The Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten (BS; English: 'Domestic Armed Forces'), fully the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten, was a government-sanctioned union of Dutch resistance groups during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, which had hardly cooperated until then.
Until 1944 the resistance groups, insofar as they were in contact, worked independently under the supervision of the Bureau Bijzondere Opdrachten (BBO, 'Office of Special Assignments') of the Dutch government-in-exile in London. When they were merged into the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld was appointed commander of this new organization, although he remained in London. The commander of the BS in the occupied Netherlands was Colonel Henri Koot, who was in Amsterdam.
At the time the groups were united, they had less than 10,000 members between them. They were also very poorly armed, though this would improve following Allied weapon drops.
The full name of the organization was the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten (NBS). The short form of the name was preferred, however, not least because the full abbreviation resembled that of the collaborationist National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, the NSB.
The BS was created in the image of the French Forces of the Interior and enjoyed great support from Queen Wilhelmina. The organization was divided into Stoottroepen ('Assault Forces') and Bewakingstroepen ('Guard Forces'). In the still occupied part of the Netherlands, the Stoottroepen were referred to as the Strijdend Gedeelte der BS (SG; 'Combatant Division of the BS'). The men of the Stoottroepen had to come from the armed resistance. The Bewakingstroepen were made up of "those who have made themselves available to maintain or restore order and peace on the day of liberation and thereafter." They would only take to the streets after the liberation. So for the time being they were little more than members-in-waiting.
The BS was founded partly to keep the armed resistance movement manageable, especially now that it would be supplied with weapons on a large scale. The organization was bound by all sorts of rules. For example, members of the BS were only allowed to appear publicly as an army if the commander (Prince Bernhard) gave the signal. The union of the three armed resistance groups also did not mean that those groups were immediately absorbed into the new organization. The differences between them proved too great for that.
Regular top meetings took place between the three groups under the code name "Delta-Center." "Commander Delta" was Colonel Koot. In September 1944, the OD brought in 4,000 men, the LKP 1,800 men, the RVV 1,000 men.
Members of the BS wore blue boilersuits as their uniform. [1] [2]
From September 1944 to May 1945, a total of 1,730 members of the organization were killed. The BS experienced tremendous growth from October 1944 on. That great influx started in the liberated southern provinces.
In May 1945 there were 150,000 to 200,000 members of the BS throughout the Netherlands. The entire resistance was estimated to have no more than 25,000 (in 1943) to 45,000 (1944-1945) participants.
Neither the Germans nor the Allies thought highly of the BS. The organization expected to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with Allied soldiers to "whip the krauts ", but the Allies concluded an armistice with the Germans on 4 May 1945, which included the condition that only Allied units would disarm the Germans, and not the BS. This effectively made the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten redundant. The Allies then forbade members of the organization from appearing armed in public, because they feared chaos would break out and BS men would lynch Germans. The organization did not comply with this ban, which, according to researchers, has led, among other things, to violence such as the 7 May shooting on Dam Square in Amsterdam. [3]
The BS originated from the three main resistance groups:
Because there was a post-war shortage of former resistance fighters, many other (young) men without loyalties to any group were also able to join the BS after the war.
The Herinneringsinsigne Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten 1944-1945 (English: 'Domestic Armed Forces Remembrance Badge 1944-1945') was instituted after the war by Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld.
The disorganized or spontaneously organized Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten meritoriously performed many tasks and as commander of the BS, Prince Bernhard was appointed Commander in the Military Order of William, as befits the commander of a victorious army corps. There was no decoration or visible tribute to the men of the BS. They were ineligible for the Mobilisation War Cross or the War Commemorative Cross. The Resistance Memorial Cross would not be established until December 1980.
The Dutch government-in-exile, also known as the London Cabinet, was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the German invasion of the country during World War II on 10 May 1940.
Operation Jedburgh was a clandestine operation during World War II in which three-man teams of operatives of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Free French Bureau central de renseignements et d'action and the Dutch and Belgian armies in exile were dropped by parachute into occupied France, the Netherlands and Belgium. The objective of the Jedburgh teams was to assist allied forces who invaded France on 6 June 1944 with sabotage and guerrilla warfare, and leading local resistance forces in actions against the Germans.
Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family relocated to London. Princess Juliana and her children sought refuge in Ottawa, Canada until after the war.
The Regiment Stoottroepen Prins Bernhard is an infantry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army.
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A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity.
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Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a German nobleman who was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen Juliana. They were the parents of four children, including Beatrix, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.
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Helena Theodora Kuipers-Rietberg was a Dutch resistance member who played an important role during World War II, when she was one of the driving forces of a national underground organization that supported those who were hiding from the German occupying forces. She was known as "Tante Riek", or "Aunt Riek".
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