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

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Disorganized and even unreliable as the British and Allied intelligence services
in Holland [sic] were, the fact remains that without them considerable quantities
of infOlmation covering a wide range of enemy activities would have been lost
to the Allies. Holland, neutral, was of major value to the intelligence network in
a way that Holland as a belligerent - on whichever side - could not be. 1l9
Another historian, Christopher Andrew, has described how the Netherlands provided the
main base from which the British Intelligence Service and its French equivalent operated
during the war, and how it was vital for their understanding of what happened on the
Gennan side of the Western Front. 120 The Gennans also benefited from Dutch neutrality by
posting intelligence officers in pOli cities, especially Rotterdam, and monitoring the
movement of goods and people. 121 The German military attache in The Hague, von
Schweinitz, believed that the country was one of the most important sources of infonnation
for the Gennan military. 122 More research needs to be done to discover the relative value of
the Netherlands as an intelligence-gathering site during the war. 123 Undoubtedly, the
country's neutrality was convenient for waning states, especially because it was located so
close to the Western Front. Neveliheless, it is questionable whether it had a decisive impact
on the belligerents' appreciation of Dutch neutrality, primarily because both sides gained
benefits and Germany was severely disadvantaged by the access it gave the Allies to both
Gennany and Belgium.
WIRE OF DEATH: THE ELECTRIC FENCE
Soon after Germany occupied northern Belgium, it closed the Dutch-Belgian
border. 124 German troops patrolled the Belgian side of the border and, like their Dutch
counterparts, shot smugglers and suspected spies on sight. The occupation authorities hoped
to close the frontier and prevent Belgian men escaping through the Netherlands to Great
Blitain or France and joining the Allied annies there. Above all, they wanted to stop
infonnation being smuggled out of Belgium to the Allies. They also intended to keep
letters, newspapers and magazines from entering Belgium and boosting I 'esprit de
119 Sanders, "The Netherlands in British Strategic Planning" p. 124.
120 Christopher Andrew, "How Dutch resistance was organized" in M. R. D. Foot (ed.), Holland at War Against
Hitler. Anglo-Dutch relations 1940 - 1945. London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1990, p. 93.
121 Jong, "De Nederlandse neutraliteit' p. 259.
m Smit, Tien studien p. 11.
123 Hubert van Tuyll has done some research on this topic (The Netherlands and World War I pp. 162 - 163).
124 Smidt, "Dutch and Danish Agricultural Exports" p. 144.