a few weeks before he passed, and that was quite limited. He did refuse to ever ride in a Jeep. Even when my brother owned one for a few years. He was in one when he was wounded in April '45.
It's entirely possible that your dad is the reason that my grandparents survived the starving times. I grew up hearing stories about how my Oma and Opa lost so much weight during the last year of the war and how my great uncle wandered back from a labor camp weighing no more than 90 lbs. Thank him for his service the next time you visit his memorial, he truly was a hero.
"Nederland zal gras eten"(The Dutch will eat grass). That is what the Germans said when they entered the Netherlands in 1940. My mom (recently passed away at the age of 95) almost died at the end of the war due to starvation. She lived in Amsterdam and her PD told her mom that she would have died if the war would have lasted another 2 weeks. She wasn't able to get out of bed until much later so she was unable to see the droppings herself. I was raised with the idea that it was a crime to waste food. Thank you Mark Felton for this video.
My grandmother often told me about the bread dropped in these food droppings. "Better than cake!" She also told me of journeys out of the city of Amsterdam with an empty baby stroller, to get food. They'd walk in groups of women (men risked being taken to do forced labour) and would exchange wedding rings for a few potatoes etc. When they returned to the city, the German soldiers often confiscated their entire haul. She wasn't bitter, they said they were children, hardly grown up, and crying and hungry themselves.
What in the hell possessed the German troops to confiscate their food? Somebody decide that German soldiers were more important than the Dutch civilians?
@@BIGBLOCK5022006 well if you are commander of (most likely also starving) soldiers fighting war in foreign country then yeah these soldiers are more important than civilians, its not fair, but than again war never is
@E Smidt me? Well, treat others like you want to be treated yourself. What would I do as a teenager with a gun, about to be crushed by the allied forces? Hopefully not take civilians' food, but you never know.
My grandmother lived in Katwijk during the war. She vividly remembers what turned out to be operation Mana, close by Valkenburg Airbase. Their dog was scared, her sister hid in the closet because it reminded her of bombings. My grandmother remembered the bombers flying so low she could see the faces of the aircrew. She passed away earlier this year. Prior to her passing I got to record her stories from the war, which include her brothers hiding in the dunes to evade deportation to labour camps and her family and neighbors getting shot at while foraging the dunes for wood as fuel, which resulted in some civilians getting killed by German machinegun fire. Also, her family adopted a German shepherd puppy from German soldiers from the nearly German garrison.
Finally, someone who wants to save our glorious history, not destroy it to erase it, like what’s happening in the South. All over actually. We should learn from Russia on how to glorify your war warriors and workers. Look at their monuments to their sacrifices. 👍👍👏👏
My grandfather was in 53 Welsh division, xxx Corps. In the fighting around Nijmegen associated with Market Garden he was cut off and hidden by nuns, My entire life he hated onions, and as a small child I asked him why. He explained that for 7 days he had eaten nothing but onions fed to him by these nuns, I said that the nuns were very cruel. He said no, they fed me onions and ate flower bulbs themselves. They were starving and it was all that they had, but I promised myself that if I lived I would never eat another onion again, Thank god (whichever god you believe in) that for the last 2 generations we have been shared such experiences in Northern Europe.
Dr. Felton honors the Dutch civilians who suffered mightily and the airmen and negotiators who made this possible. One of humanities better moments and should be remembered by future generations. The Dutch suffered heavily right from the start with the savage bombing of Rotterdam through to the great hunger.
@@essexfarmer9610 I think they realized that they game was up and they were going to lose the war. Maybe try and put on the best face possible for your future captors.
We need high quality discussions on the WWI, details on security failures before the WWII. Dr. Mark Felton's work open the most important dialogue. Silence during the past four decades had caused a devastated economy and conflict enlargement.
@@essexfarmer9610 Germans were hungry, too. They had exhausted their own citizens for irrational industry. Without any chance to complain for years following orders only, they have disintegrated in a diversity of ways. It would be better if they have chosen to live respecting diversity of the cultural heritage.
Dr, thank you for always mentioning Canada's role in the war. Farley Mowat went on to be one of Canada's most read and beloved authors. He was a national icon and his death in 2014 was widely mourned. "The Boat that Wouldn't Float" is one of the funniest books I have ever read.
I am 54 years old and I love history. Most of the videos in this channel is new and valuable information to me, although I have read a lot of books about World War II i first time know about most of the Stories , Mark, your voice is wonderful.
Thank you so much Mark for covering this topic. My grandfather was a captain on the Lanc and flew in Operation Manna. He never talked about the war so all I have to go off is his logbook and some technical documents. There is a small section at the RAF Museum which has some info as well. Long time viewer, great to see your deserved success.
Thanks, Mr Felton. My grandpa was part of 'operation chow hound'...he was a pilot in the 390th squadron...the 'square J' squadron. It was nice to see the 'Square J' on the picture for the vid. He was very happy and proud to be part of that operation...nice to see y'all keeping it's memory alive.
I knew an old airman who was a navigator on one of those Lancasters. He told me just that ..you could see the barrels of the flak gunners staring right at you. They couldnt miss at 100 feet but they never fired a shot. He said they dropped Ovaltine chocolate. .he had passed away now a wonderful man he told me this story many years ago facinating to see Mark Felton telling the same thing. Great work.
My grandpa was 30 and my grandma 20 during this period. I remember when I was saying: 'I am starving' my grandpa used to say 'during the hunger winter we were starving, you are just hungry' Both were 93 when they died. They were not Jewish and had a good life, but the hunger winter was harsh! Thank you for this piece of history information about my country! Greetings from Haarlem, Netherlands
When Mark says 3 million people suffered the hunger winter, this means that in a country which only had ~9.1 million people in it 1/3 people starved. 1945 was also the most lethal year according to census records, with 141k deaths. Amost every Dutch family has members in it that suffered through this period. Some of these people are still alive 85 years later.
@Fred Jansen Although the west was hit the worst the influx of people trying to trade and get food through more creative means also strained the north. The Dutch resistance also moved children from the western cities that were dying of starvation to the northern provinces.
My grandfather was an artilleryman with 1st Canadian Army. He never said much about the war, but I remember as a young boy seeing him march with the veterans on Remembrance Day, and knowing he had been part of something very important.
