Re: Remembering the Coward of the Netherlands: Srebrenica
More Dutch courage at Srebrenica.
Cpl. Andries Poortinga was one. Poortinga, one of 171 soldiers whose accounts appeared in “Memories of Srebrenica,” published last month, saw tens of thousands of refugees cramming into the U.N. camp at Potocari, a suburb of Srebrenica, as the Serbs pounded the area from the surrounding hills.
For days, the battalion had waited for reinforcements and air support. None came. One soldier already had been killed by Muslim forces. By the time the Serb attack started on July 11, the soldiers’ nerves were shot.
“All those people … screaming and crying. A truck, normally fit for 18 people, was packed with 200 refugees. We helped them from the truck and gave them a place in the factory hall,” Poortinga recalled in the book.
“It was hell. I did my best, but after a while I collapsed. The shouting became louder and louder. The shooting came close, grenades fell, dust came from the ceiling. I found myself crying like a baby. I am not a baby at all, but then I was like a child.”
With coward soldiers like this, it’s no wonder Holland surrendered to the Nazis after less than 96 hours of war…