Operation Manna

When Operation Market Garden failed, the North of the Netherlands was occupied while the South was liberated. Because the Dutch government in exile had asked the railway personnel to go on strike as Market Garden started hardly any trains were still running and most of the men working for the railway were in hiding or, if the were caught, in a concentration camp or shot. By October 1944 the food situation in the major cities was getting dire, the first deaths of starvation were recorded that month. My father's family lived in Dordrecht which is near Rotterdam. They lived on Tulip bulbs and anything they could find. hongertochten, as they were called, were undertaken by young girls and boys under 16, and their mothers (men could not as they were needed for slave labour by the German's and were mostly in hiding to avoid being deported. These trips were filled with danger. There were not many bicycles left, cars were reserved for colaborators and the Nazi's. On foot they went, for miles to the East were the farms were, were there was food, they slept in schools, which by night were converted into shelters, they suffered and saw many succumb to the hunger and fall dead by the side of the road. Once able to procure food they ran the risk of thieves and the Germans trying to confiscate the food. Besides that there was the bombing and strafing of German transports on the same roads as the people. The roads had manholes for them to hide in. Once home they hoped to find their families still alive. Cats and dogs were eaten. The situation was so dire that after reports the Dutch government in exile begged the Allies for help. After lengthy negociations with the Germans it was decided to drop food over the country to save the starving population. the British called in operation Manna, the US operation Chowhound. The end of April, after serveral frustrating delays caused by the occupiers, it happened. Hundreds of bombers flew over the country and dropped food to the dying nation. My father and his family were one of many who lived and were saved that way from certain death. I live in this country with my family and my husband is in the RAF attached to the squadron which was a part of flying those missions. I actually met some of the guys who flew the mission that saved my father and his family.

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