Both of my parents lived on farms in Holland during the war. My mother was the 2nd oldest in a family of ten. She and her sisters were given the task of ensuring that the daily visits by many starving family's from nearby Utrecht were kept orderly and that no one got in line twice. She has told us of the many tricks her grandfather did to try and save as much food as possi la from confiscation. All farm produce was regulated and most was taken, leaving a bare minimum for the farm family let alone beggars. Her father dried and smoked chicory to extend his tobacco supply! My dad had a permit to operate farm equipment and perform farm operations for local farmers. While threshing grains, his machine was kept under lock and key by the German supervisor, so that he could only operate it under their scrutiny so that no grain could be kept for themselves. He also buried one of his tractors during the retreat of the German army for fear of it being confiscated and used as transportation by the retreating forces. He later dug it up and used it for the duration of the war. Family in Holland still have it. All of his powered equipment ran on wood which produced a combustible gas via a gasifier unit since no gasoline was available. They were liberated by the Canadians, moved here , Canada,and embraced their new home and country. They were not in combat so the stories they related were told with fewer bad memories than those of combat soldiers. I could write a small book of the experiences they told me
My parents had a book about this. A young Australian airman who was dropping food from a Lancaster also dropped a note with his name and address, which was picked up by a young Dutch girl. I think they wrote to each other for a while but then lost contact for about fifty years until finally they met. Many airmen also thought Operation Manna was the best thing they did during the war.
The thumbnail picture for this caught my eye. The B-17 with the "Square J" tail marking was part of the 390th Bombardment Group (H). My father was a co-pilot in 390th/570th based in Framlingham, England. He flew the "Chowhound" missions. He said on some runs as they were flying low and slow they could see the starving Dutch waving. On those flights he would fly with tears in his eyes. He returned to the Netherlands around 2000 with other USAAC veterans and were feted as heros by the Dutch. He also flew the first flights of the Berlin Airlift, before it was a mission. I am so PROUD of my father. Tears in my eyes now.
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
How tragic for that B-17 crew to die the day before the war ended because of an engine fire! The crews involved in Manna and Chowhound are truly selfless heroes who deserve to be remembered. Thanks for shining a light on yet another WW2 story I knew nothing about.
just shows you how infomative these videos are never heard of the this food blockade before.... so much sufferering and loss took place and never known or forgotten.... your work keeps reminds us of this horrific past so thank you for that
My father flew these missions on a B-17 bomber. It changed his life. Not just then, during the war, but many years later when the Dutch people invited the airmen back to the Netherlands and honored them for the missions. My father went to two of these "reunions". He could not believe the outpouring of emotion and gratitude from the Dutch people for a mission most Americans have never heard of.
One of the men who was sent by the Allies to discuss the Food Drops was Farley Mowat, who later became a prolific Canadian Author. The Dutch people are the kindest people in the world. They don't forget the sacrifices of the Allies for their Country. They are especially thankful for Canadian sacrifices, as I've seen at the cemeteries of Bergen-Op-Zoom, Groesbeek, and Holten. Thanks for the video Dr. Felton, Cheers Sir.
My family survived this at Hilversum, while my grandfather was still in a Dresden concentration camp my grandmother and her family were in the middle of this. They needed to bike with wooden wheels to the east of the netherlands to trade with valuebles like rings and stuff like that for potatoes and carrots, this journey took them some days in the freezing temperatures, when they came back at Hilversum the "moffen" as we called them took everything and they did everything in vain basically. I was taught to always finish my plate because thats what my parents were taught too because of this. My grandfather in particular had a long story but one moment in the camp was that he saw 15 soviet POWs jump on a mold covered piece of bread that a guard threw at them, this made such an impact that he always forced his kids eat every single crum.
Reminds me of the winter of '93 in Sarajevo. If it hadn''t been for the UN and the tunnel it would have gotten way worse than it was, and it was bad. Everyone made these little stoves from oil cans and burned anything they could. Gorazde was another matter. Totally cut off and the Serbs weren't budging. A Canadian UN officer worked out an entire scheme to supply the city by air, got it approved, and US and British transports began the drops. It ultimately saved the city.
this is one of the subjects that today most dutch people would never learn/know that happend. this was such an important part of the history for the Netherlands! i am glad that i learned about it in school. Thanks for these great videos, i hope that some people will learn about these important moments during the war. Greetings from the Netherlands!
To this very day, the Dutch elderly are extremely grateful for the brave effort of the Allies to feed and then liberate our country. I'm a generation younger, and yet I too remain grateful for the sacrifices made by our Allied friends.
Thanks for this, Mark Felton. My mother was a 14 year old at the time and she told me how she and her siblings and friends would try to scoop out the last bits of soup from the great barrels it was distributed from. Later during the winter she and a sister of hers walked for two days from Rotterdam to a place near Amsterdam where she had spent summers on a farm during WWII as part of a church programme that sent children away from cities to the countryside. On route they would stop at farms to ask for some bread. She spent the remainder of the winter and the war on the farm where she received good care. She is 90 years old today. About 25,000 people died during the last winter of the war. Seys Inquart (knicknamed "six and a quart") was a nasty fellow. A fanatic national-socialist who was PM of Austria when Germany took over the place in 1938. He later was active in Poland where he was brutal before he was sent to the Netherlands where is was equally brutal. Unlike most countries in occupied Europe, the Netherlands was under the administration of the SS, not of the Wehrmacht and that made the regime fanatically go after Jews and reappraisals were hard.
I knew of this operation through my friend`s dad who was a rea gunner of a Lancaster in the war. He was involved in these food drops. I remember him telling me of the bullet holes that a number of aircraft suffered, tensions were high. Thank you for posting this interesting and informative video.
My father, F/O Bernard Miller, flew Chowhound missions in May, 1945. He was a B-17 Co-Pilot with the 8th USAAF, 384th Bombing Group, 547th Squadron. Unfortunately he passed away when I was very young, but my mother retold his stories to me. It's nice to know they weren't just stories, but real history.
This video and the comment section, with everyone coming together and sharing stories and love with one another... it’s enough to make a grown man cry.
I met a Lancaster pilot from the RCAF named Joe English who participated in the "Manna" drops. This was about 20 years ago in Nanton, Alberta, Canada at the Bomber Command Museum. He did say that the Luftwaffe were indeed at their guns, tracking them as they flew by.
You seem surprised that the Germans were ready to confront subterfuge on the part of the Allies. If the first casualty of war is the truth...trust is not far behind.
@@williamweigt7632 They had been shooting down Lancs the whole war, so I was not at all surprised, I know that they would have loved to pull the trigger.
@@alanwood5857 Trust my experience... if someone with a powerful weapon would “love to pull the trigger”...they always do. Let’s remember that few of the men and women who fought in that war got to choose how they spent their time from 1939-1945. Respect. 🤘
We are under the gross misconception that we are a good species going somewhere important and that at the last minute we will correct our errors and God will smile on us. It is delusion. Farley Mowat : He wrote this regarding the environment but it applies to war as well.
Farley Mowat is an excellent author. I'm Canadian, they made us read Lost in the Barrens (Two Against the North) in grade school. It honestly influenced my life forever, might sound silly but it made me want to be an independent man that knows how to look after myself and my family. Great man.
