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

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with detachments in Zeeland and along the Maas river in Limburg, and Division IV acted as
a strategic reserve within the centre of the country around the city of Amersfoort. 115 Map 7
shows where each of the brigades moved on 1 August 1914, to fit as closely to the
afvvachtingsopstelling as possible. The Cavalry Brigade mobilised in and around
Eindhoven, where it remained for the entire war. 116
Next to the Field Army, the most significant defences on land were the fortified
positions. After 1900, strategic use of fortifications underwent a subtle change. Where in
the nineteenth century they had been most important - almost the entire army was stationed
in them - the increasingly mobile Field Army became primary after the tum of the century.
Fortress Holland existed to cover the Field Army's flanks and to provide a strong retreat
position. 117 The type of troops mobilised into the fortifications reflect the shift from rigid to
mobile defence. Where in 1914, the Field Army boasted 72 infantlY battalions, the fortified
positions had less than one-half that. In total, moreover, 23 of its 35 battalions comprised of
landweer. In other words, the fortifications supported greater numbers of older soldiers.
Fresher, younger, conscripts were used in the Field Army, leaving the less physically
demanding jobs for the older landweer.
Table 3 also highlights how significant the New Holland Waterline was to defence
plans. It housed most of the battalions. There were three reasons for this predominance.
Firstly, the Waterline was the principal retreat location for all troops, including the Field
Anny. Secondly, it was the first line of inundation. Thirdly, if the line was breached, the
troops holding it could retreat into fortifications further back, especially into the fortified
position of Amsterdam, the final stronghold of Dutch defence. Amsterdam's five battalions
were adequate to man the fOliified positions in and around the city, but they needed the
added strength of the retreating troops to withstand a concerted attack
115 Klinkert, Het Vaderland Verdedigd p. 400, fn. 42.
116 Voorst tot Voorst, "Onze caval erie tijdens de mobilisatie" pp. 428, 432, 437.
117 H. Wijnaerts, P. H. de Ridder, Militaire Aardrijkskullde van Nederland. [Military geography of the Netherlands]
Breda: Koninklijke Militaire Academie, 1906, p. 175.