German(Heer/luftwaffe troops) Surrender 1945, on bicycles back home

[@p930turbo]

I am glad that the Netherlands and Germany are friends today

[@dr.fumanshu9135]

@fuck de media 👍🤝

[@RanzigeWurst]

We Germans actually always had a good relationship with the Dutch. We have always been close. It was the totalitarian regime that made us enemies. May something like this never happen again.

[@Sedona-cl6eg]

Tens of thousands of Dutch joined Nazis and Wehrmacht during the war.

[@dr.fumanshu9135]

@@Sedona-cl6eg Not only Freedom Fighters!

[@RanzigeWurst]

@@Sedona-cl6eg They didn't join the Wehrmacht. They joined the SS. In the Wehrmacht there were only Germans and ethnic Germans who lived abroad, such as Sudeten Germans, German Poles or ethnic Germans from the Benelux countries. Dutch and Belgians were incorporated into the SS.

[@oceanhome2023]

We can see here that the bicycle is the best form of. Transportation !

[@IngmarSweep]

Those bicycles were all stolen from the Dutch.

[@joystickmusic]

Hence the phrase "First my bike back" when negotiating with Germans.

[@derbabo9792]

​@@IngmarSweep That's not correct! Look at the details from the bikes. That was mostly original German Army Bikes.

[@IngmarSweep]

@@derbabo9792 Yeah right. The Germans have not even been here in Holland, or have they.

[@gordonashumway]

And the horses were stolen also. My grandparents lost seven horses during the war. They held a gun under your nose and walked away with the horse.

[@moistmike4150]

God forbid any of them trucks hits a speedbump.

[@tubaman500]

In The Netherlands to this day, most people will tell you the German bicycles were stolen from the Dutch people!

[@Ystadcop]

Yes, I live close to a guesthouse here in SW France. Quite often the Dutch tourists wind up the Germans with that. Several other taunts....... I like the Dutch, they're Germans without the shame......... and to Germans - did you drive down? Ach, ja. Did you come through Belgium? Ach ja, natürlich. Yes, you usually do!

[@dr.fumanshu9135]

@@Ystadcop Glücklich ist, wer vergißt, was nicht mehr zu ändern ist!

[@Belfreyite]

Yes!! I worked in Holland in 1981 during a holiday time and lots of German cars were on the roads to and from the coast. Some had bicycles on racks and the lcals all joked that even so long after WW2, the germans were bringing the bicycles back!!

[@tubaman500]

Oskar Bruttel, nichts alle nur Meisten Niederlande

[@tubaman500]

Sie müssen meinen ursprünglichen Kommentar lesen. Es wurde im Kontext des Endes des Zweiten Weltkriegs gemacht

[@3006Ave]

Lucky, bicycles was not Made in China at that time.

[@tyfon4429]

Nu heb ik eindelijk een idee hoe mijn vader dat gezien moet hebben. Dank u wel.

[@minty448]

Apart from being on my old radio dial.where the hell is Hilversum!😙😁😁

[@paco398]

Hilversum is village in the Netherlands

[@minty448]

@@paco398 cheers.👍

[@ingevanderveen3710]

Was Born there

[@bv.d4990]

Hilversum is my best city in the World

[@shawmut8595]

Why do they all have bicycles if they're just walking along with them?

[@mirola73]

A hell of a lot of stolen bikes there going to Germany. It's a running gag to date.

[@Swaggerlot]

Why are they letting them ride, should make the sods walk like they did with Allied POWs!

[@iworkout6912]

Actually the Wehrmacht used bicycles throughout the war. Watch some of the old films and you will see whole companies riding bicycles. Horses were used to pull artillery in all the battles, many froze to death on the Russian front..

[@Sedona-cl6eg]

The bicycle was the first Volkswagen.

[@avginkel]

They were in turn stolen by the Soviet soldiers.

[@mibnsharpals]

Nederland werd aangevallen vanwege zijn strategisch belangrijke fietsenfabrieken.

[@dr.fumanshu9135]

Nice Joke! 😀! Greetings from Germany!

[@RanzigeWurst]

Yes, the Dutch bicycles were immensely important for the German war machine. :-D

[@ikengmira7576]

I think the SWISS army still got a mountain troops brigade combat team with bicycle and ski.

[@Saucyakld]

Amazing this survived, wow! I was born in 1947, Holland was a mess, so poor, the nazis stripped it bare!

