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

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Through the medium of newspapers and periodicals, the Dutch also kept a close
eye on the "reuzenstrijd" (gigantic struggle)?2 The horror of war shocked but also excited
people. Many Netherlanders, especially those in the south, witnessed the war sometimes as
spectators - during the opening months of conflict several battles waged close to the Dutch
border - at other times by hearing and feeling the reverberations of artillery bombardments
from Belgium. The daily, weekly and monthly journals paid constant and almost exclusive
attention to military campaigns unfolding around the globe. The unprecedented nature of
what was happening made it a fascinating and much-desired topic for readership and
discussion, if at times it was voyeuristic. Verwey described the tense anticipation
experienced by many during major sieges along the frontlines in Belgium and France:
There is something breathtaking in the expectation [experienced] during large
battles. Europe listens. And while we - foolishly - catch ourselves with the
desire to strain our ears to listen if perhaps the rumble of cannon thunder on the
borders of France can be heard here, and to stretch our eyes from the Dutch
dunes to see a fleet off the Belgian coast, we are taken up in the universal
speechlessness and know no longer what to think or how to express ourselves. 23
The Dutch had ample information on the war available to them. Journalists of
illustrated magazines, for example, travelled to the Western and Eastern Fronts to chart the
progress of the various annies. 24 They perused news from both sides, and because the Dutch
media were not plagued by the same censorship restrictions as the press in the fighting
countries, infonnation that would have been kept out of newspapers elsewhere was printed
aangevlIld met Notities van een Landstormman. [Frank van Wezel's glorious years. Military novel, supplemented
with notes of a lanstoT7n man] Amsterdam: Em. Querido's Uitgeverij, 1963; A. M. de Jong, Frank van Wezels
Roemruchte Jaren. Militaire roman. [Frank van Wezel's glorious years. Military novel] The Hague: Nederlandse
Boekenclub, 1928.
22 Headline, Soldatencollrant. no. 144, 18 July 1915, front page. Even a cursory glance at a variety of Dutch
newspapers during the war verifies this statement. The Section Military History of the Royal Dutch Army (Sec tie
Militaire Geschiedenis, Koninklijke Landmacht) in The Hague as well as the Army Museum (LegermllSe1ll1l) in Delft
hold volumous scrapbooks filled with hundreds of items snipped out of various magazines (including De Prins, Het
Leven Gei'llllstreerd and Panorama) between 1914 and 1919.
23 "Er is iets ademloos in de afwachting tijdens groote slagen. Europa luistert. En terwijl men - dwaselijk - zich
betrapt op de lust het oor te spannen ofhet niet hier misschien het gedreun kan opvangen van het kanongebulder dat
op de grenzen van Frankrijk gaande is, en de oogen uitzet om van de hollandsche duinen een vloot op de belgische
kust te zien, voelt men zich in de algemeene sprakeloosheid opgenomen en weet dat men langer noch denken noch
zich uiten kan." (August - September 1914) in Albert Verwey, Holland ell de OOl'log. (Handboekjes Elck 't Beste)
[Holland and the war] Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1916, p. 10.
24 Although official "war conespondents" were rare (Paul Moeyes, Buiten Schot. Nederland tijdens de Eerste
Wereldoorlog 1914 - 1918. [Out of shot. The Netherlands during the First World War 1914 - 1918] Amsterdam: De
Arbeiderspers, 2001, pp. 220 - 221).