A friend of mine's father was one of the Dutch civilians who starved that winter and remembered the airdrops. He said they would boil the bark of certain trees and there were no pets or small wild animals like squirrels around as they were eaten.
Yes my stepfather was a young teen living in Amsterdam at that time. He told us of he and his mother boiling up grass to eat as there was nothing else.
My grandfather lived in Amsterdam as a teenager during the war. He talked a lot about these drops, hungerwinter and the war in general. Unfortunatly he passed away last summer, im glad he told me all the stories. He took me and my brother to Normandy and museums .It made me the ww2 history geek i am today. He will be missed.
My dad flew a few of those missions. He was a ground crewman in England at the time and said the flight crews and officers were pretty easy going about taking on ride alongs. He said they flew quite a lot of "red cross" missions. Wish I saw this twenty years ago, would have been good for a story I'm sure.
I have a friend who almost starved to death during the Hunger Winter. He emigrated to Canada after the War. About 10 years ago, there was a commemoration of the liberation of the Netherlands in Edmonton, AB. There was a young woman carrying a sign that said simply, 'Thank You, Canada'.
I remember seeing on TV on the 50th anniversary a Dutch Grandmother holding her Grandsons hand and saying to him as a Lancaster flew over "That is the sound of FREEDOM"
It's great to see a video on this crucial operation. Even in the midst of horrendous suffering and death the dignity and nobility of humanity will often shine through.
My grandfather was a boy in winter 1944 in Holland, he told me they were starving, he became quite wealthy later and still never in my life did I see him waste food.
"S for Sugar," one of the 17 surviving Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, now on exhibit at the Royal Air Force Museum in London, successfully completed 137 combat missions, and also participated in Operation Manna, and also POW repatriation (all info from Wikipedia). The Allied bomber crews who participated in the food drops over The Netherlands said that the deliveries of food, medicine, and other supplies were their favorite missions of the war. One Dutch farmer even cut these words into his field: "MANY THANKS YANKS." Mercy at the end of the world's worst conflict.
I heard that this incident changed the Netherlands in a very huge way. Making their agriculture to innovate and advance further to what it is now. Glad Dr Felton covered this mission, thank you Mark. You make Me want to learn more and more.
I'm a 24y old Dutch guy and I love to read all the stories about family who went through it. my deepest respect for those who fought for the Netherlands. thanks again.
The late, prolific Canadian author Farley Mowat was one of the Canadians sent into the Netherlands to negotiate the Allied food drops with the German occupying forces. You might want do a bit of research on Mowat and his effort as he wrote extensively about this time and his personal involvement - and maybe consider doing a video about him.
Thank you Mark for covering this topic! I am from The Netherlands and my Grandpa always told me stories about how he had such trouble to find food during that time! It was a real struggle for him unknowing if he and his family had something to eat in the end of day... Always gives me the chills when I think about it!
Back in the 90s I met a former RAF bomb aimer whose Lancaster participated in these food drops. He said it was very menacing, flying slowly at low altitude during daylight, with the German flak guns clearly visible and pointing at him.
Thank you for telling this story Mark. Like many others, my parents and their families went through this terrible time near the end of FIVE years of German occupation. Dad told me of eating rats and I also heard of people making soup from the protein in their hair which they boiled in water.
@Ich Kämpfe Remember the population of the allied countries were also short if food. I can't can't ever remember corned beef being available, plus a lot of other food items. Everything was rationed. I often forget to buy eggs, all the eggs in our home were for my father, who worked in an Iron Foundry, no automation then. It was very heavy work. When he was in his early fifties he was told that he had the body if an eighty year old, due to the work he did.
As a Dutchman, I really liked this episode. I did know of the airdroppings of the Commonwealth and later the USA, I did not know there where also trucks involved. It are the small details I pick up from your video's and I love it!
great video! I love how Dr Felton gets into the lesser known , but often more interesting bits of history , that are often overlooked by the "big picture". Thank you
My uncle was with the Canadian Army in Holland. He passed away 40 years ago now, but the day he died he cried that he never got the chance to go back and thank the Dutch people for how they were so nice and helped Canadian troops there.
We Dutch feel the same about your uncle and all allied soldiers like him.
Brent, wouldn't it be fantastic if YOU went to Holland to speak to a lecture hall full of Dutch citizens to say how you are here for your uncle?!
There's a lot of public events here around our liberation day (5th of May) that love speakers from friends and family. Especially down south / Arnhem area.
@@olafdemol9469 It might surprise you but the Dutch would even show up to a speech by a nephew of a Canadian veteran, also in the Veenendaal, Wageningen and Zeeland area there are big celebrations of the Canadians. Hell, May 5th last year here in Rotterdam I had the fortune of the view of 5 Canadian Shermans from my balcony.
my canadian grandfather was in the airforce and became quite sick and was sent to netherlands to recover and he also spoke highly of his time there. So just also wanted to say thanks to them as well for their hospitality and help.
My father almost starved to death in that hunger winter. Just after the war he was send to Switzerland in a train full of other children to live for a year in a Swiss family to get healthy again. My father couldn't stand seeing food thrown away, even bones with a tiny bit of meat was grabbed from our plates and eaten by him. He had a lifelong contact with his temporary Swiss parents.
that's beautiful.... thank you for sharing.....
Very cool!
The father of a good friend of mine was a medical officer with the 82nd Airborne. He was at Eindhoven in 9/44- wounded and decorated twice for bravery. He once said that you will NEVER find an American soldier who has anything but good things about the Dutch people.
Some peopme will never know what is to be hungry. I had never been, but sometimes, the money barely coukd buy bread. That is why i never leave food in a plate. I use to say, i eat al because there are people who cannot eat. People usually misunderstand my true belief
🇺🇸 god bless him
My great grandmother was one of the million people who had to live through that terrible winter. She died last year. She got to live to 92 years because of the allied help.
Rest in piece and love you granny ❤
This changed the Netherlands more then most people think.
It made us the most productive and innovating country on agricultural produce worldwide.
Swedish bread that rained form the skies, corned beef/medical supplies that came in by truck.
Still till today the famine and the fooddroppings are remembered.
It was bad in the western part of the Netherlands.
So imagine how it had to be for the people of Leningrad who sufferd a 3 year famine.
I really don't know anyone survived Leningrad, three years of hunger seems enough to wipe out an entire region.
Btw - I'm sure the American army didn't mean to be derogative, but operation " Chowhound"? The Dutch were probably like, bitch, no ones had any chow here in months, lol
Niet persé helemaal waar. Nederland was altijd al vrij groot in Agrarische sector. Vooral door de moedernegotie etc. Maar dit zal zeker ook wel impact hebben gehad.
