Operation Amsterdam 1959

In May 1940, as the German invasion of the Netherlands intensifies, the British government mounts a risky operation to secure stocks of industrial diamonds before the invaders reach them. On a mission aboard HMS Walpole, two Dutch diamond experts, Jan Smit, Peter Finch, and Walter Keyser, Alexander Knox, join forces with Major Dillon, Tony Britton, a British Army Intelligence officer. They are dropped by sea off the Dutch coast and barely escape a German air raid and the attention of a wary Dutch policeman.

To keep moving, they need a car and end up with a ride from Anna, Eva Bartok, who is attempting suicide after blaming herself for the deaths of her Jewish fiancé’s parents. She reveals she is part of the Dutch security forces and agrees to assist the mission.

The quartet travels to Amsterdam where they reconnect with Jan’s father, Johan, Malcolm Keen at his diamond business house. Johan promises to persuade other dealers to bring diamonds for transport to Britain later that day. But a major hurdle looms: much of the loot is locked in a time-locked bank vault that cannot be opened for 24 hours because Whit Monday is a holiday. Undeterred, they recruit Dillon’s contacts, a Dutch resistance group, to aid in breaking into the vault.

Meanwhile, Fifth Columnist elements within the Dutch army stage an assault on the bank. The resistance fights back, and the group manages to breach the vault and recover the diamonds. Jan Smit, in a decisive moment, shoots the leader of the fifth columnists, a Dutch army lieutenant, effectively turning the tide of the confrontation.

With the diamonds recovered, the team and the resistance fighters guard against continued attacks as they make a perilous escape. They race back toward the coast, evading a German air strike along the route, only to discover their boatmaster has been killed. A tugboat is seized to ferry them back to the waiting destroyer, closing the loop on a treacherous mission.

In the end, Anna elects to stay in the Netherlands, choosing to continue her work with the nascent resistance movement, leaving the others to carry the diamonds to Britain.