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Day 2757 & 2758 – De Slag van Noord Nederland

The Netherlands vs Germany


http://battle-watcher.com/campaigns/campaign/64207




To celebrate our recent historic victory the Dutch ministry of defense we have identified key participants in the Battle and asked them to respond on the following questions:


1) The timing of the battle was carefully planned to start after other German battles commenced. The result was that the battle started really late in the evening. When the battle started were you confident that the Netherlands could pull this one through?

2) Half way through the Battle the Netherlands fell behind 35 points to 64 points. What were your thoughts at this stage?

3) Battle 12 and 13 seemed to be the turning point in the battle. Where did you find yourself at this time? And did you see the "window opening" as the minister of defense preached at the time?

4) When Battle 14 started it was almost midnight. Did you go to bed and at that time did you think the Netherlands would win?

5) When did you find out that the Netherlands had won, and what were your feelings?

6) Have you ever been in such a close epic fight in your life?

7) What do you think made the difference in this battle for the Netherlands to come out on top?

Do you have any battle stories to share with us?







Weekstrom

1) Didn't think so as we would hardly have players online and therefore would be completely depending on people moving toward Ger to fight for us.

2) It was still a surprise. But actually I checked a bit earlier. I thought we would be further behind and wondered if we would have a chance. Especially as I was able to win the round a bit earlier.

3) Somewhere in the line of fire.

4) I had to go to bed as I had a week or so with nights less than 4 hours which is even for my standards a bit to few. And as I had to go out at 6 again I needed at least 5-6 hours sleep. I didn't think we would make it at that point as I lost against them despite the damage done and was alone in doing so.

5) I was surprised and a bit of relieved. When it happened as I was watching the last battle commence ready to jump in.

6) Yup, a few times but not when eNL was involved. We had close ones but not with this kind of damage.

7) I think they realised it would be more expensive than they thought it would be after they had to put several high CO's. Especially round 13 in D4 I think.





Kristina161

1) I really know if i'm the good person to answer, i just make analysis about situation.

what's doing eGermany, how much battles they must fight. I saw they have 4.

It was a good timing for you.

2) I saw it was hard, because when eNL was at 52% a big fighter went and fight hard. I don't know names i saw two important ones.

at 35-64, i was watching battles and i saw the new one (maybe a little later, i don't remember) eUSA/eMacedonia and i thought nothing is lost, eGermany will have damages to do there.

3) i just remember i fought in your side with ElGorro and my last fights in the round with Weekstrom (it was more a duel) for me. I was out of energy. I was surprise i saw Weekstrom who don't stop to fight.

I checked the battle of eUSA and i saw several big fighters from eGermany, and i thought, nothing is lost. They can have a lot of points, just a surprise can change all things.

4) I was in my bed after those rounds, i can't talk about the end of the battle sadly.

5) At the morning, i saw one alert, you have one more region to liberate for your FF, eNL won the battle, i was happy for you. Maybe others countries can say, if we would not have the new battle of eUSa/eMacedonia we were able to win, but it's their choice, and they don't think it was so hard to them to make shouts to ask help. You deserved to win, you have help from several fighters but the big work was done by your fighters.

6) yes i saw that in the past, the problem in this game, a lot of fighters are in a battle, a new one starts and all fighters stop to go in the second. They don't finish this one. But i can say you names from those battles.

7) you have good fighters, i think it was hard for you to find fighters, and your big fighters in the end made the difference.

stories ? I have no memories. But i can say you one thing, Mpp with big countries are not sometimes better like little countries, just because big countries are so occupied.






Odan

1. I had some small hope if we managed to get an early lead we might pull through. that's why i fought pretty massively in the first battle.

2. that it was basically lost, unless we managed to finally get some div4 victories.

3. i was still fighting, basically to see if we could manage to get some extra points, did not really think we had a change anymore.

4. was awake but no energy left so didn't really check anymore untill i went to bed. did not think we would win.

5. when i logged in the first time the next day. did not believe it at first, thought it might have been some kind of bug. (erep is famous for them)

6. yes, don't remember when it was precisely but we've had some of these close battles in the past, both in eNL and with allies.

7. a bit of luck, and germany unable/unwilling to put money (offically) into co's.

8. well the first battle of the campaign was pretty hardcore for me personally, also upped my campaign score again.





