Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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understand why, if Germany was so exact about protecting neutrality elsewhere, it would
have breached it here. 78
The report seemed to satisfy Allied officials, at least for the time being. Yet the
question was debated well into the 1930s and caused significant problems for the Dutch
diplomatic corps throughout the war. In June 1915, the Dutch Minister in Berlin, W. A. F.
Gevers, made quick work of stopping the circulation of a full-colour map of the Gennan
advance through Belgium in August 1914, including passage through Limburg, in
bookshops throughout the city. While some of the offending maps were sold before Gevers
became aware of the problem, extant copies were removed from shop shelves after he
demanded that the Gennan government take action in the matter, and the second edition
showed careful adherence to Dutch territorial boundaries. 79 Existing documents are unclear
whether the Allies found out about the blunder. Nevertheless, after the war, the French
official history of the war had no qualms about asserting that the Gennans had come
through Vaals. 80 Likewise, the Telegraaf (Telegraph) newspaper planned to print sections
of Winston Churchill's war memoirs in 1930, in which he also claimed it happened. 8 ! The
Netherlands was forced to take up the issue time and time again, especially in 1932, when
the military journal Militaire Spectator (Military Spectator) published an article by a
German officer, asserting that some Gennan troops from the First Anny had trekked
through Dutch territory in the early stages of the war. 82 Such reports resulted in the French
78 "Rapport betreffende een ingevolge mondelinge opdracht van de Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht door
F. J. Quanjer, Kapitein van den Generalen Staf, ingesteld onderzoek naar de in het zakboekje van den in Frankrijk in
krijgsgevangenschap geraakte Duitschen officier de Cavalrie Baron Speck von Stemburg" [Report regarding the
verbal order from Commander-in-Chief to F. J. Quanjer, Captain in the General Staff, instituted due to the notebook
of the German cavalry officer, Baron Speck von Stemburg, made prisoner of war in France] 15 January 1915, in
ARA, "Kabinetsarchief e. a. van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1871 - 1940 (Ministerie van Buitenlandse
Zaken, Kabinet en Protocol, 1871 - 1940)" [Cabinet archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1871 - 1940 (also
known as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cabinet and Protocol, 1871 - 1940)] entry no. 2.05.18, inventory no. 231 (for a
slightly different published version see: Oranjeboek: Overzicht der voornaamste van JlIli 1914 tot October 1915 door
het Ministerie van BlIitenlandsche Zaken behandelde en vaal' openbaarmaking geschikte aangelegenheden
[Overview of the most important, and publishable matters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from July 1914 to
October 1915] publication details missing, 1915, pp. 3 - 10 (SMG/DC 131/7)). See also: documents in ARA,
"Archieven van de Generale Staf" entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 37 for further military investigations.
79 Dutch Minister in Berlin, P. Hymans, to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, 3 June 1915, in ARA, "Kabinetsarchief
e. a. van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1871 - 1940" entry no. 2.05.18, inventory no. 231.
80 Dutch Minister in Paris to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, 18 November 1930, in Ibid.
81 Dutch Minister in London to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, 14 April 1930 in Ibid.
82 Gen-Maj Klingbeil, "Del' Vormarsch der Deutschen I. Armee !iings der Hollandische-Belgischen Grenze im August
1914" [The march of the German I Army along the Dutch-Belgian border in August 1914] Militaire Spectator. 86,
1932 (a copy with English translation can be found in ARA, "Kabinetsarchief e. a. van het Ministerie van
Buitenlandse Zaken 1871 - 1940" entry no. 2.05.18, inventory no. 231).