Defeat and Reconquest
1st February 1953 1st February 1954
A new chapterspanning a period of one yearin the ever-renewed
struggle of the Dutch and the sea
It is Saturday evening on 31st January, 1953. At eleven o'clock the
voice of the radio announcer is heard in the Netherlands homes reading
the last news bulletin of the day, followed by the weather forecast for the
next twenty-four hours:
"During the night and tomorrow morning severe north westerly gales
changing to strong or fresh winds during the day. Unsettled weather with
variable cloud and scattered showers, hail and snow. Gale warning: At
10.30 p.m. the warning of severe westerly to north westerly gales in all
districts was replaced by a warning of north westerly gales".
This weather forecast is received by the Netherlands listener sitting
by his warm fire with the same calmness with which it is read. He is not
perturbed by the words he has just heard. How often has the north westerly
gale not roared over his home and how often have the mighty dikes,
famous for centuries, not protected his low-lying land against the fury of
the onrush of water?
Unsuspecting, the people just behind the dikes and far inland go to bed.
But that very same night owing to a sudden fatal concatenation of
circumstances the cruel disaster came. A spring tide was accompanied by
a solid mass of water driven by the gale in a southerly direction from the
wide North Sea into the narrow funnel located between the South of
England and the Low Countries. The height of the dikes had not been
calculated to turn a mass of water of such magnitude.
Within the space of a few hours the ever-rising, lashing waves reached
the crests of the dikes of the South-Holland and Zeeland islands. It was
not long before the water washed over the crest and scoured away the soft
soil on the inside of the dike, inevitably followed shortly afterwards by
breach after breach made with devastating force.
In some cases the water entered the low-lying polders gradually, rising
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