Battle of the Afsluitdijk

Battle context

The Battle of the Afsluitdijk was part of Germany's broader invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, in which Wehrmacht forces attempted to seize the Afsluitdijk causeway as one element of a coordinated assault on Vesting Holland. German operational planning called for a simultaneous multi-directional attack on the Dutch heartland, with the expectation of capturing the country's capital and most strategically important region within a single day. The attempt on the Afsluitdijk proved unsuccessful, with a German force of roughly 500 men failing to overcome a Dutch defending force of approximately 225. The failure to secure this crossing was part of the wider pattern of Dutch resistance that complicated German timelines during the opening days of the invasion.