page_title: Battle of Mill
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Mill / Battle
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Mill Rijksmonument 509273 aspergeversperring op spoordijk ten oosten van Defensiekanaal. Vlak nadat op 10 mei deze versperring was aangelegd, is er een Duitse trein op ontspoord. This is an image of rijksmonument number 509273 Camera location51°&#160;40′&#160;48.12″&#160;N, 5°&#160;46′&#160;05.06″&#160;E&#160;&#160;&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: The Battle of Mill was a day long struggle in and around the Dutch village of Mill along the Peel-Raam line on the first day of the invasion of the Netherlands. Although the Germans broke through, they suffered heavy casualties and were delayed in their advance by one day.
context_section_description: The German armoured train and troop train passed through the border unopposed and arrived in the town of Zeeland at 04:30. The Dutch forces, unaware of the invasion, had been completely surprised and didn't have time to open fire. The German troops disembarked at the Zeeland train station and radioed that they had successfully penetrated the Dutch lines. Disappointed that they hadn't made contact with the Dutch, the armoured train was sent back to the border. Now fully aware of the situation, Dutch engineers installed the asparagus barricade over the tracks and reinforced it with several mines.
  Unable to stop in time, the armoured train crashed into the obstruction, derailing and sending the first carriage into the ditch. The small unit on board quickly disembarked and captured two away-facing casemates. They were then pinned down by rifle and machine gun fire, and retreated to train. Unable to penetrate the armor plating with their machine guns and rifles, the Dutch called in artillery support. This forced the Germans to take cover in the ditch, unable to effectively return fire. At around 05:00, General Adrianus Antonius van Nijnatten, the commander of the 3rd Army Corps, telephoned the Dutch general headquarters to report that the Germans had seized a bridge at Gennep intact and that a train had broken through near Mill. He was authorised to dispatch the 2nd Hussars-Motorcyclist Regiment to reinforce the town.
  Meanwhile, a company of Germans that had been dropped off in Zeeland headed northeast to flank the Dutch casemates on the defense line. They ran into the artillery battalion, which was equally surprised to see them. The Dutch quickly turned their guns and opened fire, albeit only one guns at a time. The Germans sustained heavy casualties and after about an hour decided to withdraw to nearby woods.
  Another company sneaked through unoccupied trenches and launched an attack on the Dutch casemates at the road between Mill and Volkel. The Dutch sustained some casualties, but returned fire, forcing the Germans to withdraw to the troop train.
  German forces then advanced along the rail line towards Mill. Along the way they encountered 10 casemates, whose weapons were pointed southeast and were caught completely by surprise. The Germans promptly captured 9 of them. They flanked the tenth one and captured most of its crew, but one soldier refused to surrender and slammed the door shut. He then proceeded to fire wildly through the casemate's loopholes, forcing the Germans to back off.
  At 07:30 the 2nd Hussars-Motorcyclist Regiment found the operational German troop train south of Mill. Armed with anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns, they quickly disabled the locomotive and boarded the train. Inside they found Dutch uniforms that had been used by commandos to take the border posts. The hussars set the train on fire as they departed.
  In the north, the Germans launched an attack on a Dutch company stationed in a small forest. By 11:00, after several hours of fighting with grenades and flamethrowers, they cleared the area and moved up to the railway. At noon the rest of the German force arrived, engaging the Dutch defense line. The armored train detachment, still trapped in the ditch, prepared to breakout. Around 14:00, the Dutch Hussars appeared to reinforce the line. Some relieved the soldier who had single-handedly defended his casemate from the Germans, and then proceeded to recapture the three adjacent to him. A German recon squad appeared, but was forced to retreat under heavy fire from the hussars. Had they found the armored train soldiers and attempted to link up with them, the entire defensive line would have been compromised. Artillery support from the battalion west of Mill check the Germans' advance. Frustrated by this lack of progress, Lieutenant General Friedrich Weber ordered an all out assault on the line. The Germans were forced to delay, though, because their heavy artillery had still not crossed the Maas river. Instead, Weber ordered a probing assault along the railway. Some Dutch casemates were destroyed 
caption: A replica of the "asparagus" barricade that was used to derail the German train.
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