In Holland the "Fifth Column" was more numerous than effective. This was doubtless due to its open character. The five odd per cent. of all Dutchmen organized in Mussert's Dutch National Socialist Party for years provided the Nazis with military and economic information. But the Dutch government had little enough to conceal. The Dutch National Socialists did what they could do to welcome and succor the invading Ge:
hutists and air-borne infan-somewhat _half-heartedly took part in the German attacks upon the Dutch police and Army. But of themselves they were relatively ineffective.
In Belgium, without the shadow of a doubt, Flemings loyal to Hitler betrayed the main defences of the Albert Canal and opened not only j their country, but Holland as well. to German invasion, An ey ness, the wife of a patriotic Bel; customs authority stationed on the} Dutch frontier nearby, reported how Flemish soldiers deliberately neglect:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.