THE NETHERLANDS: Worried Queen

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Last week the London Daily Telegraph & Morning Post presented what it described as the official German Army plans to invade The Netherlands on Nov.11, plus an "official" explanation of why that invasion did not come off as planned.

The alleged German plan was to attack The Netherlands first, Belgium later—The Netherlands first because Belgium was expected to resist the Allied attempt to aid The Netherlands through Belgium. "Apparently it was not fully understood in Berlin that Dutch-Belgian relations in the matter of mutual assistance against aggression had undergone important changes following the [earlier] exchange of views between King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina."

On Nov. 10, the Telegraph explained, when suspicions of German intentions seemed confirmed by reports of troop concentrations, King Leopold summoned his ministers to determine the country's atti tude. Guided by "the views and wishes" held by General van Overstraeten, they decided the following: "1) If the German forces attacked Holland but did not come south of Nijmegen and the Rhine, Belgium would not move; 2) if the German advance were directed south of Nijmegen and especially across Dutch Brabant, Belgium would order immediate general mobilization and declare that her own security was threatened." The German Ambassador in Brussels telephoned Berlin the gist of Belgium's decision. "The news from Brussels was received when Generals Keitel, Reichenau and Blaskowitz were assembled in Berlin for a final conference to settle the last details of the attack to be launched the following day. They immediately concluded that the plan on which they had decided would no longer be feasible."

This week the 18 German divisions that did not march over the eastern frontier of The Netherlands, and the Allied forces and British Fleet which did not pour across her southern and sea frontiers to meet them, were nevertheless still at their jump-off positions. All of which put The Netherlands in World War II's very toughest spot and made Her Majesty Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria, Princess of Orange-Nassau and Queen of The Netherlands, the world's most worried Chief of State.

Unlike the actual belligerents, The Netherlands with its little policeman's army of 100,000 has not the barest fighting chance of defending itself should its borders be violated. And of all the neutrals save the strong and seagirt U. S., The Netherlands, with the world's third most valuable colonial empire, has the most to lose. Invasion by Germany would be the strongest temptation to Japan to seize the rich Netherlands Indies, and the only force on which Queen Wilhelmina could possibly count to prevent such a grab is the British China Squadron based at Singapore. The British since Sept. 1 have had plenty of other obligations on their hands.

Beset by these actualities and bedeviled by these probabilities, the Queen of The Netherlands has opened her mouth in many a peace appeal, kept it closed in many a case of violated neutrality during the past few months in a desperate effort to keep her political hot corner out of the war play. As never before, the little monarchy, squeezed between Europe's antagonistic No. 1 sea and land powers, is anxious to remain neutral.

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