Operations Manna and Chowhound

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Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops to relieve the Dutch famine of 1944–45 in the German-occupied Netherlands undertaken by Allied bomber crews during the last 10 days of the official war in Europe. Manna (29 April – 7 May 1945), which dropped 7,000 tonnes of food into the still Nazi-occupied western part of the Netherlands, was carried out by British Royal Air Force (RAF) units and squadrons from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and Polish Air Force squadrons in the RAF. Chowhound (1–8 May 1945) dropped 4,000 tonnes and was undertaken by the United States Army Air Forces. In total, over 11,000 tonnes of food were dropped over the 10 days, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to help feed Dutch civilians in danger of starvation.^[1] Fighting ended in the Netherlands with the 8 May overall surrender of Nazi Germany, though sporadic fighting continued elsewhere in Europe until remnants of the last of the German army groups had surrendered on 25 May.

After it was realised that Manna and Chowhound would be insufficient, a ground-based relief operation named Operation Faust was launched. On 2 May, 200 Allied trucks began delivering food to the city of Rhenen, behind German lines.