The Royal Netherlands Army (Volunteer) Women's Auxiliary Corps ( nl, (Vrijwillig) Vrouwen Hulpkorps, (V)VHK) was the women's branch of the Royal Army of the

Netherlands Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces ( nl, Nederlandse krijgsmacht) are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy (), the Royal Netherlands ...

from 1943 to 1952. The VHK was the predecessor of the ( nl, Militaire Vrouwen Afdeling, Milva), which existed from 1951 to 1982. In total, more than 1,000 women served in the VHK. Their length of service varied between six months and three years.

History

The VHK was founded on 20 December 1943 by the London Committee of the

Netherlands Red Cross The Netherlands Red Cross ( nl, Rode Kruis) was founded in 1867. It is among the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It adopts branch governance structure which leads to approximately 214 branches that enables it to serve the whole country. It ...

at the suggestion of the Ministry of War. To find women for the corps, an advertisement was placed in '' Vrij Nederland'' newspaper in the summer of 1943. About 270 women of different nationalities responded. The new unit would fall under the authority of the Royal Netherlands Army, although the corps was not given military status in the beginning. The purpose of the unit was to provide unarmed

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...

. In the early days, the corps members wore the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

uniform, which consisted of a dark blue skirt, a dark blue jacket, a white shirt and a black tie. They wore black stockings and shoes. On their beret was a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

emblem. After the name Women's Auxiliary Corps was finalized in 1944, the women wore a khaki uniform, as worn by the British female soldiers of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). After the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, the Women's Auxiliary Corps was militarized so that they could follow the troops into

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

, and Zeeland. Six joined: , Els van Dien-Hendrix, Martha van Esso-Polak, , Marie Knapper, and , who was part of the staff. On 13 November 1944, five women crossed over to

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

to help evacuated children. Marie Knapper was sent to the United States to recruit overseas Dutch for the VHK. In 1944, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

founded its own auxiliary corps, the ( nl, Marine Vrouwenafdeling, Marva), and the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army created the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Women's Corps The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Women's Corps ( nl, Vrouwenkorps van het Koninklijk Nederlands(ch)-Indisch Leger, VK-KNIL) was the women's branch of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) that consisted of female ''oorlogsvrijwil ...

( nl, Vrouwenkorps van het Koninklijk Nederlands(ch)-Indisch Leger, VK-KNIL). Both were mainly active in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

during the

Indonesian War of Independence The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcoloni ...

. In 1951, the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

followed suit with the establishment of the Royal Netherlands Air Force Women's Department ( nl, Luchtmacht Vrouwenafdeling, Luva).

References

{{authority control All-female military units and formations Army units and formations of the Netherlands Military history of the Netherlands Military units and formations disestablished in 1950 Military units and formations established in 1943 Volunteer military units and formations of the Netherlands Women in war in the Netherlands

History

See also

References