May 1940 ─ The Battle for the Netherlands

For the Netherlands, actual warfare prior to Nazi occupation lasted a mere five days in May of 1940. This collection of 10 articles, edited by Amersfoort (military history, Netherlands Defense Academy and Amsterdam U., the Netherlands) and Kamphuis (Director of the Netherlands Institute of Military History, the Netherlands), focuses on those five days from the perspective of military history, with the exception of the first contribution, which deals with the political developments in Germany that led to the outbreak of war. Paired chapters discuss the pre-war military preparations of Germany and the Netherlands, with the focus on the strategies and operation plans. The operational execution of the German and Dutch campaign plans are then examined over the course of the five days. Five chapters then explore the battles at the tactical level in different regions of the country and a concluding chapter sums up overall lessons. Also included are color maps, a table of land forces rank equivalents, and an annotated bibliography. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Herman Amersfoort (1951), Ph.D. (1988) in History, University of Leiden, is Professor of Military History at the Netherlands Defence Academy and at Amsterdam University. He has published extensively on Dutch military history in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Piet Kamphuis (1953), M.A. in History, University of Groningen, is Director of the Netherlands Institute of Military History. Since 2000 he has also been secretary-general of the International Commission of Military History.