[@lapplandsjagare]

Hello from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@kevinflaherty7592]

I love these black and white films

[@jeffreyhodge5564]

You are right ,Europe has lived in peace and it’s sad we in the uk are leaving , but that’s democracy ,if only had given a little to David Cameron we might still be part of it still a slightly lighter note we had a. big old radio and on it glowing through the dialling face were the names of all the radio stations ,one of them was Hilversum,

[@AlaskaErik]

Be happy you're leaving that cesspool known as the EU. I just hope Boris doesn't break weak and accept a lousy deal. He should have declared no deal a long time ago.

[@BelloBudo007]

As an Aussie watching from afar, I could not believe the EU & Cameron's failure at that crucial time. Allowing Cameron to return to the UK with nothing, was a real 'tail between his legs' that must have infuriated many Brits.

[@keithmoore5224]

I the long history of england leaveing the eu was a act of self harm which will be over when we are alowed to re unite with europe im afrade im to old to see it

[@mariorossi3898]

I think UK made the good decision. Bruxelles is dictating our life, what to drive, what to eat, how to speak etc. hope Uk will be the old great Uk that I know. Hope Uk will be able to stop mass immigration or it will have same problem that we do under EU Bolsheviks.

[@steffenrosmus9177]

The crowded Haftrack looked like an train in Pakistan.

[@createdeccentricities6620]

If one needed proof that the blitzkrieg was overwhelmingly horse- and bicycle-drawn, watch this.

[@worldwarwill1278]

Great comment! When most people think of the German army during World War Two, they think of ‘Blitzkrieg’ and tanks etc, but the truth was very different. Here is an interesting article I found on the subject - nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forgotten-fact-nazi-germany-used-cavalry-world-war-ii-36387

[@mibnsharpals]

count all german tanks , it will be under 30.000 over the wartime. Horses : 2.800.000 bicycleá: uncount

[@michaelgreaves1009]

Even in May 1940 the principal means of transportation was the horse drawn cart or artillery as well as the infantry doing it on foot. Ironically, many horses had been bought up after the decision of the British Army to mechanise after 1937. Huge numbers of army remounts were sold at auction, mostly at Melton Mowbray. Several eyewitnesses from the BEF expressed their surprise to spot ‘German’ horses bearing War Department identification marks on horses’ hooves. The core of the blitzkrieg was the ten panzer divisions plus a small number of motorised divisions. Only after the French campaign did some further infantry divisions convert to being motorised, with the panzergrenadier division only emerging in 1942. But the bulk of the Wehrmacht went on foot or by horse to war.

[@kevinh5349]

Why do those bicycle troops still have their weapons?

[@blueshirtman8875]

To shoot themselves along with Hitler.

[@jack60091]

My relatives live there and that is where are branch came from. I heard from relatives about the German occupation. Most were middle aged men who just wanted to go home. My relative had a tavern and the Germans were glad to have a place to eat and drink beer.

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

"Most were middle aged men who just wanted to go home." Unfortunately, this wouldn't make for an exciting movie.

[@viktorvanmarrewijk3573]

I m sure their prisoners in the concentration camps also "just wanted to go home"

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

@@viktorvanmarrewijk3573 "They" is rarely a monolithic group. The story of Sophie Scholl tells you what happened to Germans who merely openly disagreed with the Nazis. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

[@viktorvanmarrewijk3573]

@@Christmas-dg5xc I m sure it was true hardship for German soldiers in The Netherlands. Especially in Putten among others.

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

@@viktorvanmarrewijk3573 This is why I'm generally antiwar to begin with. Once you get into a situation where "they" do something to "us," and "us" "have to do something about it," I don't always know what the rules should be, or exactly how participants who go over the line should be judged. The Germans had much to atone for, but my point is that one can never say they're all the same. All Germans were not for the Holocaust (and they had plenty of help from local populations), all Britons were not for Operation Keelhaul and the bombing of civilians, all Americans were not in favor of what happened at My Lai, or the dropping of the atomic bombs, all Belgians are not to blame for King Leopold's genocide in the Congo, all Dutch are not to blame for happenings in Indonesia, all Russians didn't perpetrate the Gulag Archipelago, etc.

[@mariorossi3898]

They started war on board of tanks and returned back in Germany with horses and bicycles!

[@blueshirtman8875]

I wonder who they stole the bicycles and horse and carts from.

