Dutch Mad Tuesday Cartoon, 5 September 1944

In the months between the Normandy landings in June and the beginning of September 1944, Allied air attacks on Nazi-occupied Europe had increased. Eindhoven, with its Philips factories and nearby airfield, was often a target. As the armies of liberation came closer, the Germans and their sympathisers (including the city mayor) began to leave. On the night of 3rd September, they blew up their installations at the airfield and imposed a curfew from 2000 to 0600 hours. The punishment for violation was death. Something akin to panic affected the Germans. Using carts, horses, prams, bicycles - any form of transport that they could find - they and their collaborators jammed the roads leading east, a flood that reached its peak on 5th September, known as Mad Tuesday (Dolle Dinsdag). This postcard by Dutch Artist Schnebelen, drawn while the Germans were still in Holland, is one of a series, typical of the type of humour with which the Dutch had been annoying the Germans for some time. The caption says, Strategic Withdrawal

Affected Akin Annoying Attacks Bicycles Blew Caption Carts Closer Collaborators Curfew Dolle Eindhoven Failed Imposed Increased Installations Jammed Landings Nearby Often Panic Philips Prams Reached Says Strategic Sympathisers Target Tuesday Violation Withdrawal

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > HOL