Evening star., 1942-10-04
Holland Club to Commemorate
Grim Siege Of Leyden Tonight
They'll Eot 'Hutspot,' Recall the Saving
Of the City, and Vision HitIer's Oustinq

the Rhine, and had the great sluice-
gates opened at Rotterdam and
Schiedam. The waters began to
pour toward Leyden, but the rivers
were low and so were the tides Of
the North Sea, and so inundation
reached depth Of only foot. The
month dragged on without i'm
provement, while food dwindled in
the beleaguered town.
The people smuggled a letter of
appeal out to the Prince. But he
lay i'll. He wrote them, though, the
same day, asking them to hold out,
promising the water would rise.
From Iceland September / came
Admiral Boisot with number of
flat-bottomed vessels and 800 vet
eran sailors. These sailors renowned
for their reckless courage and nauti-
cal skill, were ragged and ferocious.
They were known as water geuzen," !"
or sea beggars. But the strange
flotilla was stopped by low water,
and the Spaniards held a chain of
62 forts around Leydon. The night
of September 10 the Landscheiding,
a storm dixie miles from Leyden,
was stormed and captured. Two
weeks of fighting followed, with one
barrier after another carried.
Plague Relief.
Meanwhile the people of Leyden
were dying of starvation by the
scores. Horse meat had gone, and
no more rats or other animals could
be trapped. Even the plague, when
1t took of 5000 to 5000, was a re-
lief from the slow torture of starv-
ing. The Spanish commander made
all sorts of promises to the besieged
citizens. But they still spurned
every suggestion that they surren-
der
Once. some of the more faint
hearted surrounded the burgomas-
ter, Pieter van der Werf, threaten
ingly. He held his ground, telling
them, II can die but once, whether
by your hands, the enemy's or the
hand of God. My own fate is in
different to me, not so that of the
city entrusted to my care. Expect
no surrender as long as I remain
alive" He won even those ready
to give up. and applause swept the
square. The names of the burgo-
master and Van der Does, the mill
tary commander, stand out as the
heroes of the seige.
At last, the night of October /.
a violent eouinoctial storm piled the
North Sea against the Holland coast
and swept against the broken dikes.
Boisot's fleet was af1oat and it ad-
vanced rapidly, his cannon firing.
There was midnight battle among
orchards and chimneys of half-sub
merged farm houses. The enemy's
ships were sunk. Many Spaniards
fled toward the Hague.
Boisot anchored in front of the
Spanish stronghold, Fort Lammen.
He doubted that he could storm It,,
and he sent pigeon to the burgo-
master explaining his position. Citi-
zens volunteered to make a sortie
against the fort. But that night a
strange, providential thing hap
pened. A large section of the city
wall, weakened by the flood, COL
lapsed with roar that struck ter
ror into the mystif1ed Spaniards.
They thought the citizens were max
ing a desperate assault.
Siege Raised at Last.
At dawn, when Boisot moved cau-
tiously toward the fort, a boy waved
his cap from its pinnacle. The
Spaniards were gone The relief of
Leyden had been achieved.
The sailors threw bread to the peo-
pie standing on the quays. But the
real feast came when townsmen.