The King Rides out

[Hobilar]

Every Danish citizen knew that, since the German occupation of his country, every morning the seventy year old King Christian X would mount his horse and ride out on to the streets of Copenhagen to acknowledge the greetings of his humbliest subjects, whilst at the same time stonily ignoring the punctilious salutes of the Germans he passed.

Taking their example from their monarch the Danish people soon began to give the coldest of shoulders to the invaders. If a German soldier should ask for directions on the streets, a Dane would just walk blithely by, as if nobody had spoken. Lapel badges endorsed DKS (Den Kolde Skulder) became popular showing clearly where a man's sympathies lay. Secret printing presses produced crude leaflets on brown adhesive paper which could be applied to walls or lamp-posts containing such slogans as "Don't become a Traitor" and "Help Hitler lose the War". Even Danish students were seen sporting red, white and blue woollen caps (the colours of the RAF roundels), and an
underground newspaper, Poltiken, kept reporters up-dated on news kept from the public by the German Censors.

So it was no surprise that on the 26th September 1940, the King's birthday, that the square in front of the Amalienburg palace was filled with Danish citizens chanting patriotic songs and hymns, whilst even in small country towns mass assemblies would give the conquerors a clear understanding of their popularity amongst the general population.

[phylo_roadking]

Leopold of Belgium did the same daily, usually in uniform as Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian Army.