Yes Im assuming you didnt have widespread cannibalism
Now imagine suffering this not because an enemy has taken your food away, but because your glorious leader made extremely questionable agricultural policies which decimated food productions but refused to reduce exports because he didn't want to lose face
A friend originally from the Neth. in her 80's, now in the housing devlpmnt I live in, remembers being a child during the Hunger Winter very well. She didn't want to talk about it right then, except 1 story. But her set, clenched expression was eloquent. The story she did tell: It was Sinterklaas Eve 1944. Family & Neighbor kids gathered for what parents could scrounge & set aside for a treat. My friend looked on as the adult costumed as Sinterklaas scarfed (sneakily stole) several precious treats that were supposed to be for the children.
I am a 2nd generation post-war born Dutch, but the pictures of the food droppings can still make me pretty emotional...thank you so very much,, all veterans from the RAF, RCAF and USAF who came to the rescue of our grandparents and parents!
My mother was a young girl those days, but still can vividly remember these drops ....
What a wonderful opportunity to hear first hand accounts from the war. If I had had this opportunity (my grandfather, a resistance fighter, died in the 1980s unfortunately) I would be sitting down and getting as much of it on paper as possible before it is lost. There aren't many unbiased recollections of life of ordinary people during WW2.
First hand accounts are pretty much gone
Same for my grandmother
If she is willing to tell you, make sure you get her to tell you everything. My grandmother lived six months in the wilderness to hide from the Germans. Never told why she needed to hide or how she survived. But we know she and the family was in the resistance.
that's absolutely fascinating Marcel! you and a number of other commenters about this documentary have a story from history to tell.are you a Frenchman?
My grandfather was a navigator in an RAF Lancaster, and he never spoke about the operations he was involved in. The only exception was when he told us about air dropping food into Holland and re-patriating allied POWs at the end of the war. Thanks for adding context to one of his proudest achievements in uniform.
They told them they did good by dropping bombs over Germany. They forgot to tell them, they just killed civilians. If you get older and getting aware of it, you are happy to tell something good you did.
@@joepopes7923 crybaby
@@joepopes7923 'Just killed civilians' did they??? So what destroyed, the armaments factories, oil plants, submarine pens, the Tirpitz, Ruhr dams, marshalling yards, airfields etc?
@@x.y.z1315 Agreed.
@@petermorris3665 Most of that was done by small precision bombers. Watch some pictures from German cities of that time and you will know what I mean.
Being a Dutch citizen, I thank you for showing and explaining this episode from the war! It is really an episode that deserves our gratitude to our allies, even after generations....
Thank! My dad saw the packs falling...he was 18 , in the Hague . He is now 93!
Wow, sir, your dad is tough👍
Was he a natzi why wasn't he fighting with the partisans then eh 18 I would
I guess he was in hiding as well, most men aged 17 would be drafted to work as forced labor in other Nazi occupied territories.
My father was 15 that winter in the Netherlands, my grandparents where in a camp in Germany, glad my father knew how to survive with 2 younger siblings till the liberation.
Great to learn, we need details on survival, as resisting occupations is still unexplained. We shoud express gratitude to experts in field as they were under pressures, alongside economy that suffered under the systematic industrial espionage. Problem evolved from time consuming administrative shortages, over-regulations and under-regulations prearanged🔚 during the 1980s only to retaliate against the UN and the USA.
How did they survive?
Well told! In Holland we call this the “hongerwinter”, several old friends of mine have told me about it. It was horrible, but the food droppings came as a blessing from heaven, as is also intended by the name of the British mission (manna). Thanks a lot Mark!
You got to hand to the Brits when it comes to codenames. They are usually quite good and "Mana" was particularly on point.
We still gratefully remember Bad Penny (A bad penny always turns up, another excellently chosen name) and those that followed.
And of course many thanks to those at the "Chowhound" side of things, even if their codename kinda lets the side down. ;)
I like to imagine there was a huge 1940's era analogue computer somewhere in Bletchley Park that randomly generated mission codenames.
@@jpaulc441 Or possibly the Light Entertainment Department at the BBC.
@@Elmarby Well Mana was already taken, so Chowhound was not too bad.
@@Elmarby Faust too, a codename for the trucks as a deal with the devil I think
My grandfather was 10 at the time and lived in the The Hague during the “hongerwinter”. When I talked with him about the food droppings it brought him to tears (I never saw him cry before). He told me the planes flew so low he could see the pilots waving to him.
I am an American who has been to Holland many times as my wife is German, We used to have an apt in Aachen Germany.I have never met a more appreciative country towards the USA then the Dutch, as I've said in a post once before -most speak English and rather well, Flags fly to this day, from US, UK and Canada, by appreciative citizens. The US war Cemetary in Margraten is an amazing place, tended by locals.
The Dutch people where and are worth fighting for .If anyone plans to go to Europe from a WWiI Allied nation, put this country on your bucket list- you wont be sorry
Itchy Boots (Dutch motorcycling channel) has a specific program about this memorialising that continues today, where Dutch families compete to earn the right to care for War Graves, which are "adopted" by locals.
Well you're talking about WWII. But the Dutch are fairly anti-American otherwise.
@@Page-Hendryx You are incorrect in your assumption. I am talking about the _present generation's respect for past actions during WW2._ Itchy Boots *demonstrates* in every program throughout the world that *the average citizen is most likely to be friendly, helpful and generous.* Be careful what you believe after reading or watching Mainstream Media, which has _orchestrated filtering_ masquerading as "independent coalface journalism."
Unless you've been there yourself, met the people, and enquired about their views regarding any topic, you cannot accurately summarise the "thoughts and feelings" of a whole country of diverse personalities and outlooks.
@@Page-Hendryx You're full of refried beans. Back to your corner in your mom's basement.
@@Page-Hendryx just because you see something online doesn't mean it's true. People say Americans are bad people, I'm Canadian and have great respect for my American neighbours. Hard working, patriotic, blunt and forthcoming people.
My grandparents where Dutch farmers who were childeren during the hongerwinter. They told me tons of story’s about starving people traveling almost 100 Miles to the countryside to get food.
Most of the time they where walking with wagons with wooden weels because the Germans seized all the rubber tires for the war effort.
It wasn’t a save journey, if a German caught you you had a large chance of all Your food being taken. But luckely most people got trough.
Probably my grandmother was one of the people knocking at his door... She had to feed a family of 11 as her husband was killed during an (allied) air attack at the harbor of Vlaardingen (1943).
My grandmother has told me similar stories. They were even shot at once
I visited my aunt and uncle in Westfalia during the 1970’s. They were ten year old refugee children at the end of the war. They had a cart, which you commonly see in documentaries, in their garden ...no rubber either! My uncle told me they were so hungry they made a soup from a weed called Brennessel. I’m sure there were Germans who were always well fed and had carts with rubber on them, but some obviously weren’t.
My grandmother cycled from Utrecht to Twente on wooden tyres fror a bag of potatoes during the hongerwinter , she was only 15 at the time.
