In full swing last week, the 1938 Netherlands war games were, as usual, based on the problem "An orderly retreat from the German frontier and the taking up of positions on a new 'waterline' "—a strip of country that can be submerged within a few hours by opening strategic floodgates.
At The Hague, meanwhile, Her Majesty's Government pondered whether it might not on the whole seem provocative to continue war games at a time when almost all Europe had mobilized or was mobilizing (see p. 14). Finally Her Majesty's Government, resolute in the Dutch policy of peace, stopped their games, sent 200,000 reservists back to barracks.
Her Majesty last week appeared before Parliament and delivered a speech from the throne regretting that rearmament is already costing The Netherlands so much that the frugal budget for 1939 is unbalanced by 145,000,000 florins ($78,300,000). Realist Queen Wilhelmina warned her subjects that Her Majesty's Government may be forced during the coming year to ask "greater sacrifices."