[@joystickmusic]

Why the sad music?

[@jestavares234]

Why the dutchs let they leave with bycicles, horses, guns and other objects?

[@Bruce-1956]

The Dutch had nothing to do with it, the Allies made the decisions.

[@edpzz]

Because they had the guns

[@harrycurrie9664]

They were probably retreating until they were captured, note none are wearing helmets, it's usually a sign of surrender and even though they carry rifles if one of them chose to dishonor a formal surrender they would all be dead.

[@Bruce-1956]

@@harrycurrie9664 I doubt they were retreating, if you know where Hilversum lies. There were about 15 UK soldiers killed in Hilversum while disarming Germans when one of the Germans lobbed a granade . So much for honour.

[@harrycurrie9664]

@@Bruce-1956 Yes, I suppose it's hard to know exactly what was happening. I did find film of some US soldiers sitting in their jeep in a place like Hamburg or such being interviewed by a film crew ... he was asked " How was it when you entered the city ? He said ... we got lots of garlands and flowers ... with a few panzerfaust thrown in " 😒

[@Redcrusader]

Op en met gestolen goederen. Waarom hielt niemand ze tegen?

[@alexandre210613]

À votre avis, pourquoi ont-ils le sourire ces soldats allemands sur la route ?

[@robertnetzer3921]

parce qu'ils sont comptant que la guerre est fini, et rentrer chez eux.

[@avginkel]

Ils sont HAPPY la guerre est finie!

[@janvanholten7592]

Surrender?? Why do they still have their weapons?

[@389383]

Probably to keep them out of the hands of the people of Hilversum. No payback without weapons.

[@RanzigeWurst]

I wouldn't have dropped my gun either until I surrendered to the allies. You are still in hostile territory and you want to avoid falling into the hands of a mob unarmed. It was exactly the same in Czech Republic. Germany capitulated, but the soldiers did not drop their weapons because they were still being attacked by partisans, even after May 8, 1945. When they went into captivity, they destroyed or surrendered their weapons.

[@AudieHolland]

Not only were defeated forces allowed to keep their weapons at certain points and places in history, they were also tasked by the victorious forces to maintain order so military patrols etc. would continue, curfues would remain in place, etc. This happened whenever the victorious forces were still many miles away but surrender was already agreed upon. The German garrisson of Brussels was tasked with keeping order after the German forces surrendered in Belgium but the Allied forces themselves had not reached the city yet. Ammo and fuel dumps were also still under guard of course. The same thing occurred when the Japanese forces surrendered in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Since the nearest Allied forces were troops coming from British colonial India (and they were small in numbers), Japanese troops kept their weapons and maintained order. Dutch civilian prisoners rounded up and put in 'Jappenkampen' during the Japanese occupation, remained under Japanese guard but now the guards were ordered to protect the Dutch prisoners instead of preventing them from escaping. Very few Dutch former prisoners tried to escape after they learned that the Indonesian mobs were waiting to get their hands on them to 'thank them' for years and years of colonial oppression and exploitation.

[@짏恴六互_互民吖]

Back! Ha!

[@janblomhwell]

ongelofelijk nog helemaal bewapend en met roof terug

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

If everyone really believed in war, there would have been no draft.

[@jussim.konttinen4981]

What is your problem. Three generations have been drafted since then. Actually, every year there is a new generation, so a total of 75 generations.

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

@@jussim.konttinen4981 I meant that wherever there was a draft that means that many - and possibly most - alleged true believers on all sides of a conflict had to be coerced into killing and dying "for their countries." I think of this whenever I see comments to the effect of, "if you have any compassion for these people, you must believe in the ideology of their politicians."

[@jussim.konttinen4981]

@@Christmas-dg5xc As long as Russia has millions of soldiers, others will have to maintain deterrent. Civilian service is also an option, was even in East Germany.

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

@@jussim.konttinen4981 I agree that drafts often "work" (and definitely for the benefit of those not drafted) but again, I was addressing a sentiment I often see in forums such as these. "They're only the enemy, why should we care what happens to them."

[@Christmas-dg5xc]

@@jussim.konttinen4981 I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. What difference would any "incidents" during a peacetime draft (in Finland) make to what I'm trying to point out - that we should not assume draftees believe everything their politicians say during wartime?