My grandfather cycles quite far from Amsterdam on his bycicle to collect food. As rubber was not available his tyres were completely shot. On the return trip after repairing his tyre for the x amount of time he gave up and cycled on his bare rims completely destroying the bycicle. Dont know what year that was unfortunatly.
My grandpa was a Dutchman. He frequently told me about this and how this helped him and his family survive. He always talked about it with gratitude in his voice.
My father's family was reduced to eating cabbage cores and tulip bulbs. My father and his younger sister almost died and were hospitalized due to malnutrition; both suffered rickets. Fortunately, the Allies got food through to the Dutch in time to save their lives. My family chose to live in Canada, in part because of their gratitude for the actions of the Canadian armed forces in this operation.
I've been a member of YT since the beginning. Mark Felton and his channel is by far the best channel. Factual, neutral, detailed, informative and interesting even for my uninterested wife. You rock 💕
My mother's family lived near Amersfoort at the time and endured the rigors of the ‘hongerwinter’ (including eating flower bulbs) .. the droppings helped them surviving the war... (and so I owe my life to the allied pilot heroes as well)
@Car Tifusar nah, this is an apt use
Mine at noordwijk on ze' but my grandparents were very resourceful living off the land and sea cockle/shell and fishing.
@Car Tifusar Risk your life to save others, it qualifies.
@Car Tifusar In this case hero is true.
To many dutch, all allied soldiers and personnel are Heroes. And the people they left behind while doing their tasks. Of course there are differences, but I dont think those heroes did what they did because they want to be distinguished as heroes.
The intro music playing with Mark stood there was incredibly menacing
i’m dead
Hello good to see you here
Neat
Like ya butt G
Great minds collide
My mother was born a week after D Day, and was given wallpaper paste and tulip bulbs as food for her thirst nine months. It was because of these food drops that she lived. I will always be gratefull to the allies for this.
There's nothing quite like authentic Dutch cuisine to stick to the ribs, eh?
Ever since, she's never thrown food away, and is an ace decorator.
This is an amazing story. A few years ago I was travelling in a taxi in Holland and I mentioned this story. The driver told me he was one of the children who got the food. He remembered the taste of chocolate.
I have a letter my late dad, a Captain in the South Saskatchewan Regiment (Canada) sent home to my mother during the liberation of the Netherlands. In the letter he said that he and his unit's soldiers were giving all their rations away to Dutch children because the kids were starving.
My parents young teenagers at the end of war and told stories of CDN soldiers doing this very thing. Who knows, one such soldier could easily have been your father.
such a good man..
My late grandfather was in the SSR as well. They were ordered to not give away their rations as they needed to keep up their strength. He was proud that was one order they refused to obey. He only talked about the war a few times.....but he related he could not bear to see people so hungry.
@@hutch1111111 Do you know what Coy he was attached to ? Likewise, my dad never spoke about the war until a few weeks before he passed, and that was quite limited. He did refuse to ever ride in a Jeep. Even when my brother owned one for a few years. He was in one when he was wounded in April '45.
It's entirely possible that your dad is the reason that my grandparents survived the starving times. I grew up hearing stories about how my Oma and Opa lost so much weight during the last year of the war and how my great uncle wandered back from a labor camp weighing no more than 90 lbs. Thank him for his service the next time you visit his memorial, he truly was a hero.
"Nederland zal gras eten"(The Dutch will eat grass). That is what the Germans said when they entered the Netherlands in 1940. My mom (recently passed away at the age of 95) almost died at the end of the war due to starvation. She lived in Amsterdam and her PD told her mom that she would have died if the war would have lasted another 2 weeks. She wasn't able to get out of bed until much later so she was unable to see the droppings herself. I was raised with the idea that it was a crime to waste food. Thank you Mark Felton for this video.
lol droppings are what birds do as they fly, the poop ... s'okay, the word works for the air drops too
My grandmother often told me about the bread dropped in these food droppings. "Better than cake!" She also told me of journeys out of the city of Amsterdam with an empty baby stroller, to get food. They'd walk in groups of women (men risked being taken to do forced labour) and would exchange wedding rings for a few potatoes etc. When they returned to the city, the German soldiers often confiscated their entire haul. She wasn't bitter, they said they were children, hardly grown up, and crying and hungry themselves.
What in the hell possessed the German troops to confiscate their food? Somebody decide that German soldiers were more important than the Dutch civilians?
@@BIGBLOCK5022006 well if you are commander of (most likely also starving) soldiers fighting war in foreign country then yeah these soldiers are more important than civilians, its not fair, but than again war never is
@@BIGBLOCK5022006 National SOCIALISM Third Reich people was hungry from 1941
Did the Germans 'mess around' with some of the Dutch girls/women?
@E Smidt me? Well, treat others like you want to be treated yourself. What would I do as a teenager with a gun, about to be crushed by the allied forces? Hopefully not take civilians' food, but you never know.
My grandmother lived in Katwijk during the war. She vividly remembers what turned out to be operation Mana, close by Valkenburg Airbase. Their dog was scared, her sister hid in the closet because it reminded her of bombings. My grandmother remembered the bombers flying so low she could see the faces of the aircrew.
She passed away earlier this year. Prior to her passing I got to record her stories from the war, which include her brothers hiding in the dunes to evade deportation to labour camps and her family and neighbors getting shot at while foraging the dunes for wood as fuel, which resulted in some civilians getting killed by German machinegun fire. Also, her family adopted a German shepherd puppy from German soldiers from the nearly German garrison.
Please accept my condolences for the loss of your beloved grandmother. How wonderful that you were able to document her memories for your family.
Just one of the few youtubers keeping history's flame lit and bringing light to so many brave men and womens stories
Finally, someone who wants to save our glorious history, not destroy it to erase it, like what’s happening in the South. All over actually. We should learn from Russia on how to glorify your war warriors and workers. Look at their monuments to their sacrifices. 👍👍👏👏
My grandfather was in 53 Welsh division, xxx Corps.
In the fighting around Nijmegen associated with Market Garden he was cut off and hidden by nuns,
My entire life he hated onions, and as a small child I asked him why. He explained that for 7 days he had eaten nothing but onions fed to him by these nuns, I said that the nuns were very cruel. He said no, they fed me onions and ate flower bulbs themselves. They were starving and it was all that they had, but I promised myself that if I lived I would never eat another onion again,
Thank god (whichever god you believe in) that for the last 2 generations we have been shared such experiences in Northern Europe.
Dr. Felton honors the Dutch civilians who suffered mightily and the airmen and negotiators who made this possible. One of humanities better moments and should be remembered by future generations. The Dutch suffered heavily right from the start with the savage bombing of Rotterdam through to the great hunger.
And it was pleasantly surprising that the Germans allowed the food through.
