Stand By, Boys! is a true story a story of things that happened when the waves of the North Sea broke through the dikes and flooded much of the Netherlands, in 1953.
Stand By, Boys!
by K. Norel
Copyright, 1955, by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
All rights in this book are reserved. No part may be reproduced in any manner without permission in writing from the publisher, except brief quotations used in connection with a review in a magazine or newspaper.North Beveland, where the story takes place, is an island off the southwest coast of the Netherlands. It is part of the province called Zeeland which means “land of the sea.”
Zeeland is so named because much of it has been taken from the sea. Land that is now beautiful with green pastures and grain was once under the wild waves, part of the bottom of the sea. Even today it lies lower than the sea. It is surrounded by high dikes, which keep the water out.
Little by little, the Netherlanders have taken thousands of acres of land from the sea. After carefully planning what piece of land they shall take, they build the high strong walls which they call dikes. Next, they pump out the water that has thus been surrounded by dikes. When the land is dry, it is ready to be worked into farmland. Such a piece of land, surrounded by dikes, is called a polder.
People who live in a polder must tend the dikes carefully. The sea pounds against the walls day and night, summer and winter. And if the sea should break through, the water will pour down upon the land, washing away houses and barns, and drowning the people.
That is what happened on February 1, 1953. A furious storm blew down from the northwest. It was the time of spring tide; the water was high, and kept rising higher. The wind dashed great waves against the dikes with tremendous force. In spite of all that the people could do, the dikes broke in many places. Whole villages were washed away; nearly two thousand people were drowned, and thousands lost their homes.
Mr. K. Norel visited Zeeland after the storm was over. He saw the flooded polders. He talked with people who escaped the flood. In this book he tells us about the tragedy of the flood, and about the courage of the Netherlanders; he tells how the boys and girls, as well as the men and women, struggled bravely to save their land and to help each other.