'Dolle Dinsdag ' /'Mad Tuesday' 5th September 1944

Have been looking at 'Mad Tuesday ' 5th September 1944, in The Netherlands. From what I can work out:

When claims were made that Breda, in the far south west had been liberated by the Allied forces, a whole wave of rumours swept the country that the Allies were about to take the rest of the country and the German occupiers would flee. Dutch people got ready to welcome the Allied forces.

Some members of the NSB , the pro-Nazi Dutch party panicked and sent their families to Germany- it is estimated that 65,000 fled. Boys amongst them who were fourteen years or older found that they were expected to work for The Reich or join the German forces.

Fascinated by this incident. Has anyone identified the actual source of the rumour that Breda had been taken by the Allies ?

 

Good luck pin-pointing the source of any rumor, especially one that old! Stranger things have happened though, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

Indeed. Probably it is unlikely that a definitive answer will ever be found . Had wondered whether Radio Oranje, broadcasting from London to Occupied Netherlands was the source.

 

Thank you for the link. Indeed.....seems that Prime Minister Gerbrandy made the announcement on Radio Oranje about Allied armies having crossed the Dutch borders and his speech indicated that this would be sort of rebirth of the Dutch nation. But the Prime Minster got his information from the BBC. But whether this was from someone within the organisation, or an actual radio broadcast heard in London, is not clear. It is easy to see how such an announcement would give hope to the Dutch people after over four years of German occupation, and also terrify those who had sided with the Occupation.