Humiliation for Dutch traitors

TO THE south of Arnhem, American paratroopers in the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions liberating Eindhoven and other towns, witnessed Dutch revenge on those who had consorted with Germans.

In Veghel, an officer wrote: ‘The girls were mostly rather young and sensual-featured, and they went undemonstrably to have their hair shorn; they seemed to accept it as an expected fate… and the Dutch crowds who watched the tonsorial administration of justice displayed none of the sickening and almost animal glee that French crowds showed on similar occasions. They were amused, that was all.’

In Eindhoven, a crowd watched as the shearer clicked his scissors before tackling two attractive women. Two American paratroopers with Thompson sub-machine guns suddenly broke through the circle.

‘Stop that nonsense!’ they ordered, aiming their weapons. Each one took a woman by the arm and led them off through the throng and into town. The frustrated avengers could do little but mutter.

An elderly man remarked: ‘They’re no fools, these Americans. They’re looking for women with experience of life, and if you ask me, they’ve picked the right ones.’ While many disliked these forms of revenge, others resented the way that British soldiers in particular tried to stop it. ‘Generally speaking they don’t have the same hatred of the Germans as we have,’ a woman said.