Rotterdam

The centre of the Dutch city of Rotterdam is heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. The failure of an attempt to call off the bombing doesn’t reduce the culpability for an attack on an open city that had just agreed a ceasefire. The Germans threatened to destroy Utrecht in the same manner, whereupon the Dutch government capitulated.

Lieutenant Lodo Van  Hamel, Royal Dutch Navy

The Dutch armed forces are ordered to lay down their arms. Lt Lodo van Hamel, escapes to England aboard a trawler. From England, he takes part in the Dunkirk evacuation, defiantly flying the Dutch ensign as he skippers the Dutch Navy motor-sloop M74 off the beaches.