Page 213 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment
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a Century of military aviation in tHe netHerlands, 1911-2011 213
than a century in which the Netherlands had been spared direct involvement in a
war, it was now forced to tolerate a German occupation force on its soil for a period
of five years. In the early days of May 1940, the Netherlands endeavoured to defend
its neutrality through the use of armed force and immediately sought association
with the allied forces that had taken up the hatchet against the Axis powers from
September 1939. Following the Second World War, the Netherlands unequivocally
decided to join the NATO treaty organisation. Its armed forces have made a concrete
contribution to the Allied defence since then.
