nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I've never found the words to adequately describe #Oktoberfest. #Munich #Wiesn 101
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026"Hey don't those vintage lamp shadea look just like the Hall of Doom from Superfriends?" - me, ruining an otherwise nice evening 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 15/05/2026The #Dutch know what's coming - concentration camps, the persecution of Jews. There are reports of hundreds of suicide attempts across the #Netherlands. #WW2 Image: a dairy farmer in wooden clogs watches helplessly as soldiers of the SS-VT, predecessors of the #Waffen-SS, move across his pasture. 020
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 15/05/2026#OTD the #Dutch capitulation is signed at 11 am. In the five days since the invasion, 2,500 Dutch military personnel and ~2,500 Dutch citizens have been killed - most of the latter in the Rotterdam bombing the previous day. #WW2 Image: stills of a medic flying the white flag, likely in Rotterdam 110
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers reduced #Rotterdam to rubble, killing over 2,000 civilians and ~700 #Dutch marines. This image shows what was left of the Erasmus House on the Coolsingel. This terror bombing permanently scarred Rotterdam, and its impact can still be seen today. #WW2 010
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026The Ultimatum was signed, but it was too late. Just 15 minutes before the expiry of the Ultimatum, the first wave of Luftwaffe bombers were already enroute to #Rotterdam. A German officer, who was accompanying the Dutch fired off red signal flares to warn the bombers away, but it was in vain. #WW2 120
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026#Hitler had counted on a #Dutch surrender within 48 hours. Frustrated by continued resistance on this fourth day of the invasion, he sent an ultimatum to the Dutch general staff warning that unless they surrendered within two hours, the Luftwaffe would bomb Rotterdam before moving onto other cities. 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026#OTD in 1940, German forces tighten their circle around “Fortress Holland” and Hitler subjects Rotterdam to savage air bombardment. 110
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026Images: soldiers of the SS-VT under fire in the Dutch countryside. Flooding the fields was one of few defenses the Dutch had. 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 12/05/2026#OTD in 1940, the French 7th Army is ordered to evacuate the #Netherlands and fall back to the Schelde river in Belgium. The Dutch are cut off and on their own. Image: soldiers of the SS-Verfuegungstruppe (SS-VT), predecessors of the #Waffen-SS, secure a Dutch town. #WW2 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 11/05/2026Image: German and Dutch dogfight over Rotterdam. The Dutch #Fokker G1s have the distinctive gated tails. The Dutch airforce (Luchtvaartafdeling, or LVA) don’t stand a chance. Many aircraft were destroyed on the ground the first day of the invasion 48 hours earlier. #WW2 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 11/05/2026#OTD in 1940, German and Dutch forces are fighting across the #Netherlands. Although equal in number, the Dutch are outgunned, unseasoned, and unprepared for the combined arms “Blitzkrieg” attack. Image: map showing the advances made by German forces across the Benelux countries on 10-11 May 1940. 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Dramatic close-up of a German airborne soldier preparing to jump. I found most of these images in published diaries and books published in the 1940s-50s. 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 10/05/2026The Anglo-French Dyle Plan does not foresee the Germans attacking across the Ardennes plateau, which was thought impassable. It’s exactly what the Germans do - successfully - and reach the sea at Calais, cutting off the #Netherlands completely. Image: German parachutists over the #Netherlands. 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 10/05/2026#OTD in 1940, Germany invades the #Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. German airborne troops land on the bridges at Rotterdam, Dordrecht, and Moerdijk, while ground forces cross into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg simultaneously. Image: German parachutists over Moerdyk in May 1940 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026#OTD in 1940, the OKW (German High Command) issued actual orders for the attack on the west - starting with the invasion of the #Netherlands and Belgium the next morning. (1/3) Image: map showing the deployment of Allied and German forces across the Benelux border 100
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Image: German infantry protected by a light tank (likely a Kreuzer Panzerkampfwagen Mk IV 744) advancing on Lillehammer, Norway in 1940. By this point, they have already swept through Poland and Denmark. 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 05/05/2026I feel like the nation needs to know that #Kobe Bryant cargo pants exist 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 02/02/2026If the thought of Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook financing and enabling Trump angers you, you know what to do. (Acknowledgments to @profgalloway.com) 000
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 12/11/2025High tide can be a mother though. If you're going to lock your bike up at the Bell & Crown, pay attention to the tide tables! 010
nickvanstan.bsky.social @nickvanstan.bsky.social · 09/01/2025Snert! From the Groningen region of the north Ntherlands. Split pea soup with celery root, onions, parsley, and unseasoned meatballs or bacon. A staple against those biting, damp winds off the North Sea. 010