[@gordonjamieson861]

Shame that Europe is repaid the U.K. with Bitterness

[@mrmyloc]

Take your self-inflected Brexit wound somewhere else.

[@gordonjamieson861]

@@mrmyloc With pleasure , That's what we want to do .You just confirmed the nastyness and bitterness of the E.U. anyway love you when your angry ,which poor things you always are love from the U.K.

[@mrmyloc]

@@gordonjamieson861 You just confirmed your ignorance. Love from the U.K.

[@Bruce-1956]

@@mrmyloc you just proved your ignorance. Try living in the now.

[@Bruce-1956]

That is the UK not EU.

[@gfexc]

Nobody doing the Hitler salute

[@Austin8thGenTexan]

This is how I felt when Trump lost... 🇺🇸

[@avginkel]

How do you feel now with Joe Biden?

[@Austin8thGenTexan]

@@avginkel Fantastic. Can only imagine how messy withdrawal from Afghanistan would've been with Trump. Secret communication with the Taliban may not have interested him. They could have lobbed mortar shells into the airport at the slightest provocation. Instead, we evacuated 70,700 people out through the airport. Could've been much much messier... 🛬 ✈️ 🛫

[@avginkel]

@@Austin8thGenTexan Everyone has the right to their own opinion. I think however that with that right comes the duty to be able to defend it. You are clearly not capable of this.

[@Austin8thGenTexan]

@@avginkel A put-down instead of any debate. Typical. Word: the tail no longer wags the dog in the United States... 🌭🌭🌭

[@avginkel]

@@Austin8thGenTexan Have you followed the news of the last 6 months?

[@shirleybalinski4535]

These Germans hardly look battle fatigued. Their uniforms also look newly issued. What gives?

[@farmerdave7965]

Stolen bicycles and wagons.

[@reginaldmcnab3265]

It can’t be the fault of the soldiers that Germany was defeated, the enemy had a numerical superiority plus he the enemy had broken the enigma code and so had acquired an unfair advantage but then again all is fair in love and war, so they say.

[@rogernicholls2079]

Reginald, did you say unfair advantage? There's something wrong with you my boy, if those naughty Nazis had just stayed home then they wouldn't have been defeated (again). And if it meant beating Nazi scum then everything is fair.

[@reginaldmcnab3265]

@@rogernicholls2079 Sorry to disappoint you but those aren’t my words, I saw in a documentary where President Truman said it should not be known that we (the allies) has broken the German enigma code because people will know that we had an unfair advantage over Germany which is why it was not made known until I believe 1980 that the German enigma code was broken. So go talk to Harry. In his book “Memoirs Ten Year And Twenty Days” Karl Doenitz When he was told that the allies had broken the German enigma code he said “it was a bitter pill to swallow” that was many many years after the war when he was told.

[@graemesydney38]

The broken enigma code gave the allies an advantage in ONE area of operations. It DID NOT win the war on its own. The corollary to this was the German failed to realise their code was compromised. Also the code breaking affected strategic decisions, the Germans still needed to be overwhelmed and defeated at the operational and tactical level, which they were. Assuming code breaking or numerical advantage were the major cause of Germany's defeat is wrong. Germany had the advantages of internal lines, short logistical and comms lines and detailed local knowledge (and the ability to reccy in detail) and prepared defensive positions. Germany was defeated at the strategic level of economic capacity. The outcome could and was predicted in 1939 with this rationalisation. In other words, Germany repeated the same mistake of 1914 - they bit off more than they could chew.

[@neonskyline1]

Let me just remind you who that really was who cracked it, Marion Rejewski, not the British

[@reginaldmcnab3265]

Well I didn’t say it won the war on its own. I wouldn’t downplay its significance though. After the First World War Germany lost about 15 percent of its territory and tried to recover it through negotiations the British empire however, would never accept a strong Germany because it the British empire wanted to keep its global hegemony so war was inevitable, Germany would have to fight. Russia also invade Poland and the British empire did not declare war on Russia but even today they still claim that they had on agreement to defend Poland but why declare war only on Germany and not Russia? Russia attacked six countries in Eastern Europe and those countries begged Germany for protection.

[@danielkowalczuk2548]

Bit like Serbs leaving Croatia in 1995...came on tanks and left on horse carts....

[@WvhKerkhof]

Hoe iedereen de duitschers uitzwaaien!

[@ГеннадийБорисович-у1щ]

The end . 09.05.1945. Gsme over !