Epix

1 yes
2 I was a bit giving up
3 I can't really remember that.
4 I was not convinced that we would win that battle at that time
5 In the morning, I was supprised and happy.
6 Yeah loads of times
7 Probably some nice CO's
8 Weekstrom stole my CH 😛




KTTRS

It always was clear to us that you would have to start a battle at that time to win, because over night FF-hunters can really win RWs for free. So yeah late RWs are always a danger.

2. At that point I was pretty confident that we would win the battle.

3. Well you won points in these battles but I don't think it was the turning point in the end. However of course you closed up on us in in these rounds. At that point I probably found myself playing Hearthstone (I also have a Real Life besides Erepublik!).

4. 4. The battle in Div4 in round 14 was the turning point of the whole campaign. It was a very narrow win for you. A win in div4 in this round would have meant that we'd needed only one more win in d4 overall to close the campaign.

5. Well I went to bed sometime after round 15 started and was pretty sure that the battle would be won by NL. Without COs or your own tanks awake you just can't beat FF hunters at night in such a close battle.

6. Sure, I've played this game for some years so there's bound to be some. In recent times for example the battle between Portugal and the UK in Vestlanded in which we have been very much involved.

7. I think our current determination reset with Poland and Hungary drained a lot of damage. We basically had 2 other battles and 2 other RWs opened most of the time. Also in the end the reason I did not want to spend any money on the RW lead to your victory.

8. Battle stories well: It was pretty fun when I visited your channel, some banter is always a nice aspect of wars. Even though ArcanicMindje wasn't present to apologize for his behaviour I at least had a nice chat with Konrad and some other people.





Walhallah

1) Yes, I was confident. We were waiting for the right opportunity to deploy our very secret team. We realy had to hold people back because they were so eager to RW the last region. It was very nice to see such eagerness in our population. But I realised timing was a key factor for success here, So I informed the commanders of the rough outline, yet didnt have the details because this was dependent on an occurring ‘window of opportunity’
2) That is a soul searching question. Ofcourse when you are that much behind certain doubts start to arise. This is due to the fact that statistically such a comeback is rare. The psychological effect is that people start to give up when you are that much behind, and it becomes impossible to organise the damage.from your own population.. We can learn tho that is is better to never give up, even tho sometimes you will loose ofcourse.
3In the War Room at that time, analyzing the battles with the President. We saw the window. Funnily enough we thought the Germans were pulling our leg because they werent deciding the battle when we were at the point of breaking. Yet their damage output was so low, so we thought they got lazy and were trying to sit it out.. Possibly they had sufficient funds to decide it on the last moments? We were kinda confused then. Since they didnt know our capabilities, why would they take the risk? Puzzles..
4) For reasons of National Security I cannot answer that question
5) Basically when I woke up around 7 and I went to check the outcome. My initial thought was ‘huh’
6) I was Minister of Defense during the Norway Campaign that that was pretty intense too. But this was stellar too. When in a situation like this, it shows what a privilege it is to be Minister of Defense. This game becomes so much fun when you are actually responsible for the organisation around battles. Certainly when the battles is insane like this one, lasting two full nights.

7) I have to say our nations pride, resilience and believe in itself, and the smoothly oiled machine that the Ministry is, but honestly on top of that the decisive factor without a doubt was Weekstrom throwing a staggering 1.4 billion damage in round 13. I dont think I’ve ever seen anything like it. At least not in our country. Weekstrom was a bull on the loose, hitting over 2,5 million per click and keeping 6-7 Germans or merceneries at bay all by himself. We lost that round for D4, but it must have been both demotivating and costly for the germans. In fact it must have been a Pyrrhic victory for them. Besides that, the continuous support from many nations, both in terms of motivation, financial and damage was incredible. We couldnt have done it without them.




Infowar

1) I never underestimate the Germans. They have good connections and a lot of strong allies who are willing to put themselves out for them. I knew that we could pull through, but I was well aware that it would not be easy.

2) My thoughts at this stage were that I was sure that the battle could still be turned around, and I continued to push hard and I was confident that we would be able to gather more support once the word got around that the Germans were oppressing the Dutch people.

3) During this time I noticed that the Germans were starting to buckle. I think that some of the reason for that was because some of their most critical supporters were too busy with other battles for example: Chile was busy against Argentina and there were many other wars on. While in the meantime we continued to gather support.