@@essexfarmer9610 I think they realized that they game was up and they were going to lose the war. Maybe try and put on the best face possible for your future captors.
@@essexfarmer9610 Well, they did not needed to pay it by them self, was for free...
We need high quality discussions on the WWI, details on security failures before the WWII. Dr. Mark Felton's work open the most important dialogue. Silence during the past four decades had caused a devastated economy and conflict enlargement.
@@essexfarmer9610
Germans were hungry, too. They had exhausted their own citizens for irrational industry. Without any chance to complain for years following orders only, they have disintegrated in a diversity of ways. It would be better if they have chosen to live respecting diversity of the cultural heritage.
Dr, thank you for always mentioning Canada's role in the war. Farley Mowat went on to be one of Canada's most read and beloved authors. He was a national icon and his death in 2014 was widely mourned. "The Boat that Wouldn't Float" is one of the funniest books I have ever read.
The dog that wouldn't be. 😂
I have great affection for Canada - spent some wonderful research trips there in the early 2000s.
@KAPT Kipper : And not just in Canada.
@@MarkFeltonProductions Come back anytime.
And no bird sang is a great Mowat book.
I am 54 years old and I love history. Most of the videos in this channel is new and valuable information to me, although I have read a lot of books about World War II i first time know about most of the Stories , Mark, your voice is wonderful.
The Mark felton army looks unstoppable in reaching 1 million subscribers and any resistance to it will be crushed mercilessly
And then SCRAPPED!
Thank you so much Mark for covering this topic. My grandfather was a captain on the Lanc and flew in Operation Manna.
He never talked about the war so all I have to go off is his logbook and some technical documents.
There is a small section at the RAF Museum which has some info as well.
Long time viewer, great to see your deserved success.
Thanks, Mr Felton. My grandpa was part of 'operation chow hound'...he was a pilot in the 390th squadron...the 'square J' squadron. It was nice to see the 'Square J' on the picture for the vid. He was very happy and proud to be part of that operation...nice to see y'all keeping it's memory alive.
Sean Carney thanks man for your story
I knew an old airman who was a navigator on one of those Lancasters. He told me just that ..you could see the barrels of the flak gunners staring right at you. They couldnt miss at 100 feet but they never fired a shot. He said they dropped Ovaltine chocolate. .he had passed away now a wonderful man he told me this story many years ago facinating to see Mark Felton telling the same thing. Great work.
My grandpa was 30 and my grandma 20 during this period. I remember when I was saying: 'I am starving' my grandpa used to say 'during the hunger winter we were starving, you are just hungry' Both were 93 when they died. They were not Jewish and had a good life, but the hunger winter was harsh! Thank you for this piece of history information about my country! Greetings from Haarlem, Netherlands
When Mark says 3 million people suffered the hunger winter, this means that in a country which only had ~9.1 million people in it 1/3 people starved. 1945 was also the most lethal year according to census records, with 141k deaths. Amost every Dutch family has members in it that suffered through this period. Some of these people are still alive 85 years later.
@Fred Jansen Although the west was hit the worst the influx of people trying to trade and get food through more creative means also strained the north. The Dutch resistance also moved children from the western cities that were dying of starvation to the northern provinces.
Even in a neverwinter nation in Southeast Asia like mine our grandparents suffered and died from the great starvation during Japanese occupation.
I recall reading that there was a demographic bulge of people reaching their 100th birthday among survivors of that period.
@@PxThucydides Thus heralding recent diet practices of Intermittent Fasting perhaps?
@@BrassLock No obesitas at all. Only German generals knew what that was.
My grandfather was an artilleryman with 1st Canadian Army. He never said much about the war, but I remember as a young boy seeing him march with the veterans on Remembrance Day, and knowing he had been part of something very important.
Both of my parents lived on farms in Holland during the war. My mother was the 2nd oldest in a family of ten. She and her sisters were given the task of ensuring that the daily visits by many starving family's from nearby Utrecht were kept orderly and that no one got in line twice. She has told us of the many tricks her grandfather did to try and save as much food as possi la from confiscation. All farm produce was regulated and most was taken, leaving a bare minimum for the farm family let alone beggars. Her father dried and smoked chicory to extend his tobacco supply! My dad had a permit to operate farm equipment and perform farm operations for local farmers. While threshing grains, his machine was kept under lock and key by the German supervisor, so that he could only operate it under their scrutiny so that no grain could be kept for themselves. He also buried one of his tractors during the retreat of the German army for fear of it being confiscated and used as transportation by the retreating forces. He later dug it up and used it for the duration of the war. Family in Holland still have it. All of his powered equipment ran on wood which produced a combustible gas via a gasifier unit since no gasoline was available. They were liberated by the Canadians, moved here , Canada,and embraced their new home and country. They were not in combat so the stories they related were told with fewer bad memories than those of combat soldiers. I could write a small book of the experiences they told me
please do so.. so the next generation will know too.
Please do man
Please do!
My parents had a book about this. A young Australian airman who was dropping food from a Lancaster also dropped a note with his name and address, which was picked up by a young Dutch girl. I think they wrote to each other for a while but then lost contact for about fifty years until finally they met. Many airmen also thought Operation Manna was the best thing they did during the war.
The thumbnail picture for this caught my eye. The B-17 with the "Square J" tail marking was part of the 390th Bombardment Group (H). My father was a co-pilot in 390th/570th based in Framlingham, England. He flew the "Chowhound" missions. He said on some runs as they were flying low and slow they could see the starving Dutch waving. On those flights he would fly with tears in his eyes. He returned to the Netherlands around 2000 with other USAAC veterans and were feted as heros by the Dutch. He also flew the first flights of the Berlin Airlift, before it was a mission. I am so PROUD of my father. Tears in my eyes now.
I am proud of their unselfish acts.doing risky mission.hats off to your dad.
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
My Father was part of the 390th's 571st Squadron Ordinance and was involved in loading the Group's B-17's for Operation Chowhound. Dad recollected recollected recollected
@@csxbucky2537 My father flew 3 missions he said they rigged up the bomb bays with plywood that was hinged
My opa went thru this. He said it was hell. He’s currently writing his story about it.
It wasnt hell, not even close. Compared to the eastern front and beeing a civilian there, this was a small inconvinience.
@@noobster4779 wow bro i bet you are really smart or maybe u were even there at both places so u are an expert at it!
@@noobster4779 I guess 30k people starving to death is indeed just a small inconvience.
@@noobster4779 wtf
@@noobster4779 Who are you to tell a survivor of mass starvation that their suffering “wasn’t that bad”? You should be ashamed.
