Klaas Meijer
@klaasm67.bsky.social
Spokesman Netherlands Ministry of Defence, historian, veteran. #WW1 #WW2 #coldwarhist #Urbex #F1 - My posts are my own. See: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAyc-IIUdZO38VHAEIrY8DQ
Spanish artillery position near Playa Papagayo on Lanzarote. #WW2
Spanish artillery position near Playa Papagayo on Lanzarote. #WW2
It’s King’s Day in the Netherlands! Happy Birthday King Willem Alexander. 👑
Freedom! On this day in 1973 the first nudist beach in the Netherlands is legalized at Callantsoog.🇳🇱
Hiwis unloading a truck of the Wehrmacht. Hiwi is the German abbreviation of the word Hilfswilliger or, auxiliary volunteer. The name was used for Soviet POW's who joined different kinds of German voluntary auxiliary forces. By 1944, their numbers had grown to 600,000.
A Tupolev Tu-134 at the airport of Chisinau, Moldova. The first flight was in 1963. Introduction in 1970 and 854 were built. The Tu-134 is still used today in some countries. I love the typical Soviet glazed-nose design. Perfect place for a VIP seat!
Every year the population of Brielle (Den Briel) hangs the Spanish commander. Every year! Poor sod...
On this day in 1572 Dutch rebels capture the town of Brielle. A turning point in the uprising of the Low Countries against Spain in the Eighty Years' War. It was the sign of a new revolt throughout the Netherlands which led to the formation of the Dutch Republic.
Visited the ruins of Born castle in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. During the Crusade of the Poor (1309) a pogrom took place at the castle. 110 Jews were massacred. In 1930 the castle was destroyed by fire. It was never rebuilt.
The crew was released after Germany attacked the Netherlands on the 10th of May 1940. They escaped through Dunkirk to the UK.
On this day in 1940 the Dutch Fokker G1 makes its first kill. A British Whitley bomber was shot down over Pernis, Rotterdam. Neutral Holland had the obligation to intercept any kind of intruder of Dutch air-space. The five men Whitley crew suffered one fatality.
On this day in 1824, the Anglo-Dutch Treaty was signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula was dominated by the British, while the Dutch dominated Sumatra and Java. Today it still forms the border between Indonesia and Malaysia.
On this day in 44 BC, Julius Caesar is stabbed to death. His name was pronounced 'YOO-lee-us KYE-sahr' in ancient Rome. #IdesofMarch
On this day in 1942 the Yellow Badge becomes mandatory for Jews in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. #NeverForget
Volgens mij is het een Duitse voorwaarde. Die spullen komen uit het Duitse archief. Duitsers zijn als de dood als zich iets voor doet.
Erg betuttelend. Ik heb het boek over de tentoonstelling gekocht en daar staan al die schilderijen gewoon in.
Amazed to see two Koch bunkers in the garden of the Arnhem Museum. These one-man bunkers were named after Gauleiter Erich Koch, who used them in East Prussia. From this position, the Germans had a great view over the Nederrijn. 900 were built in the Netherlands between 1944-1945.
Amazed to see two Koch bunkers in the garden of the Arnhem Museum. These one-man bunkers were named after Gauleiter Erich Koch, who used them in East Prussia. From this position, the Germans had a great view over the Nederrijn. 900 were built in the Netherlands between 1944-1945.
"That's not a house!" A camouflaged French bunker which was part of the Weygand line. Once the Allied armed forces in the north were eliminated, German armed forces regrouped and in June 1940 attacked southward, breaking through this line.
On this day in 1665 the Second Anglo-Dutch War started. England wanted to end the Dutch domination of world trade. After the Dutch raid on the Medway at the mouth of the River Thames (1667) England was defeated. But the Breda peace treaty would not last long...
“Dust!!” German Panzerjäger on the move. The Pak 36 was a 37mm anti-tank gun. It was the main anti-tank weapon of German Panzerjäger units until 1942. Its nickname was "Heeresanklopfgerät" ("army door-knocking device") because the large Soviet tanks were invulnerable to its fire.
Never knew that Kylo Ren before being seduced to the dark side, served in the US Marine Corps.😳 #StarWars
From big orange to big apple. On this day in 1674 Holland and England signed the peace treaty of Westminster. Holland loses New Amsterdam, which is renamed New York.
Legend has it that Duke Leopold V of Austria invented the Austrian flag during the Siege of Acre (1191). After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. 🇦🇹
"Can you see anything?" "Yes, wonderful things!" On this day in 1923 Howard Carter woke up King Tut. #Tutankhamun
On this day in 1939 German battleship the Bismarck was launched. In 1941 it was sunk by the British Navy in the North Atlantic. All of it? No, one of it’s armored doors was left at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. It’s still there. #WW2 @dreadships.bsky.social
Bring it back! This Fokker G1 tail at the Dutch National Military Museum in Soesterberg is the only thing that is left of the most beautiful plane ever built in the Netherlands. During May 1940 the G1 was mostly deployed in ground attack missions against German troops. #avgeek
After the war, some of the 31 bunkers were used as a training area for the Civil defense. In the sixties, all the bunkers were destroyed and the Essesteijn quarter was built here.
During World War Two the commander of the Waffen SS in the Netherlands, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Demelhuber had his headquarters in my hometown Leidschendam-Voorburg. Of the 31 bunkers of Stützpunkt 47, only this anti-tank ditch remains.
During World War Two the commander of the Waffen SS in the Netherlands, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Demelhuber had his headquarters in my hometown Leidschendam-Voorburg. Of the 31 bunkers of Stützpunkt 47, only this anti-tank ditch remains.
Since his dramatic death in 1831 the Royal Netherlands Navy always has a ship named Van Speijk. #Navy
"I'd rather be blown up then." On this day in 1831 Dutch captain Van Speijk blew up his ship in the harbour of Antwerp when Belgian rebels tried to capture it. That’s the spirit! #navy
Bought a picture of the German cruiser Köln in the harbour of Pillau (Königsberg). She participated in the attack on Bergen during the invasion of Norway (1940). In 1941, she was the first ship to be modified to carry a helicopter (Flettner Fl 282) as an experiment. Sunk in 1945.
On this day in 1945 the Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with mostly German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine. 9,500 people were killed. It is the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
On this day in 1574, the Dutch rebel fleet defeated a Spanish fleet during the Battle of the Scheldt. The Spanish fleet was attempting to relieve the Spanish-held town of Middelburg which was under siege. 15 ships were destroyed and as a result, Middelburg surrended to the Dutch.
Let’s start digging! The German artillery battery near Katwijk (Heeres-Küsten Batterie Katwijk-Neu) consisted of three formidable 688 casemates for 17 cm guns. It was built in 1944. Sadly the bunkers started to subside and in 1964 they were toppled into large pits and covered.
On this day in 1795, the Dutch fleet had to deal with a massive desertion. It was a reaction to the takeover of the fleet by the French two days earlier. Of some Dutch ships, almost the entire crew ran away. The Netherlands would become a vassal state of Napoleon.
