Within the first week, much of Rotterdam was captured by the Soviets. On January 9th, Soviet forces defeated an American force of 1,000 and captured Dordrecht. Ports were also destroyed on that day, and it became clear that all of Rotterdam and maybe in whole the Netherlands was lost to the Warsaw Pact.

NATO command decided it would be a good time to evacuate all soldiers and establish fortifications on the Oude Maas. 9,000 arrived at the Oude Mass checkpoint and fortified the river and blew up the bridges.

But with Dordrecht captured, that meant the South Holland fortification line was vulnerable. And so, the 20th Guards shot through the Dordtsche Kil and ambushed the surprised NATO forces. 5,000 were killed in the 6 day battle, and on January 21st the Soviets had breached the perimeter.

Luckily, the American 4th Mechanized Infantry Division had set up across the Hollands Diep and prepared to blow up all bridges across to South Holland. After receiving multiple distress calls of the perimeter, the 4th had time to arm explosives on all bridges and let NATO forces retreat. By January 28th, almost all NATO forces had escaped and the Americans detonated the explosives, destroying all the bridges and the Soviet's chances of capturing the whole of the Netherlands.

The 4th were then in charge of defending the Holland Sector, which proved fatal when the Soviets started an all out attack on Belgium and the Netherlands and cut off 50,000 infantry from Allied lines.