How tragic for that B-17 crew to die the day before the war ended because of an engine fire! The crews involved in Manna and Chowhound are truly selfless heroes who deserve to be remembered. Thanks for shining a light on yet another WW2 story I knew nothing about.
just shows you how infomative these videos are never heard of the this food blockade before.... so much sufferering and loss took place and never known or forgotten.... your work keeps reminds us of this horrific past so thank you for that
My father flew these missions on a B-17 bomber. It changed his life. Not just then, during the war, but many years later when the Dutch people invited the airmen back to the Netherlands and honored them for the missions. My father went to two of these "reunions". He could not believe the outpouring of emotion and gratitude from the Dutch people for a mission most Americans have never heard of.
One of the men who was sent by the Allies to discuss the Food Drops was Farley Mowat, who later became a prolific Canadian Author. The Dutch people are the kindest people in the world. They don't forget the sacrifices of the Allies for their Country. They are especially thankful for Canadian sacrifices, as I've seen at the cemeteries of Bergen-Op-Zoom, Groesbeek, and Holten. Thanks for the video Dr. Felton, Cheers Sir.
And here's another thing I've learned about this war that I had never heard of before, so informative. Thanks for posting.
My family survived this at Hilversum, while my grandfather was still in a Dresden concentration camp my grandmother and her family were in the middle of this. They needed to bike with wooden wheels to the east of the netherlands to trade with valuebles like rings and stuff like that for potatoes and carrots, this journey took them some days in the freezing temperatures, when they came back at Hilversum the "moffen" as we called them took everything and they did everything in vain basically. I was taught to always finish my plate because thats what my parents were taught too because of this. My grandfather in particular had a long story but one moment in the camp was that he saw 15 soviet POWs jump on a mold covered piece of bread that a guard threw at them, this made such an impact that he always forced his kids eat every single crum.
Not trying to be funny but it could be one of the reasons why we're among the tallest people in the world on average now. :D
Never seen "rotten bread."
@@allenwatkins4972 happy now
@@allenwatkins4972 you must be from the USA
Jason, PLEASE document this on paper before the WWII generation passes away...
Thank you Dr. Felton. My Opa (who was active in the resistance), Oma, my mother and her sisters survived this.
Reminds me of the winter of '93 in Sarajevo. If it hadn''t been for the UN and the tunnel it would have gotten way worse than it was, and it was bad. Everyone made these little stoves from oil cans and burned anything they could.
Gorazde was another matter. Totally cut off and the Serbs weren't budging. A Canadian UN officer worked out an entire scheme to supply the city by air, got it approved, and US and British transports began the drops. It ultimately saved the city.
Wooww something I'll look into
this is one of the subjects that today most dutch people would never learn/know that happend. this was such an important part of the history for the Netherlands! i am glad that i learned about it in school. Thanks for these great videos, i hope that some people will learn about these important moments during the war. Greetings from the Netherlands!
Dit wordt nog steeds geleerd op school hoor.
Excellent presentation that puts a lot of in-depth flesh on the bones of the events. Thanks.
Mark is the best historical TH-camr, breath if you agree
*Breathing intensifies*
I’m wheezing
I'm on OXYGEN
Goerge Floyd :
I agree, but I'm not going to breath for you.
**Dies**
To this very day, the Dutch elderly are extremely grateful for the brave effort of the Allies to feed and then liberate our country. I'm a generation younger, and yet I too remain grateful for the sacrifices made by our Allied friends.
I subscribed when there were about 50 thousand people signed up, now you’re creeping up on a million. Thank you and well done sir, well done indeed.
Thanks for this, Mark Felton. My mother was a 14 year old at the time and she told me how she and her siblings and friends would try to scoop out the last bits of soup from the great barrels it was distributed from. Later during the winter she and a sister of hers walked for two days from Rotterdam to a place near Amsterdam where she had spent summers on a farm during WWII as part of a church programme that sent children away from cities to the countryside. On route they would stop at farms to ask for some bread. She spent the remainder of the winter and the war on the farm where she received good care. She is 90 years old today.
About 25,000 people died during the last winter of the war. Seys Inquart (knicknamed "six and a quart") was a nasty fellow. A fanatic national-socialist who was PM of Austria when Germany took over the place in 1938. He later was active in Poland where he was brutal before he was sent to the Netherlands where is was equally brutal. Unlike most countries in occupied Europe, the Netherlands was under the administration of the SS, not of the Wehrmacht and that made the regime fanatically go after Jews and reappraisals were hard.
I knew of this operation through my friend`s dad who was a rea gunner of a Lancaster in the war. He was involved in these food drops. I remember him telling me of the bullet holes that a number of aircraft suffered, tensions were high. Thank you for posting this interesting and informative video.
Never change your intro music, it's one of the most iconic intros of all the history channels I watch :)
Depend on Mr. Felton to uncover historical events like no one else can do. Another amazing story!
My father, F/O Bernard Miller, flew Chowhound missions in May, 1945. He was a B-17 Co-Pilot with the 8th USAAF, 384th Bombing Group, 547th Squadron. Unfortunately he passed away when I was very young, but my mother retold his stories to me. It's nice to know they weren't just stories, but real history.
This video and the comment section, with everyone coming together and sharing stories and love with one another... it’s enough to make a grown man cry.
I met a Lancaster pilot from the RCAF named Joe English who participated in the "Manna" drops. This was about 20 years ago in Nanton, Alberta, Canada at the Bomber Command Museum. He did say that the Luftwaffe were indeed at their guns, tracking them as they flew by.
You seem surprised that the Germans were ready to confront subterfuge on the part of the Allies. If the first casualty of war is the truth...trust is not far behind.
@@williamweigt7632 They had been shooting down Lancs the whole war, so I was not at all surprised, I know that they would have loved to pull the trigger.
@@alanwood5857 Trust my experience... if someone with a powerful weapon would “love to pull the trigger”...they always do. Let’s remember that few of the men and women who fought in that war got to choose how they spent their time from 1939-1945. Respect. 🤘
Thanks for the video MARK FELTON, your videos has broaden my scope of understanding concerning WWII.
Farley Mowat wrote a book about his war experiences, "And No Birds Sang". It is certainly worth the time to read, I still have my copy for reference.
Farley Mowat went on to a successful career as one of Canada's greatest authors. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farley_Mowat
If 77
We are under the gross misconception that we are a good species going somewhere important and that at the last minute we will correct our errors and God will smile on us. It is delusion. Farley Mowat : He wrote this regarding the environment but it applies to war as well.
The Dog That Wouldn't Be. Should be on more people's shelves. Great kids' book.
Farley Mowat is an excellent author. I'm Canadian, they made us read Lost in the Barrens (Two Against the North) in grade school. It honestly influenced my life forever, might sound silly but it made me want to be an independent man that knows how to look after myself and my family. Great man.
Outstanding story, as usually. Keep up Marc! Never heard before about food drops in WW2. Many thanks. Best wishes from Switzerland, René
A friend of mine's father was one of the Dutch civilians who starved that winter and remembered the airdrops. He said they would boil the bark of certain trees and there were no pets or small wild animals like squirrels around as they were eaten.
