9th Panzer Division - PzKpfw III.
LIFE magazine original colour photo of a Panzer III at the village of Rijsoord, Netherlands. This was probably taken on or about 15 May, 1940, on which date the bulk of the Netherlands Army surrendered to the Germans, in part due to general military necessity, and in part to try to prevent the Luftwaffe from launching a large bombing raid on Rotterdam. The latter effort of course failed, resulting in the destruction of a large part of the city by fire the result of a total screw-up on the German side, in my opinion. Many Dutch servicemen were reluctant to believe the surrender order, and fought on. In the "Dutch redoubt" province of Zeeland (which was for some reason excluded from the surrender), Dutch forces continued to resist to the best of their ability until 18 May, by which date all organized Dutch resistance on Netherlands home territory had been extinguished by the Germans. Best regards, JR.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-forces/50959/9th-panzer-division-pzkpfw-iii.