Dutch waterline

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Map of the New Dutch Waterline

The Dutch waterline was a Dutch line of defense based on the inundation . In the event of a defense, the country could be flooded 40 centimeters high.

Old Dutch waterline

Map of the Old Dutch Waterline

After trying out the inundation on a smaller scale in 1589 and 1629, in the disaster year 1672, the so-called Rampjaar , a stretch of land was hurriedly submerged in order to stop the French troops in the Franco-Dutch War before they would conquer Holland. The line ran from the Zuiderzee to the Biesbosch , from Muiden via Woerden and Goejanverwellesluis to Gorinchem . The city of Utrecht fell outside this line because at that time it had already been conquered by the French.

New Dutch waterline

In 1815 Krayenhoff recommended the construction of the New Dutch Water Line or the Utrecht Line . Construction work began in 1816 and lasted, with interruptions from 1824 to 1839, until 1860. As part of the defensive structures known as Fortress Holland , further expansion work was carried out until 1885. However, with the invention of the explosive shell around 1880 , the forts were no longer in keeping with the times , as their fortification would not be sufficient in the event of war.

The line was partly east of the Old Dutch Waterline, so that Utrecht was within the line. Forts were erected in those places where the inundations were cut by roads, levees, or railways.

The New Dutch Waterline was occupied when the Franco-German War broke out (1870/71) and during the First World War. Even in May 1940 during the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht , the line was still in use by the Dutch army . It was decided at the last moment to move the defense further east at the Grebbe line . This stretches from the IJsselmeer between Huizen and Nijkerk to the Waal . The Dutch held out here for a few days. When the Dutch finally wanted to retreat to the waterline, this had already been breached by the Germans near Dordrecht and Rotterdam had been bombed (May 14, 1940).

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