@Miguel Mouta Mouta Then get them out instead of whining about it.
@@allenwatkins4972 They've made their beds. Now they have to lay in them 👹
Yes my stepfather was a young teen living in Amsterdam at that time. He told us of he and his mother boiling up grass to eat as there was nothing else.
@Miguel Mouta Mouta Two countries who have suffered from US policies .......
My German teacher told us that they dug up tulip bulbs and ate them, too. He was a child during the war, but he never forgave the SS.
My grandfather lived in Amsterdam as a teenager during the war. He talked a lot about these drops, hungerwinter and the war in general.
Unfortunatly he passed away last summer, im glad he told me all the stories. He took me and my brother to Normandy and museums .It made me the ww2 history geek i am today.
He will be missed.
My dad flew a few of those missions. He was a ground crewman in England at the time and said the flight crews and officers were pretty easy going about taking on ride alongs. He said they flew quite a lot of "red cross" missions. Wish I saw this twenty years ago, would have been good for a story I'm sure.
That would explain why there were 11 men on that bomber that crashed
I have a friend who almost starved to death during the Hunger Winter. He emigrated to Canada after the War. About 10 years ago, there was a commemoration of the liberation of the Netherlands in Edmonton, AB. There was a young woman carrying a sign that said simply, 'Thank You, Canada'.
Through out all of that depravity there was at least some mercy. Thank you for yet another wonderful history lesson Mr. Felton
My grandmother is 92 now, she still talks about the "hongerswinter".
Now, that is a distinctively great history lesson we were never taught in our schools here in BC Canada. Well done Mark and thank you.
And, as usual, Mark Felton delivers! Well done, sir.
I remember seeing on TV on the 50th anniversary a Dutch Grandmother holding her Grandsons hand and saying to him as a Lancaster flew over "That is the sound of FREEDOM"
It's great to see a video on this crucial operation. Even in the midst of horrendous suffering and death the dignity and nobility of humanity will often shine through.
My grandfather was a boy in winter 1944 in Holland, he told me they were starving, he became quite wealthy later and still never in my life did I see him waste food.
"S for Sugar," one of the 17 surviving Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, now on exhibit at the Royal Air Force Museum in London, successfully completed 137 combat missions, and also participated in Operation Manna, and also POW repatriation (all info from Wikipedia). The Allied bomber crews who participated in the food drops over The Netherlands said that the deliveries of food, medicine, and other supplies were their favorite missions of the war. One Dutch farmer even cut these words into his field: "MANY THANKS YANKS." Mercy at the end of the world's worst conflict.
I heard that this incident changed the Netherlands in a very huge way. Making their agriculture to innovate and advance further to what it is now. Glad Dr Felton covered this mission, thank you Mark. You make
Me want to learn more and more.
Yet another great story that I never knew about . Thanks for posting Mark .
How'm I supposed to get off youtube and do something constructive with my life, if you keep posting these damn great videos every day ?
No better feeling that being on Mark Felton binge and seeing a new video uploaded-
Thank you for the amazing content!
My pleasure!
my grandparents lived through this eventhough they lived in the south of the country they always had vivid memories of the hunger winter
I Always enjoy your documentaries. Thank You. Petri Grobler from South Africa
The intro made me think that this was a history lesson on Mark Felton himself.
No wonder he knows so much about WW2, he is an immortal being whose sole purpose is to teach humanity of its past triumphs and tribulations
I'd watch it
I would buy it
@@0_1_2 don't be an ass
I’d like that
I'm a 24y old Dutch guy and I love to read all the stories about family who went through it. my deepest respect for those who fought for the Netherlands. thanks again.
The late, prolific Canadian author Farley Mowat was one of the Canadians sent into the Netherlands to negotiate the Allied food drops with the German occupying forces. You might want do a bit of research on Mowat and his effort as he wrote extensively about this time and his personal involvement - and maybe consider doing a video about him.
Ill directly get off the couch and do just that
Thank you Mark for covering this topic! I am from The Netherlands and my Grandpa always told me stories about how he had such trouble to find food during that time! It was a real struggle for him unknowing if he and his family had something to eat in the end of day... Always gives me the chills when I think about it!
Always excited for Dr. Felton's uploads!
Mark, I totally Love all of documentaries, but this one of your most heart warming series I've ever seen !
Back in the 90s I met a former RAF bomb aimer whose Lancaster participated in these food drops. He said it was very menacing, flying slowly at low altitude during daylight, with the German flak guns clearly visible and pointing at him.
pleased to share this film with my son, he is working at a Dutch refugee camp as a dentist.
Thank you for telling this story Mark. Like many others, my parents and their families went through this terrible time near the end of FIVE years of German occupation. Dad told me of eating rats and I also heard of people making soup from the protein in their hair which they boiled in water.
Excellent work Sir.
Love the history lessons i never knew existed.
Well done.
A small hint of humanity in an inhumane war.
Hello Nazi. Can't be a good history video without you lot coming out in the comments.
@Ich Kämpfe Remember the population of the allied countries were also short if food. I can't can't ever remember corned beef being available, plus a lot of other food items. Everything was rationed. I often forget to buy eggs, all the eggs in our home were for my father, who worked in an Iron Foundry, no automation then. It was very heavy work. When he was in his early fifties he was told that he had the body if an eighty year old, due to the work he did.
@@blakelowrey9620 communism is dead ideology
@@montana6822 Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one. Let him have his opinion. No matter how ridiculous you think it is.
Montana yeah, this is his life you know, as pathetic as it is, dont take it away from him..
Good series of videos, including about lesser known WW2 events.
Outstanding!!! Another interesting aspect of WW2 that I had never heard of before.
Every high school history class should have mark Felton vids as a requirement and quizzes on them afterwards
As a Dutchman, I really liked this episode. I did know of the airdroppings of the Commonwealth and later the USA, I did not know there where also trucks involved. It are the small details I pick up from your video's and I love it!
great video! I love how Dr Felton gets into the lesser known , but often more interesting bits of history , that are often overlooked by the "big picture". Thank you
i could never think about how stressful the Canadian truck drivers were
they were stressed. Their mission was stressful.
If you've ever had to drive a tractor trailer rig in Montreal, this wouldn't be so bad. At least the Germans weren't actually trying to kill them.
@@hamletksquid2702 As a delivery driver in Montreal, can confirm.
@@hamletksquid2702 try taking a Kenworth from Ashland Kentucky to Chicago and back in ten hours per the ELD, no sir.
Compared to driving a truck under artillery fire? Dealing with roads that might be mined? No one shooting at you? They likely considered it easy duty.
An amazing story of goodwill in a time of hatred and cruelty - thanks for sharing this Mark