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Old 13-01-19, 13:36
Hanno Spoelstra's Avatar
Hanno Spoelstra Hanno Spoelstra is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The Netherlands
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Here are some websites with partial quotes as reading material:

Operations Manna, Chowhound, and Faust - 29 Apr 1945 - 10 May 1945:
Quote:
The third effort, Operation Faust, began at 0730 hours on 2 May 1945 and ended on 10 May 1945. During this operation, 360 Allied trucks (from 8 Canadian and 4 British transport platoons) conducted multiple round trips, delivering a total of about 9,000 tons of food and supplies to a designated area between the villages of Wageningen and Rhenen in central Netherlands. Logistical problems prevented Faust supplies from being distributed to the civilians in Amsterdam until 10 May 1945, in The Hague until 11 May 1945, and in Utrecht until 11 May 1945, however. While Operation Faust officially concluded on 10 May, 200 Canadian trucks remained on food distribution missions in the Netherlands for some time to come.
Humanitarian Aid to the Dutch-Operation Faust :
Quote:
This leads me to the few memories of the Liberation of Holland that my grandfather Morley Roy (Mike) Brown shared. He told us that he usually transported ammunition. (...) The ammo was removed from the truck and replaced with flour and sugar – these are the two commodities that my Gpa Mike remembers transporting. He remembers that the civilians were in such dire straights. They welcomed the Canadians with open arms. My grandfather had picked up some Dutch at this point so that it could be explained to the Dutch that their part of the homeland was still considered Nazi-occupied so to keep alert, be careful and stay inside. The fact that my grandfather had this level of interaction with the Dutch civilians while delivering sugar and flour leads me to believe that he was a part of the Canadian group that assisted the Dutch with the distribution of the supplies beyond 10 May.
Operation Faust: THE WAGENINGEN - RHENEN TRUCK EXPRESS:
Quote:
Extract from the book On to Victory from Mark Zuehlke:
"Captain Robert H. Parkinson's platoon from 1st Canadian Armoured Brigad, Royal Canadian Army Service Courps, was first to enter hte German lines. Each truck had a white flag mounted on the front fender, but the drivers all had a weapon discreetly hidden in the cab and were under instructions not to get out of the truck for any reason. "We knew we were taking food to the Dutch people. It was interesting and somewhat scary as we passed German soldiers who were fully armed and probably the were as interested or frightened as we were... We offloaded the food at the side of the road and turned it over to some kind of Dutch authorities... They took charge of the food and we didn't at any time have ... contact with the Germans." The twelve platoons continued moving food into Holland even after the war ended, delivering the last thousand-ton allotment on May 10."
A Slap-Up Meal Courtesy Operation ‘Manna’/Operation ‘Faust’:
Quote:
‘Operation Faust’, began at 7:30 a.m. on 2 May as the first 3-ton trucks, including those of the Polar Bears, began deliveries to a depot at Rhenen, on the Neder Rijn. The food came from food dumps in Oss and Den Bosch and was transported to Rhenen through Wageningen. By the following day the operation was in full swing, with convoys of 30 vehicles crossing the truce line every 30 minutes. Twelve transport platoons (eight Canadian and four British), comprising 360 vehicles, delivered approximately 1000 tons of supplies daily until the 10th, when the "Faust" organisation was disbanded and responsibility for food distribution transferred to other formations.
Bevrijdingsdag in Utrecht:
Quote:
Although today marks the liberation of the Netherlands, the full component of allied forces didn’t arrive in Utrecht until 7 May (and later in other areas). However, in the days leading up to their arrival, food began to make its way into the city as part of Operation Faust. Food had been dropped by airplane in various cities in the country and then was gradually distributed to help feed the starving citizens of the Netherlands.

The Utrecht Archives has some photos of the early arrival of these important food deliveries, which I found particularly fascinating and poignant, as many were taken here in my neighborhood.
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