Food From Heaven — Operation Manna  The Netherlands, World War IIIn September of 1944, British

Food From Heaven — Operation Manna  The Netherlands, World War IIIn September of 1944, British Gen. Bernard Montgomery devised an audacious plan to liberate Belgium and The Netherlands, then cross the Rhine River, invading Germany and ending the war before Christmas.  The people of the Netherlands rejoiced as Allied soldiers liberated their towns and cities, which had suffered under German occupation for over four years.  People celebrated in the streets and waved Dutch flags.  The Dutch resistance struck back at the German Army and executed those who collaborated with the enemy. Alas the liberation of the Netherlands was not to be.  Montgomery’s plan to capture a number a key strategic bridges proved to be too audacious.  The invasion failed miserably and the Allies were forced to retreat.As a punishment for the Dutch rebellion during the Allied invasion, German occupying forces severely restricted food and fuel supplies coming into the Netherlands.  What resulted was a famine called “The Hunger Winter”.  By Christmas of 1944, food rations were down to 1,000 calories per person a day.  As the war wound to a close the Third Reich began to collapse as the Western Allies and the Soviet Union closed in on Berlin. By April of 1945 the Soviets were storming Berlin, and the Allies had occupied much of Western and Southern Germany.  However the Netherlands still remained under German control.  A country with a series of rivers and natural obstacles, German occupation forces heavily fortified the country.  As a result, the Allies chosen to invade Germany from the south, bypassing the Netherlands altogether.  This was most unfortunate for the Dutch people, as daily rations had dropped to around 500 calories a day by the end of April 1945.As the famine became critical British High Command devised a plan to help relieve the suffering in the Netherlands.  A massive airlift of food was organized, called Operation Manna, named after the biblical food from God which saved the starving Israelites in the desert.   Starting April 29th, 3,156 Lancaster Bombers from the British Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force were marshaled for the airlift.  Flying no higher than 100 meters, the bombers dropped thousands of pounds of food in drop zones all over the Netherlands. The food was dropped from low altitudes without parachutes.  The purpose of this was to avoid attention from the Germans, who would certainly notice parachutes in the sky. Between April 29th and May 8th the British and Australian Air Force had managed to fly 3,298 sorties, delivering over 11,000 tons of food to the Dutch people.  Only three bombers were lost in the airlift.The success of Operation Manna inspired other operations as well.  On May 1st, the US Army Air Force began Operation Chowhound, which was a similar operation which resulted in the airlifting of an additional 4,000 tons of food.  In an especially bold maneuver called Operation Faust, 200 US Army trucks drove behind enemy lines and delivered food to the city of Renan.On May 4th German forces occupying the Netherlands surrendered.  Regardless the operation continued until May 8th, when regular supply convoys could enter the Netherlands and when Germany signed its final unconditional surrender.  Despite the airlift, between 20,000 and 30,000 Dutch people starved to death. -- source link

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