When German forces invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Dutch Army Lieutenants Dirk Dreise and Ruud Aaker fought in the front line. The campaign went against them, though, forcing them to escape to England where they were assigned to clandestine intelligence work.

Eventually the tide of war turned and in 1944 they were back in their homeland, determined to throw the invaders out. For them, the fighting raged not in the air or on land but on the waters of the flooded polders.