4) At this point I had to sleep.. The battle went on for more than 30 hours I believe, and there were points where I just had to get some rest. At this point I couldn't be sure if we would pull through, but I was hoping that more Australian supporters would come online to help out with COs, and fortunately towards the final critical battles they showed up. On top of that NEBULA were not giving up and were giving everything. And a lot of British, Americans and other Asteria allies started helping as the shouts from the feeds were paying off.

5) I found out later on in the afternoon after I had slept I had checked my iphone at work and saw that the Netherlands had pulled through. I felt very happy.

6) Yes I have been in a few amazing battles like this before. Nothing is more exciting than being involved in a serious battle with a purpose which is 'neck to neck'. I have seen battles like this turn from total hopelessness and despair to complete victory. I have been in epic battles where we were losing by more than 60 points against formidable opponents, but we were able to turn the battle completely upside down and win it. I have learned that you should never give up, you just keep pushing hard and doing your best to gather support and a lot of the time you will be able to turn the battle around even when things seem totally futile.

7) I think there were a lot of factors involved as mentioned above: A lot of Germany's allies were busy with other battles towards the final critical rounds. The hours and hours of shouting on the feeds were like seeds which had eventually bore fruit gathered a lot of support. NEBULA were determined to win and wouldn't give up and kept coming, and the Dutch people fought like bulls. There were also a lot of support from a variety of players including some UK players whom fought because they knew that the Germans were morally in the wrong. Then towards the last remaining critical battles some sponsors for COs showed up. All these things made the difference for the Netherlands to come up on top

Do you have any battle stories to share with us?'

Yes

Here is one I could find

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-epic-battle-for-south-australia-2391608/1/20



NoTie



1) I always thought we had a window of opportunity to win against Germany, even before it started. I have to admit though that I became very pessimistic about our chances during several points in the campaign, but we never completely gave up on the operation.

2) It was being considered. However I didn't want to give up just yet, as the battle was far from being over and didn't want to leave our allies and our proud soldiers alone in the cold.

3) I was coordinating war efforts (allies, setting Combat Orders) at the moment. The fierce resistance by the Germans did make me worry, but the heroic fights put up by our allies and our Dutch soldiers made me optimistic as well. Indeed, I saw a window of opportunity opening as I noticed the battle became very expensive for the Germans and doubted their will or their capabilities to keep that up.

4) I didn't sleep during the whole campaign, except for some naps when it was possible. I know how battles are being won by organisation, not by sheer firepower and did my best to ensure our organisation was top-notch and available 24/7

5) I found out the Netherlands had won as it happened. It was a great feeling, especially for myself being eDutch citizen ever since 2010, having endured many defeats and occupations. It restored the pride of our nation somewhat and I hope it will fill the hearts of the Dutch with self-confidence about our nation and its capabilities.

6) I have been in close fights many times before, but not one in which our independence was as stake and in which I was personally involved.

7) Willpower. We finally stood up and give it our all which in turn made ourselves being respected by allies and foes alike. We never gave up, even when the battle looked to be decided and that in turn made the Germans reconsider their efforts against us, as it would have been a costly and difficult operation indeed to keep us down. I hope that will be remembered by many nations alike who are threatening us.

After the massive attack by Weekstrom which cost the Germans several 10k's to overcome, I was worried. It looked like the Germans would gladly spend tons to keep us down and the battle was almost over in their favor. In the round after, it looked like the Germans would finally gather enough points to win the campaign. In the last few minutes though, we had a rather surprising intervention by some Serbians who switched the Division 4 to our favour, despite the Germans having gathered 1740 points there already. I found out that the leader of the MU (ReFUND) that had helped us was living in the Netherlands and had a nice chat, of course given a great thank you as well. It was just yet another keystone in ensuring our victory and a rather surprising one.




Joshua Morriseau


1. Initially I had high hopes for the battle. We had carefully coordinated the time and with allies so I was very confident at the beginning.

2. At this stage like many, I was rather disappointed and if Im being 100% honest I thought it was over at that point.

3. I was out of damage by this point so I could no longer fight however I was shouting the battle constantly and rallying as much help as I possibly could.

4. I don't believe I was in bed yet but I wasn't on eRepublik I believe I was blogging. (I run a political blog in RL.)

5. When I logged in the next morning my inbox was flooded with messages and plenty of notifications from shouts that the battle had been won. When I check the final score I was completely surprised that we had all managed to pull out an upset victory like that!

