ASSIGNMENTS:
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Hannah
Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
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REPORTS:
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Mr. Jan Linnekamp was a soldier in the Netherlands in 1940
"When the Germans declared war on the Netherlands we were all very surprised. We had remained neutral during World War I, and had hoped to do the same this time. I was enlisted and stationed in the East of the country.
My unit was instructed to place land mines in a field, which took us all day. Shortly after we were done, out of nowhere a herd of cows started walking onto the field. A farmer had apparently accidentally let them leave the neighbouring field. We couldn't allow the cows to walk any further: not only would they suffer painful deaths if they walked on the mines, but all our work would have been for nothing. So we were instructed to shoot the cows. We shot and killed many of them. Looking back it seems very pointless. But of course we didn't know that no German would be stopped by that field, or that we would never come face to face with German soldiers in combat.
The next day the Germans bombed the city center of Rotterdam, completely destroying it and taking many lives. The Netherlands capitulated, so my days as a soldier were over. Shooting those cows was the only time I ever used my gun."
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