6. Oh goodness, I believe there was a battle once when Norway was at war with the UK. It was when we still had plenty of shield left and they launched an invasion which we turned around and then conquered Scotland. That battle for Scotland was epic for Norway in so many ways. Never had I see such activity in a battle for Norwegians as well as the amount of damage we unloaded for such a small nation. That matched with our allied support made that battle for me at least, the battle i will never forget in eRepublik.

7. I don't want to sound conceded however I believe Nebula's help went a long way. We made it our priority from the get go and I seen shouts all night coming from our members. Our HQ was in constant battle mode and we really wanted to do our best to help you and show everyone that we will go as far as it takes to help allies and to prove our worth as an alliance of small nations.

I didn't have any good battle stories really, there was so many people fighting I never had the chance to get a BH or anything. I turned the wall a few times and unloaded as much damage as I could but thats




Leo Belgicus



1) No

2) No

3) Adding minor damage

4) Already asleep and No

5) Next day. What hapend lets check the numbers.

6) Yes, but we lost that one.

7) Foreign support in our war with germany and in other battles with germany.




Lancer450



1) Honestly, I wasn't sure that we would be able to regain the region. I had hope that with some extra German damage being drained away by the other battles, that we would at least have a greater likelihood of managing to put up a good fight for NNL.

2) As the campaign started to slip away from us and the Germans began to mount a sizable lead, I definitely was losing hope. When I left for work and I looked at the score, I assumed that by the time I got back we would have lost. Needless to say, I was completely taken aback when I returned home and found that the campaign was still raging on and, while we were still down, we had made up a significant amount of ground and I began to have hope that we would be able to pull this one off in the battles that remained!

3) I honestly couldn't keep track of the battles at a certain point. But, it definitely became clear that there had been a dramatic shift in momentum.

4) I was wide awake actually! Because my RL timezone is Pacific Standard, it worked out well in that I was able to watch the campaign until its end without having to go to sleep.

5) As I watched the final battle end and the points being allocated, I felt ecstatic that our allies and ourselves had managed to turn the campaign around and ultimately re-take what is rightfully ours!

6) I've been in a few close, competitive campaigns in my eLife and this was certainly a great one! It made the game fun again and reminded me of many of the campaigns I had fought in when I was in eAustralia fighting against eIndonesia. Although, I don't think I've personally been a part of a battle with such an awesome turnaround like this one!

7) Without a doubt, it has to be the help of our allies and the determination of our very own soldiers including Weekstrom, Trannsvaal, and Epix and several others as well who helped to make the difference in this fight for NNL.




Gen. De La Rey



1)Well when the battle started it was already late, at one stage I thought it was not going to happen. I spent some time watching the first battle and decided that I was not needed and went to bed. The next morning we were already far behind and thought the battle was lost. I was however not impressed that D1 was behind 3 points to one, so I did damage to bring this back to where this should be. It seems other D1 players were not impressed either, as at the end we managed to rally in D1 to end the score 12 to 5 in favor of the Netherlands.

2) I thought the battle was lost.
3) Well due to load shedding I had no power for 2 hours and no internet connection, but when I came back online we were ahead in all divisions, I told everybody I had D1 covered. Minutes later the German minister of Defence Dr Schultz turned the wall by doing massive damage. I asked the minister of defense if I should respond with all I had, but he said I should wait a bit.
5 min later an Irish friend arrived on our side together with a BH hunter turning the wall without me having to do any damage at all.
4) It was way past my bed time, so I used all the energy I had to put 9 million damage on the board and then went to bed dreaming that we could win.
5) When I woke up I went to my PC to restore my energy before leaving for work, and was surprised to see the battle still going on. We were in the lead in all divisions and although my damage was not required I gave the Germans one hit for good measure.
6) Never.
7) I would like to think the movement of strong players from D1 to D2 made a difference, better results in D2 motivated all divisions somewhat to fight harder without giving up. I also noticed quite a lot of help from new friends.



Zeeuwsmeisze




1. start of battle was fine.
2. we should use more CO.
3. dunno, was fighting all day.
4. I stayed up till very late/early.
5. just woke up, happy
6. probadly yes.
7. defenitely the help Nebula provided for us.







Thank you to everybody who shared their experiences of the Battle, for those of you who have not responded yet, you can still do so and I will add it to the article. Please feel free to share any of your own eyewitness accounts of the battle in the comment section.

Please donate funds for the defense of our land by endorsing this article.

"Eendracht maakt macht!"

Walhallah
Minister of Defense

Gen de la Rey
Andreas Isaksson
Vice-Ministers of Defense